The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out now and it might be the most self-contained, standalone MCU movie since Captain America: The First Avenger 14 years ago. But that doesn’t mean it contains no teases for the future. As is tradition for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this movie contains both a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene. The first one is a direct setup to the next Avengers movie, Avengers: Doomsday coming December 2026. The second is just a bit of fun.
We’re going to breakdown both of them for you below! Beware spoilers.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Mid-Credits Scene
The mid-credits scene of First Steps moves the action four years in the future. Sue (Vanessa Kirby) is reading to towheaded Franklin, now a preschooler. Franklin wants a different book, but not whatever high-level physics book H.E.R.B.I.E. suggests. After grabbing another age appropriate book for the boy, she turns around and sees something horrifying. Someone has gotten into the Baxter Building and is kneeling down next to Franklin. He’s got a green cape and hood and he holds a metal mask, showing Franklin but no one else his true face.
We then read “The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday.”
Naturally this is Dr. Doom, although we don’t know if it’s specifically the Robert Downey Jr. variant or if it’s the Doom from Earth 828. One of the things the movie shows us earlier on is that Latveria is a country but that its representative doesn’t attend any UN or Future Foundation symposiums. So while this mid-credits scene shows us a Victor Von Doom, we don’t know if it’s a) the Doom from this universe or another, 2) if it’s Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom or another, or III) if this scene will play into the next movie or if that’s just a red herring. (Likely it’s very germane, since Matt Shakman has said he didn’t shoot anything with Doom; this would have been during Doomsday filming.)
Franklin Richards will likely act as the MacGuffin for all the incursion events we’ll see in both Doomsday and Secret Wars. You can read all about Franklin and his comic history here.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Post-Credits Scene
This one’s just fun. It’s a full opening sequence of the in-universe Fantastic Four cartoon in which the Thing says “It’s clobberin’ time!” The style of the animation replicates the original 20-episode 1967 animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon shows animated versions of various FF villains we heard tell about earlier in the movie. It’s pretty delightful.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters now.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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