THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Storyboards Reveal Mister Fantastic's Cut Battle With Red Ghost's Super-Ape

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Storyboards Reveal Mister Fantastic's Cut Battle With Red Ghost's Super-Ape

Newly revealed storyboards for The Fantastic Four: First Steps show more of Mister Fantastic's battle with Red Ghost's Super Apes, teasing what might have been in a sequence that was ultimately cut...

By JoshWilding - Aug 11, 2025 09:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was supposed to open with an extended action sequence pitting Marvel's First Family against Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. Ultimately, it was replaced by a montage recapping the team's origin story and a showcase of their greatest victories. 

John Malkovich was cast as the villainous Red Ghost and appeared briefly in the movie's first teaser trailer. That's all we've seen of the villain, though a few snippets from the fight did make it into the final cut, with Mister Fantastic pitted against one of the Super-Apes. 

Storyboard artist Jeremy Simser has taken to social media to share his work on this cut sequence from The Fantastic Four: First Steps, writing, "Just a few frames from the deleted Red Ghost ape fight I drew for [the movie]. I really wish you all could see this scene in its entirety, but alas, it's not meant to be!"

Simser also confirmed that the scene briefly featured in the end credits, showing a Super-Ape stretching Reed Richards' face, was a nod to a piece of artwork by legendary comic book artist Alex Ross. 

"There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor," The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman previously said of leaving Malkovich on the cutting room floor. "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."

"It was heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie because he’s one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations," the filmmaker continued. "As a person who walks the line between theater and film and television, there’s no one who is more inspiring than the founder of Steppenwolf Theater Company. What he’s done on stage as an actor and what he’s done as a director in theater as well as in film, and as just a film actor of incredible ability — I was honored he came to play."

The fate of The Fantastic Four franchise is uncertain, so whether we'll get to see the team square off with Red Ghost in a future movie is hard to say. We wouldn't bank on it for now, as it seems more likely that Marvel Studios will find a different character for him to play. 

First Steps wasn't Malkovich's first supervillain near-miss, as he was previously lined up to play The Vulture in Sam Raimi's unmade Spider-Man 4. You can check out Simser's storyboards for the latest MCU movie in the Instagram posts below.

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.

DEADPOOL Co-Creator Rob Liefeld Brands Fan A Shill For Reporting THE FANTASTIC FOUR's $500M Box Office Haul
Related:

DEADPOOL Co-Creator Rob Liefeld Brands Fan A "Shill" For Reporting THE FANTASTIC FOUR's $500M Box Office Haul

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Has Now Passed The $500M Mark At The Global Box Office
Recommended For You:

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Has Now Passed The $500M Mark At The Global Box Office

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

Scarilian
Scarilian - 8/11/2025, 9:26 AM
Third MCU movie flop of the year.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/11/2025, 9:31 AM
@Scarilian - The Fantastic Four: First Steps beat all the Original Fantastic Four movies huge Box Office Numbers.

First Steps is the Biggest Fantastic Four movie in Box Office History.

Fantastic Four = $333,535,934

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer = $301,913,131

The Fantastic Four: First Steps = $434,212,709 will be $500 Million Plus when finished.

I think that's why Disney Bob Iger considers it a Success.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/11/2025, 9:36 AM
@AllsGood - stays at this pace it won’t it have weapons freely firday deal with its now at third place movies to see at theater bad guys 2 is half and half
AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/11/2025, 9:41 AM
@dragon316 - Weapons

Domestic = $42,500,000

Foreign = $27,500,000

Worldwide = $70,000,000

User Comment Image
AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/11/2025, 9:45 AM
@dragon316 - Freakier Friday Box Office Flop

Domestic = $29,000,000

Foreign = $15,500,000

Worldwide = $44,500,000
Scarilian
Scarilian - 8/11/2025, 10:19 AM
@AllsGood -

Fantastic Four (2005) had a max budget of $100m, meaning $250m break-even for around $83m profit.

Fantastic Four RotSS (2007) had a max budget of $130m, meaning it likely failed to break-even by around $23m

Obviously Fantastic Four 2015 was a complete disaster and did not make any profit.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps = $434,212,709 will be $500 Million Plus when finished."

Fantastic Four FS (2025) had a minimum budget of $200m, meaning $500m break-even. If you are saying it'll barely hit $500m then it's likely not going to break-even.

"I think that's why Disney Bob Iger considers it a Success."

That's just a company praising it's new product
AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/11/2025, 10:34 AM
@Scarilian - YES! 2025 was BAD YEAR for all Comic Book Movies that's why I'm Moving On to 2026.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day my Most Anticipated Movie Ever in the History of MCU.

User Comment Image
Antitrollpatrol
Antitrollpatrol - 8/11/2025, 11:03 AM
@Scarilian - look at the history of first films in a trilogy for the MCU. Fantastic four has done better than most of them. Not considered a flop when you compare it to other films in the same situation. Also second films in the MCU typically make more than the first ones do. This is not new territory for the MCU.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/11/2025, 11:25 AM
@Scarilian - They gotta reboot. Even if Spidey and the Avengers movies are huge successes.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:08 PM
@Antitrollpatrol - copium
Antitrollpatrol
Antitrollpatrol - 8/11/2025, 4:50 PM
@McMurdo - it's just research. Just look at the box office results. It matches fairly well with other entries.

To say it is a success is wrong but to say it's a failure is also wrong. It's just been mediocre in where it's at, which tracks for first time MCU entries. The anomalies in this are black panther, Captain marvel, and Spidey homecoming.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 8/14/2025, 1:43 PM
@Antitrollpatrol -
Nobody in the corporations funding these movies cares about comparisons, they care that they spent $200m+ on a movie that won't provide them any profit.

@ObserverIO -
Secret Wars is the attempt at a reboot and will end with a montage of new characters including a new T'Challa to star in Black Panther 3 which will not be connected to the prior films.

We'll likely still get films beyond Secret Wars, but financially they cannot justify them anymore especially when the Avengers films under perform or potentially fail to break-even given the insane budgets.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 8/11/2025, 9:26 AM
A lot has been cut in this movie. Including its legs
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:08 PM
@vectorsigma - at the knee caps it seems
Reginator
Reginator - 8/11/2025, 9:30 AM
not disappointed i decided to skip this movie.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/11/2025, 9:33 AM
@Reginator - same here trailers did nothing make me want to see it
skyshark03191
skyshark03191 - 8/11/2025, 9:42 AM
@Reginator - it was really nothing special at all. Not bad, just boring.
dragon316
dragon316 - 8/11/2025, 9:32 AM
Boring villain nothing about him gives these villians from past are joke from dc and marvel stiltman , frog man
SuperCat
SuperCat - 8/11/2025, 9:37 AM
User Comment Image
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:09 PM
@SuperCat - W
Laridian
Laridian - 8/11/2025, 9:43 AM
Cue all the fake fans screaming 'LOOK WHAT WE COULD HAVE HAD !!!!!!'
MisterBones
MisterBones - 8/11/2025, 9:50 AM
User Comment Image
RolandD
RolandD - 8/11/2025, 10:57 AM
@MisterBones - That one is just disturbing. 😉
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 8/11/2025, 9:59 AM
That’s a nice little homage!!.

User Comment Image

I wish we got to see the fight with Red Ghost & his Super Apes in full but I think it was the right decision to include a montage at the beginning to establish the backstory of this version of the FF and show what they had been up to for 4 years after they got their powers.

However this would have been a good way to have Reed use his stretching abilities more since that was kept at minimum though I would argue them focusing on his character & intellect was far more interesting imo.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 8/11/2025, 10:04 AM
Lenoy Oglevee?
DocSpock
DocSpock - 8/11/2025, 10:23 AM

They cut a lot of stuff including the box office and left that hitting the floor.

Biggums
Biggums - 8/11/2025, 10:30 AM
I hope they adapt Doom tearing Reed up like a bad cheque.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:10 PM
@Biggums - he would die. He got stretched about the length of a car by Galactus and almost keeled over
Biggums
Biggums - 8/11/2025, 5:27 PM
@McMurdo - that ain't no problem. Perfect opportunity to cut Pablo and squeeze in krasinski
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/12/2025, 2:00 PM
@Biggums - can you imagine? Krasinski with the same exact script makes Reed feel warm whilst being as distant as he is in the film
BobGarlen
BobGarlen - 8/11/2025, 11:33 AM
We've had 2 big Comic Book movies this year that we know Alex Ross loves, one even going as far as to use his artwork as a primary source of inspiration and for some damn reason he didn't do a poster for either one? That seems criminally wrong. Ross should be like Drew Struzan, especially for comic book movies.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/11/2025, 12:14 PM
@BobGarlen - Both of them very inspired by Alex Ross.

First there's this cover (which I think is the one you're referring to).
User Comment Image

Then there's Shalla Bal Silver Surfer.
User Comment Image

In fact the whole movie has a very MARVELS flavor to it, being a period '60s movie.

Then there's Superman's Kingdom Come shield. In fact when Gunn first got the job he posted this pic.
User Comment Image

You know what he should do? He should do one of those Marvel/DC crossover pieces he likes to do crossing over Corenswet's Superman with the MCU's Fantastic Four (oe with the Shalla Bal Surfer).
Maybe it could be a variant for one of the DC/Marvel crossover comics coming out.
BobGarlen
BobGarlen - 8/11/2025, 12:49 PM
@ObserverIO - I legitimately believe both movies should have had an Alex Ross poster.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 8/11/2025, 1:01 PM
@BobGarlen - It'd be really cool if he got into that game. It'd win fans over too. I'd buy prints and put them on my walls and I haven't done anything like that since college.

I remember he did this poster for the Academy Awards once.
User Comment Image
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:14 PM
@ObserverIO - if they did a live action poster of Reeds face being stretched and eaten by Apes akin to that Ross cover, immediately they sell more tickets. None of that fun FF stuff was in the movie.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 8/11/2025, 11:56 AM
Would have been cool to see Reed doing some more fighting. He was totally benched in this IMO
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/11/2025, 3:15 PM
@TheLobster - would love to have seen Reed do anything at all interesting with his abilities. They nerfed the living shit out of him in the MCU.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 8/11/2025, 6:57 PM
@McMurdo - big time agree

Please log in to post comments.

Don't have an account?
Please Register.

View Recorder