Shadowing Practice: The Original Plans for Fantastic Four: First Steps - Learn English Speaking with Video
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What if the Fantastic Four didn't just battle Galactus and the Silver Surfer,
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but instead fought John Malkovich as the Red Ghost and his army of super apes?
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Not only that, what if Adam Driver and Emma Stone played
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Reed and Sue Richards?
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And finally, what if the film featured a completely different musical score by Michael Giacchino?
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Believe it or not, all of these things almost happened.
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So to find out how we went from all of that to the movie we got,
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let's dive in and take a look at what could have been the Fantastic Four First Steps.
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Recently, it feels like almost every single major
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Marvel production suffers from the exact same behind -the -scenes disease.
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A grueling cycle of massive rewrites, extensive reshoots, and brutal recuts in the editing room.
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Instead of executing a clear, unified vision from day one, Marvel's massive tentpoles are increasingly being stitched together at the 11th hour,
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treating the script as a rough suggestion rather than a locked blueprint.
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First Steps was certainly no exception to this trend.
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What started as one distinct narrative was ruthlessly carved up during post -production, leaving a graveyard of deleted scenes, scrapped subplots, and entirely abandoned character arcs.
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One of the most notable casualties of all
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this editing was the complete removal of John Malkovich as the classic villain Ivan Kragov, better known as the Red Ghost.
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Originally, the film didn't begin with Reed and Sue learning about her pregnancy.
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Instead, the movie would have opened with a team waiting backstage
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to be introduced on the Ted Gilbert Show for Fantastic Four Day.
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But just as they're about to make their grand entrance, the Fantastic Four receive an urgent alert on their watches, forcing them to suddenly take off,
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mirroring the same gag that happens at the end of the film, meaning poor Ted Gilbert never actually gets his interview with the family.
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After ditching the talk show, the team would rush off to the Excelsior launch pad to stop
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Red Ghost and his Super Apes from stealing the team's rocket.
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This sequence also would have given
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Reed an opportunity to show off his powers more, something many criticized the final film for not doing enough of.
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The team would eventually stop
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Red Ghost with him being taken into custody.
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However, director Matt Shackman quickly realized he had a pacing problem.
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To get to the narrative faster, the entire rocket heist was scrapped.
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Instead of a full -blown set piece, snippets of this fight, including a brief shot of Reed kicking a super ape,
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were salvaged and repurposed into the quick origin montage we see at the start of the film.
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Also included in this origin montage were moments that featured the Fantastic Four in their original
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Jack Kirby suits.
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But Malkovich's role wasn't originally meant to be a one -off cameo at the start of the film.
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The Red Ghost was slated to return later with Reed visiting him in prison
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and offering him a work release program in exchange for help building one of the teleportation bridges.
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Red Ghost would agree, but later when Reed checks in with global stations in major cities like Madrid and Chicago,
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a booming voice with a distinct Russian accent would have echoed over the loudspeakers,
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mocking Richards and warning him that he's a fool to think he can pull off this plan.
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As Reed desperately pleads with him to stop, Red Ghost betrays him anyway and destroys the bridges.
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So why was such a massive sweeping character and subplot entirely excised from the movie.
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Allegedly, everything related to the Red Ghost just wasn't working.
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The character reportedly failed to resonate in test screenings, with audiences feeling that his later prison scenes added very little to the narrative
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and that the inclusion of the super apes came off as completely ridiculous.
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As a result, Red Ghost was replaced by the surfer coming back to destroy the bridges, which made more narrative sense.
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It kept the story focused on the primary antagonist that audiences knew
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and had been spending the most time with throughout the film.
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And to beef up the surfer's role, they went back and shot a new sequence where a backstory is shown,
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as we see her give herself to Galactus to save her planet and family, which Shackman felt reinforced the film's theme of family.
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However, an alternate version of these flashbacks were shot that included Johnny witnessing them himself metaphorically.
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The opening sequence wasn't the only casualty of the editing room.
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In fact, Shackman intentionally wrote and shot significantly more material for the first act just to establish the team's history.
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Because the film picks up four years after the Fantastic Four received their powers, Shackman initially felt they needed a massive amount of exposition to
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explain exactly what the family had been up to during that time jump.
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This resulted in a ton of world -building footage that ultimately was left on the cutting room floor.
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Some of these extended sequences included a detailed television tour of the Baxter Building, heavily inspired by Jackie Kennedy's famous tour of the White House,
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as well as glimpses into Reed's educational Mr. Fantastic Science show.
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Additionally, the much -publicized
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Family Dinner at Seven scene, which was heavily featured in the film's marketing, was nowhere to be found in the final film.
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However, perhaps the most interesting deleted scene was a sequence featuring
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Ben Grimm appearing as a contestant on the dating game.
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This wasn't just played for retro laughs, it was specifically designed to establish
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Ben's deep sense of loneliness and his desperate desire for love despite his rocky exterior.
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While Shackman noted
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that shooting all this extra footage was helpful for the creative team to build out their massive retro futuristic world,
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they quickly ran into a pacing problem,
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as they realized that lingering too long on the team's celebrity status and daily routines was dragging down the film's momentum.
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To keep the story moving forward, these character -driven moments were ultimately gutted so the film could get to its true inciting incident,
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the arrival of the Silver Surfer on Earth.
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Beyond the Red Ghost and the massive
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Act I worldbuilding, an extended sequence was also cut where Herbie was actually destroyed
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by angry protesters who wanted the Fantastic Four to give up their baby to Galactus.
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This would have led to a poignant moment where the thing discovers the broken machine
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and brings the pieces back to the Baxter building.
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One of the most unfortunate casualties of the film's cuts was an important relationship building scene between Harvey Elder and Sue Storm,
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where Sue descends into subterranean to find out why he's threatening to revolt again.
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It's a surprisingly grounded moment, as the two share a drink, with Mole Man respectfully pouring the pregnant
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Sue a glass of water, while he has a whiskey and complains that her underground sewer pipes burst.
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The scene goes on to prove
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Sue's diplomatic value to the team by showing her actively turning a former enemy into a reluctant ally.
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Rather than treating Harvey like another villain to be defeated, Sue offers him an olive branch.
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She proposes employing his people to repair the damaged pipe, addressing the very problem that sparked his anger in the first place.
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That small gesture becomes a crucial step toward building real trust between the surface world and subterranea.
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And that setup pays off in a massive way during the third act, when Mole Man opens his doors
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and allows the people of New York to evacuate into subterranea while the Fantastic Four lure Galactus to Times Square.
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He doesn't do it because he suddenly loves the team.
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In fact, he still despises most of them.
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But he does it because of Sue, and because of the foundation she quietly built with him earlier in the film.
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Another fascinating wrinkle in the film's evolution came through Michael Giacchino's score,
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because the version of a score that we heard in theaters was not the first version he wrote.
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Giacchino actually started building the music incredibly early, after Kevin Feige brought him in to compose the music for the film's
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Comic -Con presentation.
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And by the time cameras were rolling, he had already written themes for Galactus and The Silver Surfer,
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but because the movie kept evolving through production and post -production, the score that once fit the film suddenly belonged to a different version of it.
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Giacchino later admitted he had written a whole other score that audiences would probably never hear,
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because when he finally watched the music that he wrote against the new cut, he felt it wasn't working.
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Rather than trying to awkwardly shoehorn his existing work into a movie it was no longer built for,
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Giacchino made the massive decision to completely throw it out and take a second stab at the entire score,
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leaving his first attempt locked away in the Marvel Vault.
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With rumors swirling that the original version of the film was nearly three hours long, contained a different score, and missing a significant amount of content,
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fans immediately began clamoring for a director's cut.
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However, Shackman quickly dashed those hopes, explaining that because so much of the deleted material relied heavily on CGI,
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the visual effects for those scenes were never finished.
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As a result, releasing a longer cut of first steps would require massive post -production work
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and a hell of a lot of money, meaning we'll likely never see it.
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The casting process for the film was also incredibly turbulent, starting with the decision to move away from John Krasinski.
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While Krasinski had previously played a variant of Reed Richards in Multiverse of Madness,
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Marvel always viewed that appearance as a one -off piece of fan service, rather than a long -term commitment.
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When it came time to cast the definitive version of the team for the mainline MCU,
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the studio set its sights on entirely different roster of talent.
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Marvel initially targeted Adam Driver and Emma Stone to lead the franchise as Reed and Sue.
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However, both actors ultimately declined the offers.
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Driver allegedly didn't connect with the character, while Stone declined because Marvel wasn't willing to pay the exceptionally high salary that she was demanding.
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With their top choices out of the running, Marvel was forced to scramble.
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Before the start of the 2023 SAG after a strike in July, the studio held a series of screen tests for Reed Richards,
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with several different actors, including Christopher Abbott and Jamie Dornan.
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However, these auditions apparently didn't go very well, leaving the studio empty -handed.
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This forced, creative pause during the Hollywood strikes ultimately allowed
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Marvel to re -strategize, completely resetting their search before finally landing on Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby.
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However, First Step serves as yet another stark reminder of the chaotic realities behind
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Marvel's modern production machine.
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While the theatrical cut succeeded in finally bringing the first family into the MCU, it left behind a massive graveyard of fascinating concepts,
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scrapped scores, and abandoned character arcs,
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proving once again that sometimes the most interesting version of a movie is the one that never makes it to the screen.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Original Plans for Fantastic Four: First Steps”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: film, Reed, Ghost, massive, Fantastic. This video has 125 sentences and 1869 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:32. The speaker talks fast, about 219 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| sequence noun | /ˈsiː.kwəns/ | A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series. |
| narrative noun | /ˈnæɹ.ə.tɪv/ | The systematic recitation of an event or series of events. |
| edit verb | /ˈɛdɪt/ | To change a text, or a document. |
| delete verb | /dɪˈliːt/ | To remove, get rid of or erase, especially written or printed material, or data on a computer or other device. |
| scrap noun | /ˈskɹæp/ | A (small) piece; a fragment; a detached, incomplete portion. |
| casualty noun | /ˈkæʒu.əlti/ | Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster. |
| establish verb | /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ | To make stable or firm; to confirm. |
| decline verb | /dɪˈklaɪn/ | To move downwards, to fall, to drop. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| pace noun | /peɪs/ | A step taken with the foot. |
| footage noun | /ˈfʊtɪd͡ʒ/ | An amount of film or tape that has been used to record something, or the content of the recording. |
| rocket noun | /ˈɹɑk.ɪt/ | A cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light… |
| distinct adjective | /dɪˈstɪŋkt/ | Capable of being perceived very clearly. |
| pipe noun | /ˈpaɪp/ | A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube. |
| arc noun | /ɑɹk/ | That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| build out verb | To develop or expand (a system, structure, project, etc.). |
| come off verb | To become detached. |
| come through verb | To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway. |
| drag down verb | To cause (other people or another person) to suffer the same fate, or to feel the same negative mood. |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| leave behind verb | To abandon. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as wasn't, didn't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: theater /ˈθi(ə)tɚ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, theatrical /θiˈætɹɪkəl/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: casualty /ˈkæʒu.əlti/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, establishment /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ.mənt/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: casualty /ˈkæʒu.əlti/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, allegedly /əˈlɛdʒ.ɪd.li/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, establishment /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ.mənt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like sequence, narrative, edit.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.