Fantastic Four: First Steps Theory Says Marvel Is Hiding an Avengers Villain’s Debut

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has a lot of ground to cover for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga, and a compelling new fan theory suggests that the marketing is just the tip of the iceberg. The movie seems to be all about the Fantastic Four’s fight against Galactus, but it also needs to set up Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) before Avengers: Doomsday. This weekend, a popular post on by Reddit user u/GoesOff_On_Tangent proposed that the trailers are only showing us the first half of the movie or so. They suggest that Galactus may be defeated early, and may serve only as set-up to Doom’s plot, and to the upcoming multiversal crossover.

The many trailers and teasers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps have given fans a clear idea of the movie’s plot — the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives on earth as the herald of Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and the superhero team does its best to protect humanity from destruction, which seems to take at least two tries. Meanwhile, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) reveals that she is pregnant, and her teammates all wonder what it means for the future of the Fantastic Four. The final trailer shows several shots where Sue and her teammates hold the baby in their arms.

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Last week’s post on r/FanTheories makes a few assumptions based on Marvel Comics and other fan theories as well. It assumes that Sue’s baby is Franklin Richards, a powerful telepath with the ability to warp reality itself in most depictions. Galactus and other powerful beings all fear Franklin, and many fans have speculated that Galactus will come to earth in this movie specifically to try and destroy Franklin before he can become a threat.

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Where this theory gets really interesting is its proposal that all of this is only the first half of the movie. It suggests that the Fantastic Four get help from Doom to deal with the threat of Galactus. Afterward, Doom will feel that he didn’t get enough credit for his role in the adventure, and that the Fantastic Four didn’t get enough criticism for causing the catastrophe in the fist place. He will then get rid of his rivals by sending their rocket into some kind of black hole or portal, which will explain their arrival on Earth-616 in the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*.

The theory goes on to speculate about what this will mean for Avengers: Doomsday — Doom will take over his version of earth and try to protect it from multiverse incursions by any means necessary. He may be the one to bring the X-Men characters into the fold, hoping to win them to his side, but all this activity will somehow make him a threat to the Avengers of the main timeline as well. He will manipulate various factions and characters into fighting amongst themselves, and they’ll come together just in time to realize that Doom’s work is actually a threat to the entire multiverse.

It’s a solid prediction of where the MCU is going, whether all the details turn out to be true or not. It’s worth noting that so far, Marvel Studios has generally denied that Doom appears in First Steps at all. Last month, director Matt Shakman even told Empire that “Doom is not a part of my film.” The strongest evidence that he will appear in he movie is a report by The InSneider, which said that he only makes a brief cameo in the post-credits scene.

Still, fans have found it easy to speculate that Marvel is guarding the surprise, and that Doom has a big presence in this movie. For one thing, he is typically an antagonist for the Fantastic Four, and he is most likely a variant from a different universe, so it would make sense to introduce him here. For another, the studio has not had time set up Doom as the main antagonist of the Multiverse Saga, and they’ll need all the time they can get to do so before the grand finale.

Whether some or all of this theory is correct or not, it seems safe to assume that Marvel has some tricks up its sleeve for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The movie hits theaters on Friday, July 25th.