The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduced the MCU's Mole Man, albeit in a very minor role. Paul Water Hauser played the iconic villain, appearing in a flashback, a handful of reaction scenes, and during an exchange with the team in the Baxter Building.
Marvel Studios seemingly went to great lengths to ensure a 2-hour runtime for the MCU debut of its First Family. John Malkovich was another casualty of that, as his scenes as Red Ghost were left completely on the cutting room floor.
The movie worked—it ranks among the MCU's best-reviewed releases—but many fans have argued that it would have benefited from another 10 minutes on its runtime.
During a recent interview, Hauser opened up on the highs and lows of a career in Hollywood, reflecting on a busy 2025 that didn't necessarily pan out the way he'd hoped. That included having "half" his scenes cut from The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
"Last year, I had like five movies come out. I did a cameo in a Kevin James movie called Playdate. I did Luckiest Man in America, Fantastic Four, Naked Gun, and Americana. And of those movies, it's like Playdate's a cameo. Luckiest Man in America didn't get to as big of an audience as I would have liked. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere didn't get received the way I thought it should and would. Fantastic Four, they cut half my scenes. Americana did not have a big rollout, and Sydney was going through her blue jean issue."
"I'm trying to tell people, if you're watching this, especially if you're an actor, filmmaker, even at the height of your career, where you are putting out indies and a Marvel movie and a wildly popular, well-received Naked Gun movie, it's like it's still not going to be whatever you're thinking it's going to be. You're still going to have a bunch of hiccups, and you can be wearing the nicest shirt, but still get that mustard stain on it. And that's kind of like that is a truism about this business, and you find that your real joy is in making it."
The actor went on to say he has a lot of gratitude for the fans who appreciate his work, and hearing from them ultimately means more than anything else.
Vanessa Kirby has also expressed disappointment about Sue Storm's meeting with Mole Man being cut from The Fantastic Four: First Steps. At least part of it ended up on the Blu-ray as a deleted scene, meaning Hauser fared better than Malkovich.
The VFX in his scenes were never finished, meaning they're unlikely to see the light of day. Now, with the Fantastic Four set to call Earth-616 home after Avengers: Secret Wars, chances are we've also seen the last of Mole Man and Subterranea.
You can hear more from Hauser in the players below.