The Fantastic Four are largely considered to be the most prominent superhero quartet in the history of comic books. That’s partially why it has come as such a shock that Disney has taken this long to finally induct the famous family into their now decades-spanning Marvel cinematic universe. For those that don’t know, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally arrived in theaters over the weekend, to the tune of over $200 million at the box office, and an 86 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. While fans had many questions heading into First Steps, one of the most pressing thoughts on everyone’s mind was how the period piece would tie back into the canon of The Avengers, Spider-Man, and the cavalcade of heroes who fought against Thanos in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Now that The Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally released, we have a few ideas of how this integration will pan out logistically, largely thanks to a pair of riveting post-credit scenes. If you’re interested in unpacking these scenes, read ahead. We’ll outline exactly what appears on screen following the credit scroll, and discuss what this means for the upcoming crossover event Avengers: Doomsday. There will be mild spoilers and some speculation ahead, but we’ll do our best not to give away too many details about the narrative of the new Fantastic Four outing itself. With no further preamble, let’s dive right in and see what we can learn about the latest and greatest entrant into the expansive Marvel cinematic universe.
Is there a post-credit scene in ‘Fantastic Four’?
As stated above, there are actually two post-credit scenes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The latter is a simple retro-style animation sequence showcasing the core four characters, highlighting their many iterations throughout the years. This animation doesn’t provide much in the way of narrative, but it does offer some fun, lighthearted visuals and a sweet tribute to franchise co-creator Jack Kirby. While this is a visually interesting outro for the movie, the more fascinating reveal comes in the form of a mid-credit scene, which introduces one of comic books’ greatest villains. The scene in question opens on Sue Storm, five years after the events of the preceding film. She is seen reading to her son, Franklin Richards, before exiting the room for a brief moment. Before she returns, we see a cloaked, metal-masked man, whom we can assume to be Doctor Doom.
Though the man is not explicitly named, nor his face shown on the screen, his presence is unmistakable. His motivations, on the other hand, are left entirely ambiguous. A title card reading “The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday” closes out the scene, so we can surmise that this scene will be expounded upon within that film. Still, eagle-eyed comic book fans likely already have some idea of where this is all going. In the comics, Franklin Richards is said to be an Omega-level mutant, capable of warping reality at his whim. As the son of Sue Storm and Reed Richards, it only makes sense that Franklin would possess incredible power, intellect and influence within his reality. Doctor Doom is both an admirer of all things powerful and a power-hungry megalomaniac himself, meaning he likely seeks to destroy Franklin, or place him under his own influence.
Does Doctor Doom appear in ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’?
Doctor Doom does not appear in the body of First Steps, though his influence looms large over the entire narrative. Fans primarily know Doom as the key antagonist to the title heroes, and are already expecting to see him wreaking havoc in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. As a result, the mid-credit scene teasing Doom’s arrival is the first real glimpse we’ve gotten of the iconic villain in the MCU.
Iron Man‘s Robert Downey Jr. is confirmed to be returning to Marvel to don the metal mask for this character, though his face is never shown within First Steps. Since there are very few MCU movies left to spin the connective tissue between First Steps and Doomsday, we can surmise that the Fantastic Four will be a major part of that outing, along with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Anthony Mackie’s Captain America.
Why is John Krasinski not Mr. Fantastic?
If you’ve been following the MCU for some time, you may have expected to see The Office star John Krasinski donning the blue sweater as the Richards family patriarch in Fantastic Four: First Steps. While Krasinski has long served as a fan favorite for the role, the actor turned director refused to take on such a massive part due to his ongoing commitment to other projects. Still, Krasinski agreed to portray an iteration of Reed Richards back in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In that film, Richards worked alongside an array of other MCU heroes to lead a shadowy organization known as the Illuminati. Unfortunately for that universe’s residents, Krasinski’s Mr. Fantastic was quickly spaghettified by Wanda, AKA the Scarlet Witch, for standing in the way of her mission to acquire the Dark Hold.
In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Reed Richards is instead portrayed by Pedro Pascal. This marks the A-lister’s first of many performances in an MCU movie, as he’s set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday and beyond. Pascal’s casting turned out to be a great move, as his performance has been unilaterally praised by critics and general audiences alike. The actor’s chemistry with his co-stars has also become the subject of online discussion and memes, which offer a myriad of free promotion for the film.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the only Marvel film not to have a post-credit scene?
Though most fans have been primed to expect a post-credit scene from outings such as The Fantastic Four, there was one Marvel film with no such stinger whatsoever. The film in question is 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which was directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The studio likely chose to forgo a post-credit scene in Endgame in order to provide a sense of finality, since the movie marked the end of an era for most of the core cast.
What is the longest MCU post-credit scene?
Most MCU post-credit sequences are brief stingers that provide something of a teaser for a future character, plot or forthcoming film. While the standard end credit scenes run 60-90 seconds, such as the pair shown in First Steps, one recent Marvel outing shatters this record with a whopping two-minute and 54-second scene. The film in question is Thunderbolts, which premiered in May. It’s hard to say if this was a one-off experiment or if this will become a trend for future releases. For now, we’ll have to sit through the credits of future films to know for sure.
