Months of speculation over John Malkovich’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” character were done in vain. TheWrap has learned Malkovich has been cut from “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” less than two weeks ahead of the film’s July 25 release.

The Red Ghost has escaped! Actor John Malkovich will no longer appear in Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” as Ivan Kragoff, aka the Red Ghost, one of the earliest villains to battle the superhero quartet in the comics.

Shakman, who previously worked with Malkovich on his 2014 independent feature debut crime thriller Cut Bank, gushed about how the Being John Malkovich star "stuck with" him during the several years he struggled to put together financing on the film and "never dropped out."