{"id":273993,"date":"2025-07-19T06:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273993\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T06:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:09:15","slug":"first-steps-runtime-confirms-its-one-of-the-mcus-shortest-superhero-spectacles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273993\/","title":{"rendered":"First Steps runtime confirms it’s one of the MCU’s shortest superhero spectacles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike other MCU epics like Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios\u2019 upcoming adventure, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, won\u2019t hover around the three-hour mark. According to a post by BBFC<\/a>, The Fantastic Four: First Steps<\/a> is 116 minutes long, making it one of the shortest films in MCU history.<\/p>\n

One reason The Fantastic Four: First Steps could be shorter than typical for a sprawling MCU affair is that John Malkovich\u2019s role as Ivan Kragoff, aka the Red Ghost, is no longer part of the film<\/a><\/strong>. According to First Steps director Matt Shakman, Malkovich\u2019s Red Ghost appeared in an early sequence of the movie, with the Fab Four battling the villain and his army of Super-Apes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor,\u201d Shakman explained to Variety<\/a>. \u201cWhen we were building a \u201960s 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 \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shakman added that Malkovich was \u201cbrilliant\u201d in the film and \u201cgave it his all,\u201d which made it all the more \u201cheartbreaking\u201d when he realized he had to leave him on the cutting room floor.<\/p>\n

Another reason The Fantastic Four: First Steps has a shorter runtime is that the film doesn\u2019t need to overstay its welcome. Sometimes, Marvel movies are a bit long in the tooth, with some bits best left on the cutting room floor. By removing any meandering plot elements, First Steps can maintain a tight focus on the film\u2019s prime directive, introducing the family, and setting them up for their MCU future.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0official synopsis<\/a> for\u00a0The Fantastic Four: First Steps reads:\u00a0Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps\u201d introduces Marvel\u2019s First Family\u2014Reed Richards\/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm\/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm\/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm\/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus\u2019 plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren\u2019t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Fantastic Four: First Steps\u00a0will launch Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Matt Shakman (WandaVision) directing from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. The film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch; Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing; and Julia Garner as the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer. Additionally, the great Ralph Ineson plays\u00a0Galactus<\/a>, the Devourer of Worlds.\u00a0Paul Walter Hauser<\/a>,\u00a0Natasha Lyonne<\/a>, and Sarah Niles also joined the cast of the retro-future movie, and Matthew Wood provides the voice of the robot H.E.R.B.I.E.<\/p>\n

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25, 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike other MCU epics like Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios\u2019 upcoming adventure, The Fantastic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[10281,77,4516,4517,3943,19922,20192,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-273993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-marvel-studios","11":"tag-mcu","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-superhero","14":"tag-the-fantastic-four-first-steps","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114878412403496296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}