John Malkovich’s Marvel Villain Roles: From Red Ghost to Vulture

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Is John Malkovich not in it, then? After much anticipation, it has been made official that John Malkovich will play cosmonaut Ivan Kragoff in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This character is none other than the Marvel villain, the Red Ghost, who was absent from the 1960s-based Marvel Studios film. In an interview with Variety, director Matt Shakman disclosed that Malkovich’s role was removed from the final cut of the movie. The Red Ghost was set to challenge the Fantastic Four family consisting of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they faced cosmic threats from the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) and Galactus (Ralph Ineson).

In an interview with Variety, director Shakman praised Malkovich for his exceptional performance in their 2014 film debut, “Cut Bank.” However, due to the nature of the ensemble and the movie’s runtime under two hours, there were several scenes that unfortunately didn’t make it to the final cut.

In the opening act of the movie, it’s said that the Ghost with the Red Hue, accompanied by his super-powered apes named Igor, Miklho, and Peotor, showed up in a thrilling scene. This ghostly Russian figure supposedly caused chaos on a New York City monorail system. As a result, the Fantastic Four decided to leave their spot on The Ted Gilbert Show and take immediate action.

Shakman elaborated, “As we crafted a world blending the ’60s with the future, populating it with various villains, our four principal characters, and delving into each character individually, plus introducing Franklin Richards as a child character, there was an abundance of elements to manage. Consequently, certain aspects had to be trimmed during the process of refining the movie for its final cut.

In the end, his character was part of it. The director regretted not having him in the final cut of the film because Malkovich is one of his favorite people and a significant source of inspiration. He stated, “It was heart-wrenching to exclude him, given his exceptional talent on stage, his impressive work as a theater director, and his remarkable acting abilities in films – I felt privileged he agreed to participate.

The actor landed his Marvel character due to his desire to collaborate with Shakman once more, as he disclosed in an interview for GQ this year. Although Malkovich portrayed a villain in the 2010 DC-oriented western “Jonah Hex,” which was both panned by critics and flopped at the box office alongside Josh Brolin and Megan Fox, he had earlier declined opportunities to participate in Marvel productions.

John Malkovich explained that his decision not to participate in Marvel movies was entirely due to dissatisfaction with the business aspects and the strenuous nature of filming.

He added, “If you expect me to work suspended from a crane in front of a green screen for half a year, compensate me. If you’re not willing to pay me, that’s fine, but then I won’t participate, as I prefer performing live or directing a play, or engaging in other activities instead.

John Malkovich’s Vulture in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4

Back in 2009, as a die-hard cinema enthusiast, I was thrilled to hear whispers that John Malkovich might don the villain’s cape for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, a project Sony Pictures planned for May 6, 2011. Following the epic showdown of Tobey Maguire’s Spidey against a trio of baddies in Spider-Man 3 (2007), the rumor mill churned with tales of Malkovich’s Vulture and Anne Hathaway as the agile Black Cat entering the fray. Initial buzz suggested that Hathaway would embody the thieving Vulturess, but she later clarified in 2023 that she was cast as Black Cat—all without even setting eyes on a script! Notably, Hathaway would go on to play Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Raimi’s ideas for the abandoned Spider-Man 4 movie featured regular partner Bruce Campbell, known for his appearances throughout the Spider-Man trilogy as a wrestling commentator, theater usher, and maître d’, set to portray another Spider-Man adversary: Mysterio, a master of deception.

2016 saw a leak of storyboards suggesting that in a movie, Malkovich’s Vulture would battle Spider-Man and the wall-crawler would apprehend Mysterio. Jeffrey Henderson, the artist behind these storyboards, explained to Gizmodo that the villain wearing a fishbowl helmet was intended for an opening sequence showcasing lesser-known antagonists who wouldn’t serve as the main adversaries, such as Mysterio, the Shocker, the Prowler, the old school version of Rhino in his onesie, and possibly even Stilt Man and others.

Instead of Vulture, portrayed as a seemingly harmless elderly man in a vibrant green suit, the creators decided to make him an exceptionally menacing antagonist for Spider-Man. As producer Eric Henderson put it, “We wanted to challenge the audience’s expectations by presenting Vulture not just as an old guy, but as the most formidable and dangerous adversary our young hero had encountered yet.

Raimi’s proposed Spider-Man 4 would have been an incredible movie, according to Henderson when he shared the storyboards on his website. “Truly, we were working on some amazing things because everyone involved, from the top down, felt that Spider-Man 3 was a missed opportunity,” he wrote. “We all wanted to help Sam elevate SM4 so he could conclude the series triumphantly.” However, like Julianne Moore’s Red Ghost in Fantastic Four, the movie never came to fruition.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, sans Malkovich, opens in theaters July 25.

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2025-07-17 00:41