Snuck under the radar right before actor Ralph Ineson was announced as villain Galactus in Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four: John Malkovich is also joining the cast of the 2025 premiering movie, albeit in an unknown role. So congrats to the Fantastic Four on joining the JMCU (John Malkovich Cinematic Universe)!
Unlike Ineson or Julia Garner — who is playing Shalla Bal, a version of the character Silver Surfer — Malkovich’s role is shrouded in mystery. Could he be playing the team’s disturbing mailman Willie Lumpkin? Perhaps he’s playing the disturbing voice of their little robot buddy, H.E.R.B.I.E.? Like Ineson, could Malkovich be taking on a villain role? Say the voice of the lord of the Negative Zone, Annihilus?
Or perhaps — bear with me here — he’s playing the part of “John Malkovich.” There’s good reason to think that this upcoming Fantastic Four flick doesn’t take place in the same universe as the main MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). There’s been no mention of the team thus far in the movies and TV shows that have premiered since 2008. And some designs seem to tease a retro-future look for the movie. We also know that Secret Wars is planned down the road. There’s every chance several universes — say, the main MCU, the X-Men universe, and the Fantastic Four universe — will crash into each other in “incursion events.”
So why not set Fantastic Four in a pre-established cinematic universe? Specifically, John Malkovich, a la the classic 1999 movie Being John Malkovich? In that movie, John Cusack played a puppeteer who found a portal inside John Malkovich. That led to a tripped-out reality where everything and everyone was Malkovich. Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich!
I’m being semi-facetious here of course (though I would 100% watch this version of FF). And I’m also just realizing that suggesting John Malkovich play John Malkovich is very similar to the joke I made about Paul Walter Hauser, who plays Stingray on Cobra Kai, joining the movie as Marvel Comics character Stingray.
But as is, it’s curious that we’re getting some roles announced, and others not at all. We’ll know more when Fantastic Four premieres on July 25, 2025.
