According to a new (though, in light of the the studio’s disregard for its original comic book source material, admittedly unsurprising) whisper currently sweeping the internet, Marvel Studios’ upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be making some particularly drastic changes to the Reed Richards/Doctor Doom relationship.
This latest alleged insight regarding the blue uniform-clad MCU entry was first shared with the public on October 7th by The Cosmic Circus’ Alex Perez.
Fielding reader questions for the site’s monthly Q&A, Perez was at one point asked, “Will the Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom dynamic in the MCU’s Secret Wars be any bit close to how important/impactful it is in the 2015 Secret Wars comic?”
(For those who did not get a chance to check out the strong-stating-but-terribly-ending crossover comic, in Secret Wars, Richards and Doom’s rivalry finally comes to a head as the former seeks to stop the latter, now in possession of the reality-bending abilities of the Beyonders, from ruling over all of reality as its God Emperor. While this clash eventually comes to physical blows, it ultimately concludes with Doom admitting that despite everything, he knows Richards would have “done so much better” with the Beyonders’ powers.)
In turn, Perez explained, “It’s going to be hard, if I’m perfectly honest with you. Mainly because Doom and Reed don’t really interact in the Fantastic Four movie.”
“I’d like to think of it more as Thanos and Tony in Infinity War, where like, Tony knew a threat from space was coming, but he didn’t know exactly who it was until Infinity War, yet Thanos knew nearly everything he needed to know about Tony,” he detailed. “Just switch Thanos with Doom and Tony with Reed.”
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Unfortunately for fans of Marvel’s First Family, this tease was the most information offered up by Perez regarding The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The only other tidbit regarding the film that he shared during this months’ Q&A was the fact that the Future Foundation will in fact be ‘around’ during the team’s next adventure.
Pressed as to whether he could provide “Any insight on what the Future Foundation’s role will be in Fantastic Four: First Steps? Just because we’ve been seeing it teased in promo art and rumors?”, Perez asserted, “They’re investigating the cosmos and beyond. I can’t comment beyond that.”
Outside of Perez’s teases, very little information is currently known about just what is set to go down in First Steps.
Aside from official casting details for the film’s main team, the only other confirmed information known about the film is that it will feature an appearance from both a gender-swapped version of the Silver Surfer, as portrayed by Inventing Anna star Julia Garner, and the cosmic entity’s boss, Galactus (as confirmed via preview images shown during the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con).
At current, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently set to start exploring the cosmos on July 25th, 2025.