Overview
- Matt Shakman confirmed on July 16 that John Malkovich’s entire role as Ivan Kragoff, aka the Red Ghost, was removed from the final edit of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
- The cut was made to streamline the ensemble cast and focus the story on the core Fantastic Four family and major cosmic antagonists such as Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
- Early promotional materials featured a brief glimpse of Malkovich’s Red Ghost, but later trailers omitted the character as editors shaped the film’s ’60s retro-future narrative.
- Shakman called the decision “heartbreaking” given his longstanding creative partnership with Malkovich and praised the actor as one of his greatest inspirations.
- The film will still premiere in Los Angeles on July 21 and open in theaters on July 25 without the Red Ghost sequence.