It's no secret that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will introduce Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. On the page, he's an immensely powerful mutant, capable of bending reality and creating new ones.
You probably don't need us to tell you how that could be key in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Now, a new rumour suggests Doctor Doom will indeed set his sights on Franklin.
According to @MyTimeToShineH, "Doom will take Franklin Richards and will use him for his plans." This ties the Fantastic Four to Doctor Doom and explains what brings Marvel's First Family to Earth-616. It also lines up with First Steps' leaked post-credits scene.
We still don't know whether Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor Von Doom hails from the same Earth as the Fantastic Four we'll meet for the first time next month.
While that would deepen the dynamic between these characters, it's just as likely that Franklin's immense power is what brings Doom to his reality, prompting the heroes to follow him to Earth-616 (or send Franklin there to keep him safe, only for Victor to follow).
It's hard to join the dots without having seen The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and many of these questions might not be answered until Doomsday, anyway.
"It’s been so easy," Sue Storm actor Vanessa Kirby recently said of working with Pedro Pascal, who plays Reed Richards. "We met months before, we wanted to do this together. We spent time, we did some workshops together. We did everything to bond prior to [filming], because when you read the comics, you’re just like 'These two, man, they have lasted the course for some really hard stuff.'"
"And you know, I always find in onscreen relationships, to believe it, you have to answer the question 'Why?' You have to know why, not just, 'Oh, those two actors are together, or those two characters belong together,' and we’re told that."
Kirby added, "I get the pull, and even though they go through hard times, they keep coming back together. In the comics, to me, it always appeared like one of those really iconic relationships, but believable because it wasn’t a fantasy. It was just real."
One of Reed and Sue's biggest hurdles to overcome will be becoming new parents. That's teased in the latest trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which you can watch in the player below.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—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) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne have been cast in mystery roles. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is rumoured to appear, though that's surely a given with Avengers: Doomsday on the way.
Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four: First Steps' screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) later coming on board for a final polish.
The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.