Prior to the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, director Matt Shakman revealed that John Malkovich's villainous Red Ghost would no longer appear, and when audiences saw the movie for themselves, it became clear that this was far from the only scene that didn't make the cut.
First Steps has been mostly very well-received, but one consistent criticism from fans and critics has been that the last act feels a little rushed, with pacing issues resulting from the movie being trimmed in order to keep its runtime under 2 hours.
We've already heard that at least one scene involving Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) was cut, and writer Eric Pearson has now shared some more details on this sequence and why it was ultimately removed.
"There’s other scenes of Mole Man," Pearson confirmed to THR. "There was another scene with Sue where she goes down and talks to him about diplomacy, which was super fun and super funny. Movies are a tough stew. Sometimes you’ve got a great scene, and it’s just not the right flavor for the stew. But I was like, 'We can’t go back down there again. Let him come into Reed’s place and touch everything.' That was literally my pitch: 'I want Mole Man to come in.' I probably would’ve gone way too far if I was directing it. I wanted him touching every device like Baby Huey in Roger Rabbit, just going around messing with everything."
Pearson also delved into a change to the final battle, which saw Marvel's First Family lure Galactus to Earth by using baby Franklin as bait. Originally, this showdown played out in space.
"There wasn’t the scale," he said when asked why the location was changed. "I want to see him against the Empire State Building. I want to see the Mets’ Stadium. I want to see him kicking buses and stuff like that. So I was like, 'Let’s bring him down here.' Then it became obvious that we want Reed and Sue there to have some conflict. And the idea of using their child as bait is logical. Yes, it’s also super [frick]ed up. This family has taken on the burden and responsibility of protecting the entire planet and now their only option is to do something that is personally very harmful."
Finally, Pearson reveals Franklin Richards was originally going to be born earlier on in the movie, before he had the idea to have Sue give birth in the midst of the intense space chase scene. I
"In the drafts before, they had the baby in the first act. We moved it to the middle of all of that action. I was worried it was going to feel like too much when it first happened. All the elements — escaping Galactus, the Surfer is after them., they’ve also got to do this neutron star whip-around thing. That’s hard to do. Plus, she’s in labor whole time. I was worried that it was going to take away [from the birth], but it all kind of came together perfectly."
Shakman has already revealed that a lot of the sequences that were cut would require additional VFX to complete, but we'd be very surprised if we didn't see at least a couple of deleted scenes on the Blu-ray release.
First Steps stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Julia Garner (Wolf Man, Ozark) as the Silver Surfer.
Ralph Ineson plays Galactus, and Natasha Lyonne and Paul Walter Hauser are also on board in undisclosed roles. John Malkovich's Red Ghost has been cut from the movie.
"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."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now in theaters.