There's a major Fantastic Four villain missing from Fantastic Four: First Steps and we finally have an answer why this famous actor didn't make the cut!
Fantastic Four: First Steps finally hit theaters on July 25, at long last bringing Marvel's First Family into the MCU. The movie had a monster opening with $118 million domestically and $218 million globally, a much-needed hit for Marvel.
While it sets up future movies like Avengers: Doomsday, the film was hailed for its setting on an alternate Earth with a retrofuturistic 1960s feel. Moviegoers loved to see Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) on screen together facing the monstrous Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
The movie does reference other classic Fantastic Four foes like the Mad Thinker and the Mole Man (played by Paul Walter Hauser). However, one Oscar-nominated actor was going to appear as another FF foe, only to not make the cut!
Who was cut from Fantastic Four and why?
It's no secret that many movies have scenes in trailers that never make it into the finished film. Yet it's something when Marvel casts a major Oscar-nominated actor in a role only to delete it from the film completely.
The trailers for First Steps featured a bearded John Malkovich, with reports confirming that he was set to play Ivan Kragoff, also known as the Red Ghost. One of the oldest FF foes, the Ghost was a Russian scientist who headed into space with his three apes, Mikhlo, Igor and Peotr, to replicate the FF's own cosmic experience. They were imbued with cosmic rays, giving the Ghost the power to turn intangible, Mikhlo superstrength, Igor shapeshifting, and Peotr the power to attract and repulse objects. The Red Ghost and his Super-Apes have been a constant bother for the FF and other heroes.
With his long history of playing movie villains, Malkovich was a great pick for the Ghost, and it looked like he'd be a major part of the movie. Instead, while we see Reed battling one of the apes and a TV host discussing the Ghost, we never catch a glimpse of Malkovich.
Speaking to Phase Hero, director Matt Shakman explained they wanted to avoid the cliche retelling of the FF's origin and instead jump in with the TV show explaining their start and early adventures. He ended up filming so much for the opening that there wasn't enough time to keep the Ghost.
"We had an opening that involved a lot of action around the Red Ghost. We had an incredible performance from John Malkovich. It was just so much material when we were trying to sort of get to that present day moment where their world changes when the pregnancy happens. We had Red Ghost trying to steal a rocket ship with his apes, and Reed trying to defeat him and outwitting him. We see snippets of that in the [Ted Gilbert Show] montage, you see him kicking one of the apes in the water."
It was a jarring loss as Malkovich is a major respected acting name, and having him in the MCU seemed a natural fit. Shakman added to Variety that he was "heartbroken" losing the scene as he and Malkovich had worked together in Shakman's directorial debut, 2014's Cut Bank and Shakman considered him a friend.
"It was heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie because he's one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations. As a person who walks the line between theater and film and television, there's no one who is more inspiring than the founder of Steppenwolf Theater Company. What he's done on stage as an actor and what he's done as a director in theater as well as in film, and as just a film actor of incredible ability — I was honored he came to play."
Naturally, there's already a fan push for a director's cut of the movie that would restore the Red Ghost as well as other plot beats and scenes that were cut. Sadly, Shakman told EliteDaily that's unlikely as "There are so many visual effects involved that those scenes remain unfinished, so that's not possible. There was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie, and some things had to go."
Hopefully, if First Steps gets a full sequel, perhaps there will be more time to feature the Red Ghost as a bigger foe. As it stands now, what sounds like one of the better recent MCU villains will never see the light of day for moviegoers.
Fantastic Four: First Steps now in theaters.
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