The Fantastic Four: Writer reveals the film's surprising villains in Reed Richards starrer superhero film

Screenwriter Jeremy Slater secured a job writing a screenplay or two for 20th Century Fox's last effort at resurrecting the Fantastic Four film series after joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe by directing the writer's room for Moon Knight. Although the final product has gone to be one of the most loved films in superhero history, the story could have been slightly different had it featured a pair of villains that were originally planned.

According to Comicbook.com, Slater, the film's first draft had a live-action version of both Annihlus and Galactus, but the villains were immediately omitted from the film so that Dr. Doom could acquire more screen time.

They had Annihilus in his draft of the classic Fantastic Four as they were attacked for the first time when they got to the Negative Zone, Slater explained. They were assaulted by Galactus in the first draft, and the whole plot was that Galactus fired the cosmic radiation through the portal, and then the audience would discover that Galactus was following that radiation back and was on his way to Earth, said the screenwriter.

Slater admitted that the notion seemed "too much" for the studio, which asked him to tone it down. They actually faced Annihilus in the second draft, and he was 20-feet tall and cybernetic, the author claimed. He presented him as Jurassic Park's T-Rex, with the way he'd be pursuing and assaulting them, and it sounded like he was the one who murdered Victor, and they barely made it back through the portal in time. But it felt like a very exciting twist or entertaining way of using Annihilus that they hadn't seen before, he added.

Fantastic Four and Moon Knight are now available to watch on Disney+ Hotstar.