An actor who appeared in theFantastic Four: First Stepstrailers did not make the final cut, and it’s a shame that we’ll likely never see his footage. When excitement started building for theMCU’s take on the Fantastic Four, part of that was due to seeing Academy Award-nominated actorJohn Malkovich as a villainin the trailers. However,he was notably absent in the actual film.
It’s not the first time thatMarvel has cut footage, and there are other scenes in theFantastic Fourtrailers that didn’t make the cut either. It’s just surprising to see an actor’s role completely cut out, and for fans who are still holding out hope to see Malkovich in a director’s cut,Matt Shakman has shut that notion down.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Director Has Explained Why We Can’t See A Director’s Cut With The Movie’s Missing Character
Malkovich was set to play Red Ghost, a classic Fantastic Four villain who fights alongside his Super-Apes. He’s mentioned in the film’s opening montage, but Malkovich is never seen on-screen. In an interview withElite Daily, director Shakman said,“He’s brilliant, and the work that he did in this movie was extraordinary.”
From Shakman’s sentiment, it seems like they got fairly far with filming Malkovich’s scenes if there was enough content to judge his performance. That gave some fans hope that Malkovich’s scenes could be included in a future director’s cut ofFantastic Four. However, Shakman has confirmed that it won’t happen, tellingElite Daily,“There are so many visual effects involved thatthose scenes remain unfinished, so that’s not possible.”
It’s not easy to make the visual effects of a superhero film look good.Fantastic Fourclearly took a lot of time to perfect, seeing as how they omitted most of Reed’s powers in early trailers so they’d have time tomake his abilities look good. Understandably, Shakman would prefer to leave Malkovich’s scrapped scenes unfinished due to how much time it would take.
Matt Shakman’s Comments About The Fantastic Four’s Missing Character Highlight Their MCU Potential
There was clearly a story fleshed out for Malkovich’s Red Ghost if he was deemed important enough to appear in the first trailer. Fans may never get to see what was planned for him inThe Fantastic Four, but that doesn’t mean that Malkovich could never appear in the MCU again.
The film’s post-credits scene shows an in-universe Fantastic Four cartoon, andRed Ghost is mentioned again as one of the villains that the family fights. He still exists in the universe, and as long as the Fantastic Four return, so can he. There is such a fleshed-out world on Earth-828 withplenty of villains and future MCU potential, including Red Ghost.
We may never get to see what Malkovich’s intended role forThe Fantastic Four: First Stepswas, but the actor could still appear in a future MCU project. Shakman praised Malkovich for his portrayal of Red Ghost, and it’d be smart of Marvel to let the character see the light of day at some point, especially when they have such a talented actor in the role.
