- John Malkovich's Red Ghost will no longer appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
- He had a scene in the movie in the first 30 minutes, but since the overall runtime of the movie is less, and his scene did not add much to the story, it was removed.
- This reveal came to us through the director, Matt Shakman himself.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to release worldwide soon, and just before its release, a brand new update has arrived, and it’s not a pretty one. It has come to light that John Malkovich, who was highly speculated to be appearing in Fantastic Four: First Steps as the Red Ghost, is no longer a part of the final draft of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This reveal came via Matt Shakman, and here, allow me to let you all in on everything we know so far.
Recently, Matt Shakman gave an interview to Variety, where he opened up about the removal of John Malkovich. He told them that John had a lengthy scene early on in Fantastic Four: First Steps, where the team would fight him and a team of Super-Apes, but the scene was scrapped due to the extensive cast and relatively short runtime of the movie.
Moreover, this particular scene from the early days of the Fantastic Four was not necessary for the overall plot structure of the movie. In his comment, Shakman stated-
“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.”
The appearance of John Malkovich in Fantastic Four: First Steps was highly anticipated by the fans since this would be the first time Red Ghost would be adapted in live action, and John Malkovich would be the perfect actor to play him, but sadly, the fans have been let down. So, let’s wait and see what awaits us as the movie releases on July 25, 2025.
