{"id":89862,"date":"2025-07-24T23:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89862\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T23:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:21:15","slug":"how-fantastic-fours-credits-scene-sets-up-avengers-doomsday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/89862\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fantastic Four\u2019s credits scene sets up Avengers: Doomsday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mid-credit and post-credit scenes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps<\/a> go where you think they\u2019ll go\u2026 at least, until you stop to think, What does this really mean?<\/p>\n

In spite of dangling plot threads<\/a> scattered across 17 years of post-credit scene teasers, Marvel has yet to slow down its efforts in dangling a sequel carrot at the end of every MCU movie. We even get mid-credit scenes now, too! That\u2019s a lot of setup potential. <\/p>\n

But the one plopped into Fantastic Four might be the clearest alley-oop in Marvel history. All roads lead to Avengers: Doomsday<\/a>, currently in production. But how this mishmash of MCU Phases 5 and 6 and Kevin Feige\u2019s rewired continuity plans come together in a coherent, fulfilling way is the real mystery teased in this brief look ahead. <\/p>\n

[Ed. note: <\/strong>This post contains major spoilers for the ending of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, including the credits scenes.]<\/p>\n

What happens (and doesn\u2019t) in Fantastic Four\u2019s mid-credits scene<\/p>\n

(Or maybe it\u2019s just Mr. Doom? The comics have yet to verify Victor\u2019s doctorate diploma<\/a>\u2026)<\/p>\n

Marvel\u2019s much, much-anticipated #1 Latverian baddie seemingly pops up in a mid-credits sequence set #four-years after the events of First Steps. Marvel has yet to confirm whether that\u2019s Robert Downey Jr., star of 2026\u2019s Avengers: Doomsday, under the mask. In the scene, we only see a single shot of Doom crouching in front of super-toddler Franklin Richards<\/a>, mask in hand, green-caped-and-hooded back toward the camera. Amazingly, it\u2019s not too far off from this AI-generated fan video published days before opening??? People are sick.<\/p>\n

The scene still gets the brain-gears turning: Like Galactus, who wanted that baby<\/a>, Doom knows Reed and Sue\u2019s dear sweet son Franklin is a special lad. As depicted, in the time it takes Sue to go retrieve a picture book from the shelf, Doom has crept into the Richards\u2019 Baxter Building apartment and gone full Steve Buscemi in Con Air<\/a> on the poor unsuspecting child. What he intends to do next, and how that bridges Avengers: Doomsday, is the big unknown. Is this Doom from Earth-828, the dimension in which the Fantastic Four exist, or has he traveled from another pocket of the multiverse?<\/p>\n

Doom may not even exist on Earth-828, the Fantastic Four\u2019s home planet\/multiverse designation. His traditional stomping grounds of Latveria certainly does \u2014 we see signs marking its ambassador\u2019s seat when the Fantastic Four visit the United Nations. But if a version of Victor von Doom inhabits First Steps\u2019 version of Earth, he isn\u2019t enough of a threat to the world to earn a name-check alongside villains Red Ghost<\/a>, Puppet Master, Wizard, and Diablo. Maybe that dimension\u2019s version of Doom actually graduated from medical school and opened a practice?<\/p>\n

The alternative is that this Doom stepped out of a TVA-esque<\/a> portal from another plane of existence, knowing that Franklin was a precious source of cosmic power. (Or more specifically, the Power Cosmic<\/a>.) There\u2019s plenty of reason to think that\u2019s true, based on what we know about Avengers: Doomsday. But before we get to that: the actual shocker of First Steps\u2019 mid-credits scene.<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer, Thunderbolts*<\/a> wrapped up with a post-credits scene<\/a> that set a clear stage for future Marvel movies: the Fantastic Four\u2019s ship is spotted heading toward Earth-616, the main MCU setting<\/a>. In the tag, the New Avengers spot an \u201cextra-dimensional\u201d craft, the Fantastic Four\u2019s spaceship, blasting through Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The reveal looms over so much of First Steps, from the team\u2019s brush with a black hole in deep space to its ultimate plot to punch Galactus through a homemade portal on Earth \u2014 you\u2019re just waiting for Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben to get zapped from 828 to 616. Oh, they\u2019re saving it for the post-credits scene, of course! I thought. Nope.<\/p>\n

Despite that cameo from what we have to assume is Doctor Doom (unless it\u2019s some tricky fake-out, like a Doombot<\/a>), possibly traversing the multiverse, Fantastic Four: First Steps plays out entirely in the 828 universe. The Thunderbolts* stinger remains on the yet-to-be-paid-off Marvel credits-scene tease list<\/a>. So what does it all mean for Avengers: Doomsday? Casting, leaks, and rumors paint a potential picture.<\/p>\n

Franklin, Avengers: Doomsday, and the road to Secret Wars (spoilers)<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Marvel Studios\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we definitively know about Avengers: Doomsday:<\/p>\n