Fantastic Four Casts John Malkovich in Mystery Role

The actor almost starred as a Marvel villain in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4.

By Russ Burlingame

John Malkovich has been cast in a mystery role in Marvel Studios' forthcoming The Fantastic Four. The star, who has been nominated for two Academy Awards and earned a host of other accolades over the course of his long career, will join Paul Walter Hauser as characters whose exact natures have yet to be revealed. Julia Garner was recently cast in the role of the Silver Surfer, so the supporting cast -- or possibly the film's villains -- feel like they are starting to fill out quickly. Given the gravitas Malkovich can command and the presence of the Surfer, the obvious speculation is that he might be joining the film as Galactus. Of coruse, some people were already speculating that job went to Giancarlo Esposito, another guy with impeccable screen presence who recently signed on for an undisclosed Marvel role. Deadline first reported Malkovich's casting.

This won't be Malkovich's first comic book movie; in addition to appearing in two RED movies (based on the WildStorm comics by Garth Ennis and Cully Hamner), Malkovich served as an executive producer on the acclaimed indie drama Ghost World, based on the comic of the same name by Daniel Clowes. Concept art for Sam Raimi's cancelled Spider-Man 4 also depicted Malkovich in the role of The Vulture, a part later played by Michael Keaton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Fantastic Four will star Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman; Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing; and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.  

This will be the first major appearance for the team since Disney acquired 21st Century Studios, formerly 20th Century Fox, where previous X-Men and Fantastic Four movies were produced. For years, the MCU didn't have access to some of its most beloved characters due to a quirk in the contracts that allowed Fox to retain the properties, as long as they made a movie to keep the license active every few years.

The arrangement has resulted in some less-than-stellar movies, and some incredible movie trivia, including the first-ever Fantastic Four movie, where indie film godfather Roger Corman made a '90s superhero movie for $1 million.

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"It really started with Bernd Eichinger, a German producer who had the rights to the Fantastic Four," Corman told ComicBook in 2019. "He came to me, I think, in October of one year and said his option on the rights was going to expire if he didn't start shooting by the end of the year, and he had a $30 million budget and he didn't have the $30 million. Could I make it for less money? I said, 'how much do you have?' He said, 'I've got a million dollars.'…Cutting $29 million out of a $30 million budget is pretty extensive surgery, but we ended up making the film. Part of the deal was, he would have a certain amount of time to see if he could make a deal with a major studio. If he didn't, I would release it, but if he did, he would pay me some additional money. He came almost up tot he period where I was going to release it, and he made a deal with I think it was Fox, and part of the deal was that he would not release the million-dollar picture because it would interfere with what eventually became a $60 million picture. So simply by contract, that picture cannot be officially released, but there are bootleg copies around."  

The Fantastic Four will land in theaters on July 25, 2025, two weeks after Superman hits the big screen. For comic book fans, that means the genesis points for both the DC and Marvel comics universes will be in theaters at the same time next year.

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