Finally! It took a few missteps (looking at you, Fant4stic!) but with the latest Marvel Studios film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we now have the definitive live-action version of Marvel Comics’ First Family, the Fantastic Four.
Unlike most films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), The Fantastic Four: First Steps does not take place in the MCU’s 616 universe but in an alternate world designated 828, in honor of Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby. And what a fantastic (couldn’t help it) world this is!
The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a alternate 1960s-era world that has a colorful retro-futuristic vibe with flying cars, clean energy, clunky robots and a New York cityscape that looks like something that Stanley Kubrick, Walt Disney, and architects Eero Saarinen and Oscar Niemeyer would have conceived and executed.
This optimistic world celebrates the superhero team, the Fantastic Four, who were four astronauts that gained superpowers after a mission in space went wrong. The team is made up of its leader, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) aka Mr. Fantastic, his wife Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby) aka the Invisible Woman, her younger brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) aka the Human Torch, and Reed’s best friend, the pilot Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) aka the Thing.
For anyone who is unaware of the team, Reed is an Einstein-level genius who can stretch his body like rubber, Susan is the grounded foundation of the team and can project invisible force fields, Johnny is an impetuous hot-head who can burst into flames and shoot fire, while Ben is trapped in an orange rock body but has super strength. These heroes (and the other characters) were splendidly cast, and the actors perfectly emulate the essence of the Fantastic Four, while capturing the family chemistry that is essential to this superhero team. It was important for Marvel Studios to pull this off since the Fantastic Four are famous for being a family first and a superhero team second. Thankfully, Marvel Studios was able to accomplish this with a casting miracle.
Unlike the previous Fantastic Four films, this one relegates the team’s origin story to archival footage in the film’s inventive and colorful opening montage. After the montage, the film jumps right into the story. As the Fantastic Four go about living their somewhat normal lives and prepare for the birth of Reed and Susan’s child, an alien being called the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) appears over Times Square in New York City and announces that the world is slated to be consumed by her master, Galactus (Ralph Ineson). As the last and only hope for the Earth, the Fantastic Four set off in their spaceship to confront Galactus, who is on his way to Earth. What follows after meeting the cosmic colossus pushes the team to their emotional limits as they and the world prepare for the coming of Galactus.
By now, most fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are aware of how the latest MCU film, Thunderbolts* ended, including its post-credits scene. Anyone who hasn’t at this time should stop reading this because we’re going into full on SPOILERS for Thunderbolts* and what is next for the MCU, including next year’s Avengers: Doomsday.
Introducing the New Avengers
To no one’s real surprise, the asterisk in the film title Thunderbolts* was an indication that the title team of dysfunctional mercenaries with personal demons, stood for something else. For most of the film, the team’s comic relief, Alexi Shostakov, the Red Guardian, kept referring to the team as the West Chesapeake Valley Thunderbolts, after the soccer team his adopted daughter, Yelena Belova, played in as a child. By the end of the film, after the Thunderbolts saved New York City, they were introduced to the world as the New Avengers by the film’s antagonist, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, in a move to save her political career and to stay out of prison.
Speculation had been going on among fans ever since the film title included the asterisk. Some thought maybe it was a placeholder for a subtitle that would be spoilery. They were right to an extent because the asterisk was actually a placeholder for the film’s supposed real title, The New Avengers, which Marvel Studios began to openly flaunt just a few days after the film’s release.
Was the supposed title change to The New Avengers a desperate marketing attempt to drum up more interest in Thunderbolts*? Maybe. Then again, the marketing has been incredibly inventive for the film with innovative posters and some trailers that made the film out to be something that A24 would release. In any event, the fact that the Thunderbolts are actually the New Avengers does increase their profile and hints at what lies ahead for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
In the film’s two post-credits scenes and the montage shown during the initial credits, the so-called New Avengers are not well received by the world. Who could blame them? Just as how many of us complained about the lackluster lineup of the Thunderbolts when the film was announced, it was natural that most people would have a negative reaction to the replacement for the original Avengers. Where were the heavy hitters like Hulk or Thor? The New Avengers was made up of a bunch of mercenaries/super soldiers with similar and limited skill and power sets. As Yelena quipped at one point, “we just punch and shoot.” Then add in their questionable pasts, which probably could not be glossed over by marketing; although the original Avengers team members also had checkered backgrounds, including Yelena’s sister, Natasha Romanov, a fellow assassin.
But unknown to most of the world, deep down, these characters had heart and faced down their insecurities and flaws, which made them more endearing to audiences. Each of the Thunderbolts wanted a chance at redemption and to be part of something greater. This was obvious with Alexi who dreamed of recapturing the glory he had during the Cold War in Russia, Yelena dealing with depression and wanting something else in her life, or John Walker, who couldn’t fill in the shoes of Captain America as seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and wanted to prove himself. They just didn’t expect it to be as the lineup for the new incarnation of the Avengers.
Sure, these Thunderbolts were not superstars like Tony Stark, but they grew on us as they created a sort of family bond forged by the events they underwent together. What made the film so quickly beloved was that these characters were deeply flawed, yet had great chemistry, which helped them succeed in the end as they came together as a team. How they will carry on going forward is anyone’s guess, but we can speculate based on the final post-credits scene.
On March 26, 2025, Marvel Studios painstakingly announced the cast of next year’s Avengers: Doomsday with an online stream that lasted over FIVE hours. The marketing team behind this event can be either commended for increasing anticipation and publicity for Avengers: Doomsday or slammed for coming up with this idea of using chairs to slowly announce cast members and stretching this out for several long hours.
Many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) woke up that day with news that Marvel Studios was making a big announcement later in the morning. They speculated about what would the news be about. More MCU films announced? The cast for the new X-Men? At first, when the stream began and an obscure figure entered the screen and placed a chair with Chris Hemsworth’s name on it, people guessed it may have been a revelation that a new Thor film was coming. Then 12 and a half minutes later, another chair was revealed with Vanessa Kirby’s name on it, and we all knew by then the announcement was about the cast for Avengers: Doomsday. It was inevitable since the film was scheduled to begin filming around this time and the finale of the stream declared just that. These were the following cast members announced for Avengers: Doomsday in the order they were announced:
Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman
Anthony Mackie as Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Bucky/Winter Soldier
Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent aka dime store Captain America
Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing
Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Kelsey Grammer as the Beast
Lewis Pullman as the Sentry
Danny Ramirez as the Falcon
Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch
David Harbour as Red Guardian
Winston Duke as M’Baku
Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
Tom Hiddleston as Loki, most likely the God of Stories
Patrick Stewart as Professor X
Ian McKellan as Magneto
Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
James Marsden as Cyclops
Channing Tatum as Gambit
Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic and
Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
That is an impressive and surprising line up for what will be the biggest and most important MCU film in years. The announcement certainly generated excitement among fans and much of it was positive although there were many questions that went unanswered. Here are a few takeaways:
Drawn Out Announcement
On paper it seemed like a good idea to slowly announce the cast with intervals that lasted several minutes. With a cast this large it took over five hours for the announcements to be completed and this tried the patience of many online viewers who wanted (and screamed) for the announcements to hurry up. For others however, the announcement built up anticipation and created something of an event as many wondered who would be announced next. Some announcements had excited reactions while a few others were obvious.
The event also for all intents and purposes spoiled Thunderbolts* since most of the cast from that upcoming film will survive and appear in Avengers: Doomsday. The Fantastic Four will play an important role in the film which is natural since Doctor Doom is their main enemy. The question remains is how big a role will they play? Most likely the team will be on the level of co-stars and function the same way that the Guardians of the Galaxy did in Avengers: Infinity War.
Finally, given the latter cast announcements, this film not only reunites a few actors from the original Fox X-Men films, but the film will probably be a loose adaptation of the Avengers Vs. X-Men comic book series event from the last decade.
Who Was Left Out
A lot of the buzz generated by the stream was about who was not announced, and it was surprising that some characters apparently won’t be a part of Avengers: Doomsday. These characters include the Hulk, She-Hulk, Spider-Man, War Machine, Captain Marvel, Photon, Star-Lord or the new Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Wolverine, Wong, and finally the Young Avengers.
Some of the absences are puzzling given how integral some heroes are to the Avengers like the Hulk, have been set up in other MCU projects like the Young Avengers were, and how popular others are like Spider-Man. After all, at the very end of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, a title card announced that Star-Lord would return. If not in this film, then were else? Well, Avengers: Secret Wars, of course.
A few weeks ago, some concept art was leaked that showed images of these missing characters and a few others like Vision and Doctor Strange in what looks like Batttleworld, the location of the Secret Wars comic books. In the first issue of Secret Wars, the main Marvel Universe collided with the Ultimate Marvel Universe and both were destroyed. Doctor Doom managed to scrape together segments of many realities into an artificial world called Battleworld and the Marvel characters were re-imagined. The same thing will probably happen with Avengers: Secret Wars and the absent characters will turn up in that film. This is similar to what happened with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame where Ant-Man and Hawkeye were featured in the latter film but not the former one.
Keep this in mind, however. After the stream ended, Marvel Studios cryptically announced on social media that there would be more announcements. This can be welcome news but truthfully, Marvel Studios has to be careful not to bring in too many characters in order to focus on a few important ones.
Avengers Vs. X-Men
The biggest surprise in the announcement was that of the Fox X-Men film characters returning. This was very welcome news by fans of the early X-Men films, and some of the announcements were stunning. Cumming had such a miserable experience with the blue makeup when filming X2: X-Men United that he refused to reprise his role as Nightcrawler even though his character was very popular. Channing Tatum proved that if a performance is earnest and strong enough it can win you a return ticket to a major franchise. His appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine was among the best and he injected that role with lots of vigor and enthusiasm; frankly he deserved to come back to an MCU film in some fashion.
Among the most notable absences were Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm and Famke Janssen as Jean Grey/Phoenix. Janssen’s absence is puzzling since it brings up the question if the film will have anything to do with the Phoenix Force story from Avengers Vs. X-Men. This implies that the Avengers film will only loosely adapt Avengers Vs. X-Men and focus more on Doctor Doom. It seems likely that instead of the main Marvel Universe battling the Ultimate Marvel Universe, this film will have the MCU characters confronting the Fox X-Men film characters. It is questionable if these X-Men will be those featured from the early films and might be variant versions. It is hard to tell and given that the timeline of those Fox X-Men films is confusing, it’s for the best not to think too hard about it.
The most logical assumption is that the MCU will meet the X-Men seen in the alternate universe seen at the end of The Marvels when Monica Rambeau wound up stranded in that universe. Her appearance will set off an incursion event that will have the two universes collide and lead to Avengers: Secret Wars. But then, if that is the plot, then why wasn’t Teyonah Parris announced? Maybe she will, later. Maybe Marvel Studios wants to keep some appearances as surprises to make up for spoiling Thunderbolts*.
There are many questions that have been raised by the streaming event, which is great for Marvel Studios and Avengers: Doomsday. This demonstrates that there is still interest and excitement about the MCU. To think, all this buzz is for a film that is over a year away and we still haven’t seen a trailer or set photos or anything official aside from a bunch of chairs and Robert Downey Junior motioning us to be silent. All this will be for nothing if Avengers: Doomsday doesn’t deliver, but given the talent behind the film, that seems unlikely.
This week Captain America: Brave New World, the penultimate film of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), premieres in theaters. Then on May 2, Thunderbolts*, closes out Phase Five, with Phase Six beginning a few short months later with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. From there it’s a very short trip to next year with Avengers: Doomsday, the beginning of the end for the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.
For some MCU fans this conclusion comes as a relief given the checkered record with the Multiverse Saga. Unlike the celebrated Infinity Saga, which consisted of Phases One, Two and Three, the Multiverse Saga has been inconsistent in terms of quality and execution. A lot of blame has to go to the Disney executives who demanded that Marvel Studios crank out too many MCU film and TV projects before they were properly developed in a short amount of time. Naturally, this diluted Marvel Studios resources and personnel to the point that special effects studios rebelled against Marvel Studios for being overworked on their assigned projects. What was worse was that the results of the studios stretching themselves too thin became very apparent on screen. For every success like Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and WandaVision there were colossal failures like The Marvels and Secret Invasion.
But what made the Multiverse Saga so unsatisfying was that many of the projects did not add to an overall storyline. Unlike the Infinity Saga, where many films contributed to a larger storyline, this was not the case with the films and TV shows of Phases Four and Five. It was evident that a larger story was not being developed properly and some projects that were supposed to advance it did not succeed. It got to the point that Marvel Studios had to do a radical course correct and change the main villain of the Multiverse Saga from Kang the Conqueror to Doctor Doom.
The reaction to Doctor Doom being the main villain of the saga received mixed results, especially after the revelation that Robert Downey, Jr. would play the Latverian dictator. This casting raised many questions about whether or not Doctor Doom was a variant of Tony Stark, the hero that Downey played in the Infinity Saga. Some claimed this was a desperate move by Marvel Studios and Disney to generate excitement and attention. Well, it probably was, but it looks to be working.
However, given the short period of time before Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Studios has to get the ball going with Doom. Frankly, Marvel Studios should have taken steps by now to establish him. Looking at the release schedule for films this year there is this week’s Captain America: Brave New World, then Thunderbolts*, and finally The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is the start of Phase Six. Normally, Doctor Doom is a major Fantastic Four villain and should have been the main antagonist in The Fantastic Four: First Steps but thanks to the poor reception of the villain in previous versions of the Fantastic Four, the new FF film had to go with another villain (Galactus). After that the next MCU film is scheduled to be Avengers: Doomsday.
Unlike Thanos, who was carefully teased over years in the Infinity Saga, it seems as if we’re jumping right into Doctor Doom. Being that he is the number one villain in Marvel Comics, Doctor Doom deserves more build up. At the very least he or his country should have been name dropped in recent projects such as Deadpool & Wolverine or What If…?
We’ll soon find out if he will be teased in a post-credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps or even mentioned in Captain America: Brave New World. Hell, even an Easter egg or two will work at this point. It would be a missed opportunity of epic proportions if he is not even referenced in the Fantastic Four film because after that it would be difficult to try to set him up in the remaining MCU projects before the Avengers film. He can be referenced in Captain America: Brave New World since that film will set up the forming of a new Avengers team, and mutants for the next MCU saga. He can also be teased in Thunderbolts* but it’s anyone’s guess as to how. The same goes for the TV projects like Daredevil: BornAgain, Ironheart, Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies and Wonder Man. Aside from Marvel Zombies, none of the TV shows would be a good vehicle to feature Doctor Doom.
Of course, Marvel Studios could surprise all of us and announce that another film will come out after The Fantastic Four: First Steps and before Avengers: Doomsday and it must feature the armored tyrant in some capacity. What could that film be? Doctor Strange 3? On the other hand, do not be surprised if the next Avengers film gets its release date changed because we haven’t heard anything concrete about the actual production and Marvel Studios has to get started very soon to meet the May 2026 release date. It would not be the worse thing if Avengers: Doomsday is delayed by a few months or even a year since this would not only allow the hype to grow for it but to better set it up with upcoming projects.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Robert Downey Jr. speaks onstage at the Marvel Studios Panel during 2024 Comic-Con International at San Diego Convention Center on July 27, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Marvel Studios, as usual, figuratively exploded fans’ minds last weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con with their announcements of their upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. But the biggest jaw-dropping revelation at Hall H was that MCU mainstay Robert Downey, Jr. would return to the MCU in the next Avengers film as Marvel Comics’ most infamous villain Doctor Doom.
As wild and flabbergasted fans were when the announcement first came out, it was inevitable that questions and second guessing followed soon after the announcement. People wondered if this was the best casting decision and if it meant that Marvel Studios was desperate to rekindle the excitement and attention the MCU had just a few years ago during its heyday.
Marvel Studios couldn’t find an actor qualified enough to play Doctor Doom? Did it have to be Robert Downey, Jr.? Let’s be clear here, Downey is a gifted actor, he’s so great he even won an Oscar for his work in Oppenheimer, and he is the face of the MCU because of his portrayal as Tony Stark/Iron Man, which put the MCU on the map to greatness. But there are many other actors who could’ve easily portrayed the villain. Some have complained that the casting is lazy, unless if some reports are true about Doom’s identity in the upcoming MCU films.
Doctor Doom is traditionally, Victor Von Doom, the armored, despotic ruler of the fictional Eastern European country Latveria, who became a bitter rival to the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. Now, Downey was introduced as Von Doom by Marvel Studios, but there are rumors that the actor will actually play an evil variant of Tony Stark from another reality, in fact it will be the same universe where the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in. This makes a lot of sense and circumvents the complaints by fans about how the other characters in the films are ignoring the fact that Doom looks just like Stark. Otherwise, if he plays Von Doom, then that will raise questions from viewers, which will take them out of the film.
In the recent comic books, Stark has become Dr. Doom and vice versa because the two characters are very similar to one another. So, there is precedent for this to occur. Maybe, in the MCU timeline, Stark came into existence earlier in the Fantastic Four’s universe and did not have the same redeeming experiences that the MCU Stark had and became evil but shares the same goal as the MCU Stark had: to protect the Earth using armor. During his Comic-Con appearance, Downey did say “New mask, same task,” which implies that he will play a variant of Stark.
If this pans out, it will be an ingenious way to bring the actor back to the MCU and allow him and the screenwriters to do something different with the character. It can work and it probably will. But many will be disappointed that the traditional Victor Von Doom with the same backstory from the comic books won’t be in the MCU. However, people should not give up hope.
Marvel Studios probably decided to bring back Downey because of his star power and the twist that will guarantee that people will rush to theaters to see Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. However, while the actor will excel as Doctor Doom, it’s doubtful he will play the villain in the long term. He is being paid a hefty amount to appear in these films and it will be hard for the studio to afford his paycheck forever. What could happen is that Doctor Doom will get killed off in Avengers: Secret Wars and be replaced by another variant i.e. another actor. This variant could possibly appear in a post-credits scene and be introduced as the MCU version of Doom, who will be Victor Von Doom with the comics-accurate backstory. Going forward, this new version of Doom, portrayed by a different actor, will be the go-to MCU version of Doctor Doom that the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and the other MCU heroes will contend with.
Whatever develops with Doctor Doom, Downey’s casting brought much-needed publicity and excitement for the MCU. Surely, once we see him in his green robes and armor, we can pass final judgment, which will most likely be very favorable.
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