Your eyes may already be stinging as the layers from the "Fantastic Four" flop continue to be unpeeled. But blink through the tears, and there’s a fascinating story within. We’ve already learned that a plethora of scenes were either cut or unfinished during the troubled production of Josh Trank‘s movie. And today, EW has even more details about the big action sequence that was planned for The Thing, didn’t wind up in the movie. It would’ve featured the creature laying waste to a Chechen rebel camp, and at 2:11 in the film’s trailer you can get a glimpse of the mutant getting fired upon.
And there was much, much more left out. According to the magazine, the scene would’ve arrived just after the one year time jump, launching audiences right into a setpiece. The Thing would’ve dropped into action from a stealth bomber and fallen right into the midst of a battle. Here’s their description of how the sequence would’ve then played out:
As The Thing lurches into view, bullets spark and ping off his impenetrable exterior.
Rather than some elegant, balletic action sequence, The Thing moves slowly and deliberately. He’s in no hurry. The storytelling goal was to show the futility of firepower against him as he casually demolishes the terrorists. It’s a blue-collar kind of heroism.
Sounds pretty good, but what happened? As it goes with "Fantastic Four," it depends on who you ask. One version says that Trank completed pre-visualization for the scene, but when his budget got cut the sequence was removed from the movie. However, when Fox realized they didn’t have an action packed superhero picture, they apparently agreed to finance the scene — but Trank wasn’t allowed to shoot it. Instead, the material he got from the late attempt to film it didn’t match his pre-visualization or the rest of what he had shot, so he was forced to scrap the scene anyway. Oof. More signs of a serious communication disconnect on this movie all around.
Thoughts? Would the scene had made things better, even if marginally? Let us know below.
The Thing is not a mutant as far as the Marvel universe is concerned. Needlessly nerdy to point as it is, but someone would\’ve eventually gotten around to it.