Thunderbolts* introduced a new team of heroes who will do their best to protect the Earth from upcoming threats. The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie also began to pave the way for the future of the franchise. While audiences were happy to see unexpected characters delivering a very solid movie, the post-credits sequence from Thunderbolts* turned out to be somewhat confusing. Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and the rest of her team witness a foreign ship making its way to the planet, and the scanners reveal that the aircraft belong to the Fantastic Four. It could be easy to predict that Marvel’s First Family will lose during the events of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is why they’re headed to the main timeline. But what if that wasn’t the case?
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps hasn’t been released yet. Fans can’t know for sure the exact reason why the team is headed towards the Earth that the Avengers have protected for years. Instead of losing against Galactus (Ralph Ineson), there could be plenty of reasons as to why the Fantastic Four could be desperate to make contact with the heroes of this universe, and it all comes down to what’s about to happen in the MCU.
1) A Warning Regarding Doom
Marvel Studios shocked the world when they announced that Robert Downey Jr. will appears as Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Even if viewers know who Doctor Doom is in the comic books and who will be portraying him on the big screen, Marvel hasn’t revealed where this villain will hail from originally. We could assume that Downey’s Doctor Doom originates from the Earth in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and that the team led by Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) could have some experience with the villain by the time the credits roll on their movie.
Should this pan out, it wouldn’t be the first time heroes from the MCU travel long distances to warn their peers about upcoming threats. In Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) was sent by Heimdall (Idris Elba) to warn Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) about the arrival of Thanos (Josh Brolin), and the same thing could happen between the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
The Fantastic Four don’t have to lose against Galactus in order to warn other timelines about the arrival of Doctor Doom either. A possible outcome could be the team defeating Galactus before confronting Robert Downey Jr.’s villain, creating the need for them to travel to a different universe while seeking help.
2) A Heroic Sacrifice
Facing off the latest version of Galactus won’t be an easy task for the Fantastic Four. In the comics, the villain is able to consume entire planets to satisfy his hunger. This will almost certainly be the larger conflict of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a hungry abomination making his way to the Fantastic Four’s home in order to consume it all. The team won’t have a lot of time to come up with a plan and one course of action will be to gather as much information about Galactus as possible before time runs out.
The trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps hinted at this conflict with the introduction of the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who made her way to Earth to declare the planet as “marked for death.” What if fighting against Galactus isn’t the only price the Fantastic Four have to pay? Perhaps the team could be forced out of their universe as a sacrifice. The last resort to save their people could be related to the group escaping towards the main MCU timeline. If this scenario happens to take place, the people of the Fantastic Four’s timeline is saved while the team itself travels closer to the events of Avengers: Doomsday.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will reveal the fate of Marvel’s First Family, but the tease of their arrival in the MCU at the end of Thunderbolts may not be as spoilery as some fans believe.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres in theaters on July 25.
