When the first two installments of a film franchise rack up nearly $300 million in domestic box office receipts, you'd tend to think a third chapter in the series would be inevitable.

According to Chris Evans, however, you'd be wrong. The actor, who starred as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, in 2005's Fantastic Four (26 percent Tomatometer) and 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (35 percent), tells MTV Movies that he doesn't expect to get the call for a third installment:

"I'm pretty sure we won't do [another] one. I'm assuming that one is a closed book. After the first one was released we got wind of potential titles and plots [almost immediately], and I've heard nothing from anyone at Fox [yet]...We had all planned on doing [another] one, but if there were going to be a third, I think a week after the second one was released we would have heard."

It would be tempting to dismiss Evans' comments as the movie-star equivalent of "I'm taking my marbles and going home," but he's always been admirably forthright about the weaknesses of the Fantastic films -- when promoting Rise of the Silver Surfer, he expressed hope that good reviews and/or box office would enable a third installment to "inch closer to a legitimate cast and a legitimate film."

Of course, Evans isn't ruling out a return to blue spandex. What with all the rumors of crossover cameos in the current crop of Marvel films, MTV thought it might be a good idea to ask him if he'd be up for an appearance as the Torch in another hero's franchise, and Evans -- who is co-starring with Keanu Reeves in April's Street Kings -- responded with "Absolutely."

Source: MTV Movies