Funko has officially unveiled its first wave of The Fantastic Four: First Steps POPs, and in keeping with the company's tradition of revealing spoilers for upcoming movies, these plastic Fantastics confirm that a certain character will make their MCU debut in the reboot.
Spoilers ahead.
In addition to all four members of Marvel's First Family and the Silver Surfer, the Sue Storm POP comes with Franklin Richards. This reveal probably won't come as a major surprise, since we've been hearing rumors that Reed and Sue's son will appear in First Steps for a while, and the most recent trailer confirmed that Sue will be pregnant (we now know that she will give birth at some point).
A previous rumor claimed that Avengers: Doomsday was casting actors between 10-13 to play Franklin, who will have a "major role" in the film. If you're a fan of the FF comics, you'll probably have a pretty good idea how the lad could potentially age-up between movies.
On the page, Richards - a reality-warping mutant - uses his abilities to grow into adulthood. This allows him to utilize his psionic powers to their full potential, but after realizing that his mind still lacked an adult's emotional maturity, he ultimately decides to transform back into a child. If Doomsday does follow this storyline, we'd expect some big changes to how things play out.
Though the full First Steps trailer didn't confirm this, we have heard that Galactus sends the Silver Surfer to demand that Reed and Sue hand Franklin over. This could indicate that the MCU will adapt at least some elements of the "Earth X" arc, which saw Franklin become the new Galactus for a time. Again, we don't anticipate a direct adaptation, but there's a chance Franklin will transform into a near God-like being in order to protect (or restore) the Multiverse.
First Steps stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, Freaky Tales) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing.
Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich are also on board in undisclosed roles.
Kevin Feige has confirmed that the movie will take place in an alternate universe, but we know that Marvel's First Family will appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, so we wouldn't be surprised if they find their way into the main MCU timeline by the end of this movie.
Spoilers follow.
We actually see the team arriving to the main 616 universe in Thunderbolts' post-credits scene.
"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."
Matt Shakman directs The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.