Much has been said about The Fantastic Four: First Steps star John Malkovich being left on the cutting room floor, and we now have a new look at Mister Fantastic doing battle with Red Ghost's army of Super-Apes.
MCU veteran Wesley Burt shared this impressive keyframe. Earlier this week, Jeremy Simser shared a first look at some of his storyboards for the reboot, but those only included one of the rampaging simians.
Marvel Studios is thought to have cut quite a few scenes from The Fantastic Four: First Steps to get the movie under two hours, but this extended action sequence with Red Ghost was likely the biggest casualty.
Parts of it were recycled for that fun opening montage, though, and a shot of Reed Richards getting his face stretched by one of the Super-Apes was included in the end credits. However, filmmaker Matt Shakman has confirmed that much of what was filmed is unfinished, meaning it won't be included on the eventual Digital and Blu-ray release as a deleted scene.
"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," the director recently explained.
"We had an opening that involved a lot of action about the Red Ghost. 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," Shakman 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."
Take a closer look at Burt's The Fantastic Four: First Steps concept art in the X posts below.
Ryan Meinerding, Marvel Studios' Head of Visual Development, has also shared some of his Shalla-Bal designs, explaining that Shakman "wanted to focus on capturing a tarnished mirror look to her surface detail, helping to communicate how long she has served Galactus."
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Also appearing are Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman, Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder/Mole Man, Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols, and Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert. John Malkovich was set to play Red Ghost, but was cut due to time constraints.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman and Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer.
In our review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we concluded, "The Fantastic Four is an exceptional introduction to the MCU’s First Family, and thanks to a Jack Kirby-infused feel that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, it proves to be a quintessential superhero movie with Marvel Studios at its brilliant best.
The movie is now playing in theaters.