The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman has confirmed what fans have suspected for a while. John Malkovich’s role has been cut from the final film. Speaking with Variety ahead of First Steps‘ premiere later this month, Shakman revealed that he made the difficult choice to leave Malkovich’s performance on the cutting room floor. The filmmaker shared that that Oscar-nominated actor played Red Ghost, who commanded a group of Super-Apes that battled the Fantastic Four. Red Ghost was set to be part of a stretch in the movie that detailed the Fantastic Four’s career, showcasing the various villains they’ve fought over the years. Shakman explained Malkovich was cut for story purposes, as First Steps already had a lot on its plate.
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“There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor,” Shakman said. “When we were building a ’60s retro-future world, introducing all of these villains, introducing these four main characters as a group, as well as individually, introducing the idea of a child — there was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie and some things had to go ultimately in terms of shaping the film for its final version … It was heartbreaking not to include [Malkovich] in the final version of the movie because he’s one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations.”
Malkovich joined the Fantastic Four: First Steps cast in 2024 in a mystery role, immediately sparking speculation about who he could be playing. A brief shot of the actor was included in the film’s first teaser trailer that debuted earlier this year, but the preview did not shed any addition light on who Malkovich was portraying. Red Ghost was actually one of the characters fans mentioned as a possibility when theorizing about Malkovich’s role.
Despite Malkovich being featured in early marketing materials, fans believed the actor had been cut from the movie when his name was absent from a recently released The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast list. Adding credence to that belief was the fact that Malkovich had remained silent about his involvement with the movie. His most notable comments came in February, when he explained he had turned down previous Marvel offers over salary concerns. Malkovich also noted he signed on for First Steps so he could work with Shakman again; the two collaborated on the film Cut Bank.
It’s disappointing that someone as talented as Malkovich was ultimately cut from First Steps. Even if Red Ghost didn’t have the biggest part to play in the story, the actor would have made the most of his screen time. It sounds like he would have stood out in a sequence highlighting the various super-villains the Fantastic Four crossed paths with prior to the film’s main events. At the same time, it’s understandable why this is something that was cut. There are a lot of moving pieces in First Steps, which introduces audiences to a new cast of characters (who have a large role to play in the Multiverse Saga) and a 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic alternate reality. While the final film will likely include some version of a highlight reel depicting the Fantastic Four’s earlier exploits, something like that doesn’t need to be too long in order to get the point across. Pacing is always important, and there’s a lot of ground to cover with Galactus’ arrival.
Hopefully, Malkovich’s performance as Red Ghost will be released as part of special features when The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits home media. The villain is one of the Fantastic Four’s earliest adversaries, making his comics debut back in 1963. It would have been fun to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe tip its hat to the character and that bit of Fantastic Four history on the big screen. Playing a cunning and intelligent comic book villain is a role tailor made for Malkovich, even if he isn’t the primary focus of the movie. All in all, this is a missed opportunity for the MCU and we may never see the Fantastic Four face off against Red Ghost.
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