I’m Worried That Fantastic Four: First Steps Created Huge Challenge For Its Own Sequel

There’s already a huge challenge facing the inevitable sequel of The Fantastic Four: First Steps after the team’s first adventure on-screen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe pitted them against one of their most iconic villains. Marvel’s First Family finally joined the MCU in 2025, and Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been celebrated as the best live-action adaptation of Marvel Comics’ legendary superhero team. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be reprising their roles many times in the MCU’s future, but they already have a huge problem to overcome.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduced Reed Richards’ Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm’s Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm’s Human Torch, and Ben Grimm’s Thing four years after they became the Fantastic Four. Exposure to cosmic rays on a mission to space transformed them physiologically, giving them incredible superpowers and making them instant celebrities on their homeworld of Earth 828. The team battled Galactus four years after receiving their gifts, but, prior to First Steps’ events, they also fought many other notable Marvel antagonists, which creates an interesting problem for the sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

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First Steps Confirmed Many Minor Fantastic Four Villains Have Already Been Defeated

In the four years that the Fantastic Four had been operating as the only superhero team of Earth 828 prior to the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the group came into opposition from a number of villains. The first foe they fought as a united group was the leader of the underground community of Subterranea, Harvey Elder’s Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser). The Fantastic Four debuted to the world during their fight against the “beast from below,” Giganto, one of Elder’s Moloids and the team’s first antagonist in Marvel Comics back in 1961’s The Fantastic Four #1.

In scenes mostly cut from the theatrical release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the titular group also fought Red Ghost — who would have been played by John Malkovich — and his Super-Apes. They also took on the Mad Thinker during his assault on New York City. After finding out about Sue Storm’s pregnancy, Reed Richards set to work baby-proofing not only the Baxter Building, but the whole of New York, sending law enforcement to apprehend the Puppet Master, the Wizard, and Diablo, hastily defeating many of the team’s most notable enemies from Marvel Comics.

The Fantastic Four Will Have Faced 2 Of Their Biggest Adversaries By the Time Their Sequel Rolls Around

The Fantastic Four: First Steps confirmed that the titular team have already got some of their best villains from Marvel Comics under control on Earth 828, which poses a significant problem for a sequel. Marvel Studios may struggle to find appropriate villains for the follow-up to First Steps, as so many of the Fantastic Four’s foes have already been defeated. By the time the sequel rolls around, this will also include two of the team’s most powerful and almost-unmatched enemies: the planet-eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and their archenemy Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.).

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The Fantastic Four protected the Earth and the newborn Franklin Richards from Galactus and his herald, Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) in First Steps. Galactus sought the Power Cosmic inside Franklin, but Doctor Doom has also been teased to have a relationship with the child, as he met him in the Baxter Building in The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ mid-credits scene. The Fantastic Four will battle Doctor Doom alongside many other MCU heroes in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, posing the question as to who the team will fight in their inevitable MCU sequel.

Who Could the MCU’s Fantastic Four Battle in Their Inevitable Sequel?

There’s little doubt that a sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be developed by Marvel Studios, and will likely release in theaters after Doomsday and Secret Wars bring the Multiverse Saga to a close. It seems unlikely that The Fantastic Four 2 will feature Galactus’ return after his defeat in First Steps. It’s perhaps even more unlikely that minor villains such as Mole Man, the Mad Thinker, the Puppet Master, the Wizard, Diablo, and Red Ghost will be featured as primary antagonists, though it would be great to see Malkovich finally make his MCU debut.

The story of The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ sequel hasn’t become clear, but it’s very possible they could continue to battle Doctor Doom even after the events of Doomsday and Secret Wars. If not Doom, perhaps Marvel Studios could recast Kang and his villainous variants to pit the Fantastic Four against Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rama-Tut, whom they defeat in Marvel Comics. Marvel could also use First Steps’ sequel to introduce Inhumans to the MCU proper, perhaps having the team fight Maximus the Mad or other antagonistic Inhumans, or another major foe such as Annihilus could debut. There are plenty of choices, but it’s a shame some of the Fantastic Four’s more minor foes might never be seen in the MCU.

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