Why Marvel Fans Are Actually Glad Red Ghost Was Cut From ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’
Many were dying to see an iconic villain in Matt Shakman’s new movie, but it might be way too early to be upset about the matter anyway.
Marvel’s best opener since who knows how many years, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the studio’s new action-packed pride and joy which was even more action-packed before it made it to its final cut.
The movie, which initially was supposed to run for 2 hours 10 minutes, was reportedly cut down to 1 hour 55 minutes just days before its world premiere on July 25, making it all the way more disheartening for Marvel’s fans when the character from cut scenes was revealed.
As The Fantastic Four’s director Matt Shakman assumed, the film would be way too overloaded had it featured John Malkovich’s Red Ghost as well, though fans quickly found a new reason to believe they might get to see those scenes after all.
Despite this being debunked just as quickly, Shakman is still positive about a different, and not less exciting, outcome.
Matt Shakman Says There Will Be No ‘The Fantastic Four’ Director Cut — but Red Ghost Might Still Return
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When the news about John Malkovich’s character being taken away from the movie entirely first leaked, Marvel’s fans took a guess about Shakman potentially following his DC fellow filmmaker Zack Snyder’s suit.
The latter has recently become known for releasing so-called director’s cuts to his movies, completing them with deleted scenes that for some reason never made it to the final cut.
However, Shakman was quick to address the issue, stating that he has no plans for releasing an extended version of The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the future.
“There are so many visual effects involved that those scenes remain unfinished, so that’s not possible”, the director told Elite Daily recently, adding that it’s “heartbreaking” to not have John Malkovich in the movie.
However, he didn’t rule out a possibility of Red Ghost’s return in Marvel’s upcoming projects, saying that he’d love to work with the actor again.
“He's brilliant, and the work that he did in this movie was extraordinary. He's one of my favorite actors, one of my favorite people, and he really crushed it. So yeah, I hope so”, Shakman stated.
Marvel Fans Are Sure ‘The Fantastic Four’ Saved John Malkovich For ‘Avengers: Doomsday’
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Despite being one of the primary villains in the story of Marvel’s first family, Malkovich’s Red Ghost has been long regarded as a character who deserved more attention in the superhero’s comic adaptations.
Since now The Fantastic Four has (almost) nothing to do with Red Ghost whatsoever, fans hope the cut from the movie would eventually turn out to be a silver lining for the character who will likely get a bigger arc in Marvel’s upcoming flick Avengers: Doomsday.
“I think a brief cameo for Red Ghost would have been a misuse of the Character. I love the casting, and with Dr. Doom looming in the near future, my hope is Ivan Kragoff gets a proper story arc”, Redditor Upper-Profession2196 suggested in a thread.
“The better Malkovich did as the Red Ghost, the more they would feel compelled to save him for the MCU proper”, Dr__Waffles agreed.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently playing in theatres worldwide.
