Marvel’s newest movie is here, and we have good and bad news. The good: You don’t have to do any homework before seeing The Fantastic Four: First Steps, according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. The bad: It’s the last Marvel flick we’re getting until 2026. More good: It has a super Rotten Tomatoes score. More bad: You’ll miss out if you don’t stick around to watch the credits.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps premiered in theaters last week and kicks off Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It drops viewers into a retrofuturistic world where — due to an accident that mutated them and gave them powers — the heroes are Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). 

CNET’s Kourtnee Jackson reviewed First Steps, which she noted is “heavy on the sci-fi and tender family dynamic.” The film featuring Marvel’s First Family continues the tradition of bonus clips after the movie. Here’s what you need to know about post-credit scenes.

Does The Fantastic Four: First Steps have post-credits scenes?

Yep, it sure does. The new Fantastic Four movie has a mid-credits and post-credits scene. If you want to watch both, you should plan to stay in the theater for about an additional 11 minutes after the film.

If you’re here for details about what happens in those clips, you’ll find that below. Don’t keep reading unless you want a spoiler-packed rundown.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows Marvel’s First Family during a pivotal time in their lives: The pregnancy and birth of Reed and Sue’s baby son, Franklin. That also coincided with the most significant challenge the Four had yet faced: Their planet served up as a snack for the intimidating Galactus.

In the end, the Four manage to take their home off the menu, and the film wraps up with them continuing their duties as the protectors of their world (and of the adorable Franklin). It’s clear that Franklin is no average infant either — Galactus identified the baby as a worthy planet-eating successor, and Franklin’s mere presence around his mother seemed enough to resurrect her after the final boss battle. The film’s mid-credit scene, which starts about two minutes after the ending, revolves around Franklin and his loving mom.

The scene takes place four years later, meaning Franklin is no longer a tiny tot. Sue and Franklin are sitting on a couch together, and she gets up to grab a new book for them to read together. She asks H.E.R.B.I.E. if the robot has seen the book Franklin loves, and she swaps out one of his favorites, The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, for the other, which is a more kid-friendly book. The exchange between mom and robot suggests the little boy is advanced for his age. But the good times are cut short when Sue senses something is off. 

She returns to Franklin to find him reaching out and touching a cloaked character who wasn’t there just moments earlier. We don’t see the intruder’s face, but he’s holding a silver mask. It’s undoubtedly the incoming MCU antagonist Doctor Doom. The audience sees a message that says, “The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Doomsday.” 

The Avengers movie will star Robert Downey Jr. as Doom and is scheduled for release on Dec. 18, 2026. 

As for the second post-credits scene: If you stay all the way to the end, you’ll catch the cast depicted as cartoon characters on a TV.

What could Doctor Doom’s appearance mean?

Between Mephisto in Ironheart and Doctor Victor Von Doom’s cameo in this movie, MCU theories are going to spin all over the place. Let us join in. 

Doom’s comic book history has mostly put him at odds with the Fantastic Four, with a deep rivalry between him and Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. The two were once university classmates but never close friends as Victor put himself above everyone. Over the course of storylines, they’ve battled each other while occasionally dropping their beef to fight a common threat.

As the Four’s main antagonist, he’s attacked, hatched various evil plots and even kidnapped Franklin. Like Reed, he’s a science whiz and has had brushes with the Silver Surfer and Galactus. With that in mind, he could either have intentions to snatch Franklin to use the child’s cosmic abilities or resurrection powers, or he’s shown up to ask the Fantastic Four for help in a different reality. Or both. After all, Galactus was dropkicked into a different dimension and could very well have landed in the universe with 616 — that Earth could be his next snack. The question is, will Doctor Doom be in his evil era or semi-hero era when Avengers: Doomsday drops next year? 

Franklin can create what’s called “pocket universes,” which are basically self-contained within a larger universe. Given that the Doomsday movie could possibly see multiversal drama play out after the events of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (remember that scene about an Incursion?) and Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom could be looking to harness the young boy’s powers to either stop — or take advantage of — whatever disaster is on the horizon. And let’s not forget that post-credits scene in Brave New World, where Sam Wilson was sternly warned of “the others” coming from another world. 

Realities and universes may be on the brink of colliding when we see Doom next, and then the plot will lead us all into Secret Wars, which, hopefully, gets into the Battleworld comic book storyline. Prepare to see a bunch of heroes and new villains converge from across the multiverse (that includes X-Men and Loki, too). 

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