The first deleted scene from The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been released, revealing the sequence that both Vanessa Kirby and Paul Walter Hauser repeatedly said they wished had made it into the final cut.
We find a pregnant Sue Storm on her way to Subterranea, the Mole Man's domain deep beneath New York. Harvey Elder has been causing problems due to a sewer leak, so the Invisible Woman helpfully reminds him that the Human Torch could easily fill his tunnels with fire.
Sue, meanwhile, reminds the reformed villain that she could give him a brain aneurysm by creating one of her force fields inside his brain (a deadly use of her powers that makes her the Fantastic Four's most formidable member).
Still, it's a mostly friendly conversation that shows Sue and Harvey have formed an unlikely friendship following an earlier battle between Marvel's First Family and Giganto.
Was Marvel Studios right to cut this scene from The Fantastic Four: First Steps? At the very least, it would have provided additional context for Mole Man's later visit to the Baxter Building and his decision to take in the Big Apple's refugees.
"In the comics, Sue uses that threat quite a lot: 'I could put a force field in your brain and give you an aneurysm. I could put an air bubble inside of you and kill you in an instant,'" Kirby previously said of this scene. "These powers are also really lethal and really dangerous. But these four have chosen to unite the global community and be a force for good."
She added, "She’s made this decision, but at her fingertips, she could be lethal. It felt so real to me that somebody that’s trying to be a force for good also has the capacity, like we all do, for the light and the dark."
You can watch this deleted scene from The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the player below.
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.
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.
The movie is still playing in theaters, but comes to Digital and Blu-ray in the coming weeks; you can learn more about that by clicking here.