Audiences didn’t get a chance to see John Malkovich play Red Ghost in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but director Matt Shakman believes there’s a chance the character could return in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe project. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker talked about First Steps‘ references to iconic Fantastic Four villains from the comics, including Red Ghost, Puppet Master, and the Mad Thinker. While First Steps had too much ground to cover to give any of those villains a proper role, Shakman knows they all have a rich history in the source material and would be great additions in another film.
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“Those are great characters and they certainly could come back,” Shakman said. “There are so many great villains and so many great characters in the Fantastic Four [comics], and there are hopefully other opportunities down the road to include them.”
Malkovich’s Red Ghost appeared in the first Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser trailer that debuted back in February, but shortly before the movie premiered, it was confirmed his scenes had been cut due to time constraints. The character is still mentioned by name in First Step‘s opening moments, which quickly establishes the team and highlights their accomplishments throughout their superhero career. In a newsreel-style montage, the Fantastic Four are battling Red Ghost’s Super-Apes.
At one point, Red Ghost was even set to have a key role during First Steps‘ third act, but Shakman decided to go in a different direction as development on the film progressed. He doubts that the movie’s original opening, which “involved a lot of action about the Red Ghost” will ever be officially released because it would require too much VFX work to complete.
Marvel fans know the Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, but it seems highly unlikely Red Ghost could factor into either of those films. Doomsday has much more on its plate than First Steps, trying to balance multiple superhero teams while introducing audiences to Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. There isn’t room in the story for someone like Red Ghost, especially since viewers haven’t met him yet. Not only that, the Fantastic Four are going to be traveling from their home dimension of Earth-828 to the MCU’s main Earth-616 reality (as confirmed by the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene), so much of the action is going to take place far away from Red Ghost, Mole Man, and the other Fantastic Four foes.
A Fantastic Four sequel is currently in development at Marvel Studios, so perhaps that could be where Red Ghost comes into play. If Marvel’s First Family return to Earth-828 at the end of Secret Wars, it would be easy to build a film around Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. Of course, after traveling the multiverse and crossing paths with Doctor Doom, dealing with Red Ghost could be seen as a step down in terms of stakes; depending on what happens to the Fantastic Four in the Avengers films, there could be bigger fish to fry (like Malice). But after dialing things up to 11, a smaller-scale story could be a nice palate cleanser for the characters and the audience (similar to Spider-Man: Brand New Day aiming to tell a more street-level narrative). Malkovich is too gifted a performer to forever be left on the MCU cutting room floor, so hopefully Shakman is eventually right.
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