‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Director Says No ‘Thunderbolts’ Post-Credit Connection Due To Marvel Studios’ “Relay Race” Production Style: “It Hadn’t Been Created At The Time That I Was Working On My Script”
In a tdxtbook case of ‘one step forward, two steps back’, after Thunderbolts won back a sizeable amount of audience goodwill with its smaller scale storytelling, Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman has confirmed that the reason the team’s MCU debut does not connect with the former’s post-credits scene is due to Marvel Studios’ continuing adherence to a “relay race” style of film production.
[SPOILER WARNING: Significant spoilers for Fantastic Four: First Steps follow below. If you’d like to avoid them, please refrain from reading any further.]
As readers may recall from just earlier this year, following the closing reveal that the titular team were officially being promoted to the rank of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and a mid-credits scene wherein Red Guardian revels in his newfound fame, Thunderbolts‘ post-credits scene finds the team being caught off-guard by the sudden arrival of an explicitly extra-dimensional object within their home reality of Earth-199999.
Rushing to a near-by monitoring screen for visual confirmation, the New Avengers find themselves even further taken aback when they discover that rather than anything explicitly menacing or evil, said object appears to be a retro-futuristic Earth-style spaceship, the stylized ‘4’ adorning its hull giving a not-so-subtle hint as to the identities of its fantastic pilots.
In light of this cosmic ray-soaked tease, Fantastic Four: First Steps opened to an audience rightfully expecting to see some on-screen attention given to Marvel’s First Family’s upcoming travel plans.
However, rather than any mention of their forthcoming Doomsday, the film instead ends with Sue Storm playing with her son Franklin, taking her eyes off of him for just a few seconds while she looks for a book for them to read, and returning to discover that the cosmic powerhouse is now suddenly being doted upon by none other than Doctor Doom.
Notably, the Fantastic Four’s cross-dimension arrival was not shot for Thunderbolts, but rather Avengers: Doomsday, with the latter’s Russo Brothers directorial duo deciding to add the post-credits scene to the film right before its official release.
“The specifics of what that end credit scene came to be, those came together quite late,” explained Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier to ComicBook.com. “That only got filmed maybe … Is it even a month ago at this point? They’re good at this over there.”
“I didn’t film that scene. I was there when it was filmed, and I can say that it comes from the set of a production that might be starting production right around now, so that might be fun for people to stay and watch.
“But I was so honored to have that happen. We always knew kind of that end moment. From the very beginning, that was true, and then it was about building the right story that lived up to that, I think.”
But now, it turns out that not only was the Thunderbolts‘ director unaware of Marvel Studios’ plans for the film’s Doomsday post-credits scene ahead of its release, but the aforementioned Shakman was likewise unaware of its existence until well after he had begun work on Fantastic Four: First Steps.
“The Thunderbolts end credit scene was also created, you know, relatively late in my process too, so that was not something that I was familiar with because it hadn’t been created at the time that I was working on my script, you know?” Shakman explained to CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb during a recent interview. “I often use the metaphor of it’s, you know, like a relay race, right? You pass the baton, you run your section of it as hard and fast as you can, do the best you can with your version of Fantastic Four – Earth 828, this world – and then you pass the baton, in this case to the Russo brothers.”
All in all, it looks the answer regarding the Fantastic Four’s crossover trip will ultimately be revealed when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 16th, 2026.
