Original ‘Fantastic Four’ Star Michael Chiklis Wishes Marvel’s New Cast the ‘Best of Luck and Success’: ‘I Admire These Actors’

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Original “Fantastic Four” star Michael Chiklis is sending well wishes to the team behind Marvel’s upcoming reboot.

In a post on X Monday, Chiklis, who played The Thing in 2005’s “Fantastic Four,” sent his best regards to the cast and crew of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

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“I want to thank everyone for all the ‘Fantastic Four’ love this last couple of months during the run up to the new ‘F4’ flick,” Chiklis wrote. “Speaking of which, I want to wish the cast and crew of ‘First Steps’ the best of luck and success. I admire these actors and look forward to seeing them take on these iconic roles. #F4Forever #TheThing.”

Chiklis starred in the Marvel blockbuster alongside Ioan Gruffudd (Mr.Fantastic), Jessica Alba (Invisible Woman), Chris Evans (Human Torch) and Julian McMahon (Dr. Doom). Tim Story directed the film, which went on to gross over $330 million at the worldwide box office.

“First Steps” stars Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing. The film follows Marvel’s First Family as they defend Earth from the gargantuan planet-eating alien Galactus. Matt Shakman directs with a script by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan.

Variety exclusively reported on Wednesday that John Malkovich was set to appear in “First Steps” as villain Red Ghost, but was cut from the final edit. Shakman said it was “heartbreaking not to include him in the final version of the movie.”

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“There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor,” Shakman said. “When we were building a ’60s 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 — 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.”

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