It’s a declaration.
It’s the film meant to finally nail Marvel's First Family to the cinematic wall, all while laying the granite foundation for Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom and the multiversal crack-up of Avengers: Doomsday.
So you walk out of the theater, the credits rolling, and one question is burning a hole in your brain: What in the Negative Zone just happened?
So you walk out of the theater, the credits rolling, and one question is burning a hole in your brain: What in the Negative Zone just happened?
How much of this was a story about four explorers, and how much was a prologue to armageddon? Did we even see the man in the iron mask?
Let's get into it.
A Deal with the Devil Comet
The climax of First Steps is pure, uncut Stan Lee and Jack Kirby cosmic opera. It’s all there: the desperate science, the impossible odds, the very human cost of playing with gods.Director Matt Shakman pits his fledgling family against the unthinkable. He gives us Ralph Ineson’s Galactus, a force of nature in celestial armor, and his herald, Julia Garner's tragically conflicted Silver Surfer. The team’s gambit is classic Reed Richards, impossibly brilliant and bordering on cosmic hubris.
They build a series of teleportation towers to phase their entire planet, Earth-828, to safety.
Of course, it goes wrong.
Of course, it goes wrong.
This is the Fantastic Four; their greatest discoveries are born from spectacular failures. The Surfer, Shalla Bal, arrives to smash the works, a gleaming instrument of galactic genocide. But it’s the most human of the Four, Joseph Quinn’s hot-headed Johnny Storm, who finds the crack in her cosmic shell. He confronts her not with fire but with sound: the recorded death screams of worlds she helped Galactus consume.
It's a gut-punch that shatters her servitude, and she bolts.
The plan shifts. If you can’t move the Earth, move the god. In a stunning display of raw power that finally does the character justice, Vanessa Kirby’s Susan Storm tries to shove the Devourer of Worlds through the one remaining portal.
She’s the Invisible Woman, but here, her force is the most visible, tangible thing in the universe. She succeeds, momentarily, before Galactus pushes back. As Johnny prepares to go supernova for the ultimate sacrifice, Shalla Bal returns, taking his place and paying for her past sins by dragging herself and her master into the dimensional abyss.
They are teleported somewhere. Reed’s calculations aimed for the void, but these are untested machines. Have they saved their world only to condemn another? It's a queasy, morally ambiguous victory, true to the team's spirit of high-minded exploration often leading to universe-altering consequences. Shakman wisely leans into Galactus as he was first conceived, not some cosmic gardener pruning the universal tree, but an ancient, unknowable horror.
They are teleported somewhere. Reed’s calculations aimed for the void, but these are untested machines. Have they saved their world only to condemn another? It's a queasy, morally ambiguous victory, true to the team's spirit of high-minded exploration often leading to universe-altering consequences. Shakman wisely leans into Galactus as he was first conceived, not some cosmic gardener pruning the universal tree, but an ancient, unknowable horror.
A shark that swims the star-ways. We are left with the chilling aftermath, a victory that feels perilously fragile.
Then Sue collapses.
Then Sue collapses.
And dies.
The triumph turns to ash.
The triumph turns to ash.
The Fantastic Four become three.
But the film has one more card to play, and it’s an ace.
A grief-stricken Reed lays their infant son, Franklin, on his mother's body for a final goodbye. And the boy brings her back. Just like that. In a flash of impossible energy, Franklin Richards rewrites the period at the end of his mother's sentence into a comma.
It’s a jaw-dropping moment that redefines the stakes entirely. This isn't just a super-powered kid. This is a walking, talking reality-editing engine in footie pajamas. Suddenly, you understand why Galactus wasn't just hungry for Earth; he was hungry for the boy, a potential power source to end his eternal hunger.
You’re left with the terrifying thought that maybe, just maybe, the universe would have been safer if they’d let Galactus have him.
The film ends on a note of sublime, chaotic domesticity. The three men of the FF are bickering over how to install Franklin's car seat. It’s the perfect encapsulation of who they are: cosmic adventurers who still can’t figure out child-proofing.
The film ends on a note of sublime, chaotic domesticity. The three men of the FF are bickering over how to install Franklin's car seat. It’s the perfect encapsulation of who they are: cosmic adventurers who still can’t figure out child-proofing.
The Set up: Doom in the Nursery
Naturally, there are post-credits scenes. The final stinger is a fun piece of fluff, a glimpse of the in-universe animated series for the Fantastic Four of Earth-828.It proves their merchandising game is strong. But it’s the mid-credits scene that provides the real jolt.
We jump five years forward. Sue is reading a bedtime story to an older Franklin. She leaves the room for a moment, and when she returns, a figure stands over her son’s bed, whispering. We don’t see the face, but we see the iconic green cloak and the cold, riveted iron of the mask. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom has entered the building.
We jump five years forward. Sue is reading a bedtime story to an older Franklin. She leaves the room for a moment, and when she returns, a figure stands over her son’s bed, whispering. We don’t see the face, but we see the iconic green cloak and the cold, riveted iron of the mask. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom has entered the building.
So, what does the Doom want with the miracle child?
The comics provide a chilling road map. The upcoming Avengers films are clearly pulling from Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars, the 2015 epic where the multiverse dies and Doom rebuilds a patchwork planet, Battleworld, with himself as God Emperor. To perform this feat of cosmic architecture, he needed an immense power source. In the comics, it was the Molecule Man. Here, with Molecule Man nowhere in sight, it seems Doom has found a new battery: Franklin Richards.
Doom likely senses the coming Incursions, the universal death rattle we’ve seen in Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. He’s not just planning a conquest; he's building a lifeboat, with himself at the helm. And Franklin, the boy who can create life from death and, presumably, universes from nothing, is the key to his ascension.
With Doom’s chilling visit, the Fantastic Four now know a rival of immense intellect and ambition has his eyes on their son as a tool. This knowledge is the catalyst. Faced with a threat of this magnitude, Reed is compelled to act, to understand the coming apocalypse Doom spoke of.
Doom likely senses the coming Incursions, the universal death rattle we’ve seen in Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels. He’s not just planning a conquest; he's building a lifeboat, with himself at the helm. And Franklin, the boy who can create life from death and, presumably, universes from nothing, is the key to his ascension.
With Doom’s chilling visit, the Fantastic Four now know a rival of immense intellect and ambition has his eyes on their son as a tool. This knowledge is the catalyst. Faced with a threat of this magnitude, Reed is compelled to act, to understand the coming apocalypse Doom spoke of.
This likely puts him on a path across dimensions, seeking answers and allies. This neatly re-contextualizes the post-credits scene from The New Avengers, where Yelena Belova’s team tracks a ship from another universe...
The Fantastic Four have taken their first steps, alright. But the path isn’t leading toward fame or scientific discovery. It's leading straight to doomsday.
The Fantastic Four have taken their first steps, alright. But the path isn’t leading toward fame or scientific discovery. It's leading straight to doomsday.
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