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Fantastic Four: First Steps hasn’t even hit theaters, but given the whole interconnected nature of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), it’s fair to speculate what’s next. Specifically, we already know that Marvel’s First Family will live to fight another day in the currently filming Avengers: Doomsday. So, since they’re in the 2026-debuting megamovie, what exactly does that mean for the movie we’re about to watch in 2025?
While we don’t know how Fantastic Four: First Steps will wrap up, barring some last-minute swerve, it’s likely that the new flick will finish the team’s conflagration with the massive Galactus (Ralph Ineson), and find them ending on a triumphant note.
…Or will it? There’s a shot in the trailer of a planet that looks very much like Earth imploding. And we know, thanks to the Thunderbolts post-credits scenes, that the FF’s spaceship ends up in the MCU somehow. Whether they’re inside that spaceship, or someone else is hitching a ride is very much TBC.
How will The Fantastic Four end up in the MCU? We know half the answer – maybe
But let’s assume for the moment that the Fantastic Four – that would be Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, as Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing – end up leaving their retro-future Earth for Marvel’s main MCU universe, aka the 616 (all apologies to Iman Vellani). In particular, we already know the four main actors are in Doomsday thanks to Marvel’s 6-hour-long livestream chair-reveal video that announced that movie’s cast.
Not to get too in the weeds here, but even without any revealed plot points, we can intuit quite a bit about what may happen in Doomsday. Specifically, Incursions, events when one multiverse rubs up against another one (that’s the simplified version) will begin to happen, likely leading to a multiversal cascade that reduces the whole of reality to a patchwork planet called Battleworld – that’s likely what either happens at the end of Doomsday, and/or in Avengers: Secret Wars.
So while the FF may be trying to save their own dimension, it’s more than likely they lose, and are headed to the 616 as refugees. Whether that happens in First Steps proper (not likely), in a post-credits scene (slightly more likely) or in Doomsday (almost definitely), we’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, at some point we’ll get the Fantastic Four perspective on that Thunderbolts* scene.
There is another factor to consider, though.
Save The Franklin, Save The World?
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman revealed what seems to be a key plot point in First Steps: that Galactus is on a "collision course" with Reed and Sue’s baby, Franklin. In the comics, Franklin is a combo of the cosmic power that irradiated the FF, and thus gained massive, reality-shaking powers himself. That caused quite a lot of problems when he was a baby, and as he grew up, even more problems. While we don’t know how Franklin plays into the movie beyond this, he seems to be powerful enough to make even the massive, ageless Galactus interested. Could he be of interest to other characters, as well?
Possible spoilers here, but in the lead-up to the Secret Wars comics by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribiç that Doomsday and Secret Wars are likely pulling at least in part from, Doctor Doom (played in the movies by Robert Downey Jr.) teams up with a reality-changing character called Molecule Man to save whatever bits of reality he can (see above re: Battleworld). Could Baby Franklin fill that role? Perhaps the FF’s spaceship in that scene in Thunderbolts* doesn’t contain the FF at all… But instead, Doctor Doom with a baby, ready to “save” reality in a way of his own making? Doom’s, not the baby’s.
Doctor Doom is so important to the mythology of the Fantastic Four, he’s almost a fifth member of the team, even as an antagonist. So it’s surprising that, as far as we know, he won’t be in First Steps.
However, if you’re an armchair detective, you know that the antagonism between the FF and Doom will likely play into Doomsday. Though Kirby, Bachrach, and Quinn were all peppered throughout the cast, the final two chairs were saved for Pascal and Downey Jr. It seems extremely likely that whether Doom plays a role in First Steps, or not, Reed and Victor are going head to head in Doomsday.
But What Does This All Mean For Fantastic Four 2?
We’re definitely putting the cart before the horse here, but reportedly, Marvel and Disney are already developing a Fantastic Four sequel. Which, given the promising advance tracking and the fact that the team seems key to not just First Steps but also Doomsday and Secret Wars, makes a lot of sense. But what in the world could a sequel look like?
A lot of that depends on what happens in Secret Wars, of course. In the comic books, after saving the day, Reed and company spent a while restoring the multiverse (thanks to, guess who: Franklin). Far more likely is that we get a Crisis on Infinite Earths type situation, where the MCU is rebooted into one, Prime Earth, with the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and everyone else existing on the same planet. That would allow the nearly 20-year-old Marvel Studios (at that point) to potentially keep the elements they want, and reboot the rest.
For the FF, that likely means no more retro-future setting, like in First Steps. But hey, it does mean that Johnny can hang out with Spider-Man. So win-win?
For more on the Marvel Phase 6 opener and future MCU projects, check out our complete guide to upcoming Marvel movies.
