First Steps’ Director Cut Reveal Means We May Never See The Movie’s Missing Actor

An actor who appeared in the Fantastic Four: First Steps trailers did not make the final cut, and it’s a shame that we’ll likely never see his footage. When excitement started building for the MCU’s take on the Fantastic Four, part of that was due to seeing Academy Award-nominated actor John Malkovich as a villain in the trailers. However, he was notably absent in the actual film.

It’s not the first time that Marvel has cut footage, and there are other scenes in the Fantastic Four trailers 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 with Elite 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 of Fantastic Four. However, Shakman has confirmed that it won’t happen, telling Elite Daily, “There are so many visual effects involved that those scenes remain unfinished, so that’s not possible.”

It’s not easy to make the visual effects of a superhero film look good. Fantastic Four clearly 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 to make his abilities look good. Understandably, Shakman would prefer to leave Malkovich’s scrapped scenes unfinished due to how much time it would take.

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 in The 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, and Red 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 with plenty of villains and future MCU potential, including Red Ghost.

We may never get to see what Malkovich’s intended role for The Fantastic Four: First Steps was, 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.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

7/10

Release Date

July 25, 2025

Runtime

115 minutes

Director

Matt Shakman

Writers

Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson

• Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic

• Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman

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