If I could only state one complaint about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s that all the movies are way too long. Even aside from the leg-numbing runtimes of the Avengers movies, it felt hard to justify why a movie like Eternals needed more than 150 minutes to tell its story. I thought if every MCU movie was more like The Marvels and clocked in around 100 minutes, then all of the franchise’s problems would be solved. That is, until The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel’s latest endeavor had a lot on its plate: it had to establish not only a new super squad but also Earth-828, an entirely new universe. And yet, it only had 1 hour and 55 minutes to cram it in. For the first time ever, I realized a Marvel movie should have been longer — and when you look at what was left on the cutting room floor, it’s easy to see why. What Was Cut From Fantastic Four?John Malkovich appeared as Red Ghost in the trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but didn’t make it into the final cut. | Marvel StudiosMy opinion about The Fantastic Four isn’t unique. Before the movie even hit theaters, director Matt Shakman revealed in an interview with Variety that Red Ghost, the supervillain played by John Malkovich who appeared in the movie’s trailer, was cut out completely. After the movie’s premiere only a few days ago, fans were already clamoring for a director’s cut, but Shakman told Elite Daily that “there are so many visual effects involved that those scenes remain unfinished, so that’s not possible.” Still, he wishes Malkovich could have been included. “There was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie, and some things had to go,” he said. “It's heartbreaking not to have him in the final movie.” There are other bits that didn’t make it into the final cut, too. At San Diego Comic-Con 2024, fans were shown proof-of-concept clips including Reed hosting his science show and giving a tour of the Baxter building, and Ben Grimm appearing on Earth-828’s version of The Dating Game. All those clips didn’t make it into the final cut for pacing reasons. “We were skipping an origin story, but also trying to give you all the information you needed to know to understand who these characters were,” Shakman told Collider. “Which means that the sort of classic structural ticking clocks had to get pushed a little bit.” But even what did end up in the movie feels truncated. Ben Grimm had the beginnings of a romantic subplot with elementary school teacher Rachel Rozman, played by Natasha Lyonne, but her character felt incredibly stunted. She introduced herself in front of the school, then Ben watches her in the street, and then all of a sudden it’s the end of the world, and he visits her in the synagogue. Skipping the origin story was a smart move to keep the story momentum, but the Subterranea evacuation plan was only seeded by one line from a previous montage. No Director’s Cut?Matt Shakman said there was plenty left on the cutting room floor, but defends the final cut and call’s a director’s cut “not possible.” | Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty ImagesShakman defends his final cut. “By the time you end up cutting it, you're doing it for a reason,” he told Collider. “You're looking at the larger picture, and you're able to make those cuts because they make sense and ultimately, it's for the greater good.” But when fans have seen so much of what could have been, it’s hard not to think about how better this movie may have been received if there was room for more.The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters.