By George & Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps
It wouldn’t be an MCU movie without a post-credits scene or two, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps is no exception. Those who speculated that the film’s post credits scenes would set up the events of Avengers: Doomsday were proven right in what ended up being, in our opinion, one of Marvel’s most haunting post-credits scenes to date.
Keep reading for a detailed description of the post-credits scenes of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
After the initial credits, white text on the black screen reads, “Four Years Later.” This is an unexpected time jump, especially given that it occurs in the context of a mid-credits scene.
The scene begins with Sue Storm reading a book to her and Reed’s son Franklin, who is now four years old. Sue and Franklin sit close together on a couch in the living room of the Baxter Building and share a lovely mother-son moment. Eventually, Sue stands up to get Franklin another book. As she walks, she passes by HERBIE, who jokes about giving Franklin his favorite book “On the Origins of Species” by Charles Darwin.” This little note seems to confirm that Franklin Richards will resemble the character from the comics in having superior intellect, amongst other abilities.
Sue picks up a book from the kitchen and begins to head back into the living room when she stops in her tracks. She senses something is wrong and uses her powers to hone in on another part of the living room. She walks into this part of the room and approaches a piece of furniture. Peaking over the piece of furniture, Sue sees a terrifying sight. Her young son Franklin is sitting on the ground as a man covered in a dark green hood is leaning over him. On the ground is the mask of Doctor Doom, revealing that Doom reveals his face to Franklin. More broadly, this scene suggests that Doom has a vested interest in Franklin Richards, much like Galactus did in the film, and that this will likely play out in Avengers: Doomsday.
As far as post-credits scenes go, this ranks among the more unsetting for us. The imagery of the hooded Doctor Doom lurking over young Franklin, after somehow sneaking into the building, is haunting to say the least. Making the scene even scarier is the fact that we don’t catch a glimpse of Robert Downey Jr.’s face as the character, keeping this a mystery until the character’s full-fledged debut in Avengers: Doomsday.