In the teaser trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we got a first look at John Malkovich as Red Ghost. At the time, we didn't know how the villain would factor into the story, and recently learned that the Oscar-nominee had been cut from the movie entirely.
Red Ghost was still in the movie during May's test screenings, so based on feedback from audiences, Marvel Studios and filmmaker Matt Shakman must have decided then that something about the character wasn't working.
Talking to Phase Hero, The Fantastic Four: First Steps helmer explained, "We wanted to get the sense of history. We wanted these characters to feel lived in. We wanted the city to feel lived in. This is a real family, and they've been doing this for four years. Part of that was showing all the things they've done along the way."
"Building the Future Foundation, defeating Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Mole Man...it was part of building the history for them so we could jump in and see them change as a family when a child is introduced."
"We had an opening that involved a lot of action about the Red Ghost," Shakman continued. "We had an incredible performance from John Malkovich. It was just so much material when we were trying to get to that present-day moment when their world changes and Franklin's arrival becomes imminent."
"We had Red Ghost trying to steal a rocket ship with his apes, Reed trying to defeat him and outwitting him," he said of what the scene entailed. "They had a lot of really fun stuff. We used snippets of it in that montage you see where he's kicking one of the Super-Apes into the water."
Shakman added, "You can see in the credits Reed getting his face pulled by a baboon, which is an homage to Alex Ross."
That glimpse of Mister Fantastic battling a Super-Ape in the end credits appears to suggest we could eventually see this as an extended deleted scene. Alas, The Fantastic Four: First Steps director shot down the idea of Malkovich's work as Red Ghost ever being officially released.
"He's brilliant, and the work that he did in this movie was extraordinary," Shakman told Elite Daily in a separate interview. "There are so many visual effects involved that those scenes remain unfinished, so that’s not possible."
"He's one of my favorite actors, one of my favorite people, and he really crushed it. So yeah, I hope so," he replied when asked about the chances of Malkovich showing up elsewhere in the MCU.
Like the superpowered Serpent Society's scenes and The Leader's original design in Captain America: Brave New World, it's a great shame that we'll never get to see what might have been. Still, unlike that movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps wasn't a troubled production.
Instead, it seems Marvel Studios wanted to make it a two-hour, easy-to-watch blockbuster, and the montage exploring the team's origin story and recapping a few of their past adventures must have been more effective than an extended battle with Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters.