John Malkovich has seemingly been cut from ‘Fantastic Four’

John Malkovich has mysteriously disappeared from recent promotion for Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, leading some to believe that he may have been cut from the upcoming blockbuster.

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A press release from The Walt Disney Company, owners of Marvel, shared the final trailer for the film, which hits cinemas July 24. The two-and-a-half-minute clip does not show Malkovich’s character, and the press release does not list the Oscar nominee among the cast.

Other actors who appear in the film but not in the trailer, such as Paul Walter Hauser and Natasha Lyonne, are credited in the release. Malkovich has also not appeared in any posters, promotional images, or in the previous trailer released in April. The only glimpse there has been of his yet-to-be-revealed character was in the teaser trailer in February.

Malkovich spoke about his experiences on the set in a February interview with GQ.
“It’s not that dissimilar to doing theatre” he said of filming. “You imagine a bunch of stuff that isn’t there and do your little play”.

Some fans are connecting the absence of his credit to a recent change in runtime, posted on Reddit, which saw the film’s length changed in listings from AMC theatres. Instead of the original two hours and 10 minutes, it’s now listed as 15 minutes shorter (one hour 50 minutes). On X (formerly Twitter), some have been wondering if those lost minutes included Malkovich’s performance.

“The latest press release for Fantastic Four is missing any mention of John Malkovich, which, in combination with the mysterious cut in runtime recently, makes me suspicious if he got cut out of the movie?” one user asked, while another added “(I guess) his parts may have been cut out. Real shame tho if that’s what happens”.

@TheInSneider The latest press release for Fantastic Four is missing any mention of John Malkovich, which, in combination with the mysterious cut in runtime recently, makes me suspicious if he got cut out of the movie? Do you know anything or can you find out?

— TheRonin (@NotNameRonin) June 26, 2025

Well the movie’s runtime was reported as 127 mins a while back, but recently it was 115 mins, so ig his parts may have been cut out. Real shame tho if that’s what happens.

— Yoshi (@ja_y007) June 27, 2025

More changes were announced elsewhere in the Marvel Universe when the studio revealed Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars were delayed, creating a year’s gap between Marvel Cinematic Universe instalments.

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