Many Marvel fans want to know what happens in The Fantastic Four: First Steps credits scene before the film releases nationwide on July 25, 2025. The movie has already been released in more than 10 countries, including Colombia, Italy, Philippines, and France, so the post credits scenes have been seen (and precariously leaked online at the time of writing). If you’ve been following the leaks and rumors about Fantastic Four 2025, particularly how it’s supposed to connect to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, then these ending scenes probably won’t be terribly surprising. Still, what follows below are major spoilers (repeat: major spoilers!) for what happens at the end of the film, so please proceed with caution before scrolling further down.
What’s in The Fantastic Four: First Steps credit scenes?
There are two credit scenes for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, one that is an animated short that features the superhero team defeating various villains and another that reveals Doctor Doom kneeling next to Sue Storm’s child Franklin Richards.
It goes without saying that the second scene, which lasts about a minute, is far more significant to the plot. In an interview with ComicBook, director Matt Shakman confirmed that the Russo brothers, the directors for Thunderbolts* and Avengers: Doomsday, were responsible for the scene. So the connective thread between this Marvel reboot and the next Avengers film is undeniable.
This scene begins four years after the events of the movie with Sue Storm holding Franklin Richards, who is no longer a baby but a very bright child, in the circular living room at their home. She calls him a “butterfly” before leaving his side and walking toward the kitchen while asking H.E.R.B.I.E. about whether he can find her son’s favorite book.
The robot companion humorously shows her the cover of “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin, a book that explains the scientific theory of evolution, but Sue tells him that while that is indeed one of Franklin’s favorite reads, he had already read that yesterday. This provides evidence that this universe’s version of Franklin Richards is indeed very intelligent and, given that a trailer has revealed that the world-eating Galactus wants the baby, is incredibly powerful from the start. Sue then finds the book she’s looking for on the kitchen counter, saying that it will be a lot more fun than Darwin’s book, and heads back to the living room.
However, Sue slowly realizes that someone is actually in the room and cautiously steps toward her son. As she assesses the threat, she charges up her superpowers, sending out energy through her hand, and looks past the metal fireplace in the center of the room to see Franklin holding Doctor Doom’s metal mask. The villain, kneeling and fully cloaked from behind with a hood and cape, holds Franklin’s arm as he presumably touches the figure’s face. The tense music suddenly cuts out as the scene turns black with the words “The Fantastic Four will return in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY” across the screen.
For clarity, Robert Downey Jr. who plays Doctor Doom in the next Avengers film is not seen in this ending scene. That’s not too much of a shock, since a cameo by the actor would likely have cost quite a lot for a movie that already has a budget over $200 million.
To speculate as to what’s happening in the scene, it looks like Franklin is touching Victor von Doom’s scarred face and could be innocently healing them out of kindness. There’s need to be some reason for why The Fantastic Four from the alternate universe in The First Steps, Earth-828, manages to enter the main MCU timeline of Earth-616. So various theories believe that Doctor Doom kidnaps Franklin, forcing the superhero team to leave their retro-futuristic universe and emerge in the main universe where Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* take place.
