As you’d expect, one of the post-credits scenes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps sets up Avengers: Doomsday – but there’s a nod to Iron Man you may have missed. Spoilers to follow…
The release of Fantastic Four marks the start of the MCU’s year-long break from the big screen. The franchise will return with Spider-Man: Brand New Day next July, before Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas in December.
The latter blockbuster is the first Avengers movie since 2019’s Endgame, and it’ll feature one of the biggest, most fascinating bad guys yet: Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr.
Given he’s a nemesis of the Fantastic Four, you’ve probably wondered if he appears in the new movie. The answer is… yes (sort of).
Doctor Doom arrives in Fantastic Four post-credits scene
There are two post-credits scenes in Fantastic Four: one in the mid-credits that’s really important, and a fun clip of the in-universe cartoon at the end.
The mid-credits scene (directed by the Russo Brothers, who’ve returned for Doomsday) takes place four years after the end of the film, with Sue reading a book to Franklin. She goes to grab something else, but as Storm walks back to the couch, she hears a mysterious sound.
She peeks around the corner, and sees a cloaked figure crouched down in front of Franklin holding a mask, but we never see his face. That’s Doctor Doom.
It’s unclear exactly how this sets up Doomsday, but there have been rumors that he kidnaps Franklin in order to use his extraordinary power for… something.
According to The Cosmic Circus, “Doom wants to stop the incursions from happening and stop the multiverse from entirely collapsing on itself. In a way, he’s technically a hero (in his eyes and the eyes of his followers), kind of like how Thanos saw himself as the hero in Infinity War.”
Remember who’s in charge of the multiverse right now: Loki, and Franklin could allow Doom to find him.
Was Doctor Doom holding an Iron Man mask in Fantastic Four’s post-credits scene?
As noted above, we don’t see Doctor Doom’s face. We do see his mask, and at first glance, it looks like a normal Doctor Doom mask – but it also looks suspiciously like Iron Man’s Mark 1 mask.
It remains to be seen how Doomsday will explain Doom’s origins and, more importantly, his likeness to one of the greatest heroes in the MCU whom everyone remembers. Downey Jr is playing Victor Von Doom, but could he be a Stark variant, and that’s why he’s wearing a Mark 1 mask?
“Did it look like to you that Dooms mask was very similar to the Mark 1 Iron Man mask. It was only on screen for a second so it was hard to tell,” one user wrote on Reddit.
“You’re right, it does genuinely look the same! It was also a lot shinier than I was expecting it to look,” another wrote.
The Russos have already teased that Doom is connected to Stark, so it’s possible they have similar origins in their own universes that diverge between heroism and villainy. Or maybe they just have similar masks, who knows?
“We can’t explain that as it’s part of the story,” Anthony Russo earlier told The Times.
“But there’s nobody else in the world who could play this character the way he’s about to.”
There is something to be relieved about, though: the fact Doom is seen holding his mask means it’s not another nano-tech outfit. Thank goodness.
The UK’s new age verification law goes into effect this week. How will it impact our favorite apps?