John Malkovich was cut from Fantastic Four: First Steps – but his character still appears in the film
There's a surprise cameo from Red Ghost at the very end of the new MCU entry...
Warning: Contains spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The cast for The Fantastic Four: First Steps is star-studded enough as it is – with major roles for the likes of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn to name just three.
But there was a time not so long ago where it seemed the film's ensemble would also boast another big star: John Malkovich.
The Hollywood legend had signed on to play comic book baddie Ivan Kragoff aka Red Ghost, shooting his scenes and even briefly popping up in one of the pre-release trailers, before he was ultimately cut from the finished movie.
By entering your details you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
With the film now out, we can confirm that Malkovich is indeed nowhere to be seen in the film, but in something of a twist his character does very briefly appear – albeit in a somewhat different form.
The moment comes in the film's second post-credits scene, which takes the form of a retro animation seeing the Fantastic Four doing battle with several of their famous foes. And among those enemies? It's Red Ghost, of course.
It's not exactly a major role, and has no real narrative significance, but fans who were disappointed to hear the character had been dropped from the main film might enjoy the little nod.
Speaking about the decision to cut Malkovich, director Matt Shakman earlier told Variety: "There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor."
He added: "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."
He also explained that it had been "heartbreaking" not to include Malkovich, calling him "one of my very favourite humans and one of my biggest inspirations".
He concluded: "[Malkovich] was brilliant in it, and gave it his all."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now in cinemas.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
