If you ask the stars of the new Fantastic Four what they think of this new movie, at least one of them will say that it’s a “C” job.
Paul Walter Hauser, who played Mole Man in Fantastic Four, gave the new Marvel project a modest 3.5 out of 5 points on Letterboxd.
Paul Walter Hauser, who plays Mole Man in #FantasticFour, gave the movie 3.5 stars on Letterboxd pic.twitter.com/IPtQvMbWq7
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) August 17, 2025
The actor praises the music, design work, and acting, but jokingly complains about the scene where he appeared with Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), which was deleted in the final version.
“I love the music, the production design, the acting. It’s a shame they cut my scene with Vanessa Kirby, but I was happy to be in a Marvel movie (this is a first-world problem; I’m too spoiled by being able to act in movies). I look forward to continuing the story with Franklin!”
The scene Gauser mentions was described in detail by Kirby herself in an interview with Variety. There, Sue threatened Mole/Harvey Elder with the words: “I can give you an aneurysm in two seconds if I want to.” Instead, in the movie, Elder’s feud with the Fantastic Four is practically silenced. All conflicts are “smoothed out” by the time Galactus (Ralph Fiennes) arrives, and the only direct mention of them appears in the episode where Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and the Mole almost get into a fight in the Baxter Building.
Despite numerous fan theories, “Fantastic Four: The First Steps” does not destroy Earth-828. After the defeat of Galactus, Mole Man can become a permanent ally of the first Marvel family. While the deleted scene may still be shown to us in The Avengers: Day of Judgment, or in a potential prequel to Fantastic Four.
Earlier, all the shots with John Malkovich’s villain were cut from the movie (although one still can be seen in the first trailer).
Critics and viewers, compared to Gauser’s personal assessment, were a slightly better opinion of the movie. Currently, the Fantastic Four have 86% and 91% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a decent 7.3 out of 10 on IMDb. So far, the film has earned a total of $468 million at the global box office — modest compared to the success of The Avengers, but still the best result for Marvel in 2025.
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