The first official trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps has arrived online. It offers fans, who had not attended last year’s San Diego Comic-Con event, their first taste of the iconic team’s MCU debut. However, The Fantastic Four trailer also contains a brief glimpse of John Malkovich’s character. Accordingly, fans have become curious about who the 71-year-old actor could be playing in the upcoming movie.
So, here are all the details we’ve learned about Malkovich’s role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Is John Malkovich playing Red Ghost in The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ trailer?
It is currently unconfirmed if the Con Air actor is playing Red Ghost in The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer.
However, according to a report from notable scooper Charles Murphy of Murphy’s Multiverse, John Malkovich has reportedly been cast as Ivan Kragoff, AKA Red Ghost. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four comics in Issue #13, published in January 1963. He is depicted as a genius Russian scientist who became fascinated with Cosmic Rays.
After the Fantastic Four themselves get exposed to the rays during their space exploration, and gain their iconic powers, Kragoff devises an experiment. This experiment sees him build his own spacecraft and fill it with himself and his apes. He then exposes himself and the apes to the cosmic rays, making them mutate into super-powered beings.
Following this, Kragoff and his army of superhuman apes fight the Fantastic Four on the Blue Area of the Moon. He battles them as he wishes to prove Russia’s superiority to the United States. However, he is soon defeated by the Fantastic Four. The team manages to subdue him by turning his own apes against him, after discovering how the Red Ghost abused them.
Kragoff is then stranded in space with his apes, who become angry with him. However, he eventually finds his way back to Earth. He also manages to get his apes back under his control. The Red Ghost then continues getting into conflict with the Fantastic Four multiple times. Moreover, he even ends up fighting other heroes like The Avengers.
While John Malkovich’s exact role has not been revealed as of writing, The Fantastic Four: First Steps will launch in theaters on July 25, 2025. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon-Moss Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn star as the titular team.
