Now that Superman has taken flight, the next comic book movie to hit the big screen is The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Although this marks the appearance of Marvel’s First Family in the MCU, director Matt Shakman confirmed that not all the intended characters will make it to the big screen. 

Alongside the leading roles of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the film was also intended to feature John Malkovich. Malkovich was cast as Igor Kragoff, aka the Red Ghost, who was one of the earliest Fantastic Four characters when he hit the scene in 1963. Since then, he’s been a staple of the group’s rogues gallery, going up against the team several times. 

Ahead of the debut of First Steps, Variety interviewed Shakman, shedding light on the final decision to cut Malkovich’s Red Ghost. 

“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,” Shakman said. 

Variety also noted that initially, he was to be included within the first act of the film. With the team having been established for a few years when the movie picks up, there was meant to be a montage showing the team talking on various villains. 

On having to cut out Malkovich, Shakman said, “ 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 Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters July 25th.