For the past year, fans have pondered how exactly Robert Downey Jr. would make his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the new big bad of the series, Victor Von Doom. Ceremoniously announced in Hall H at Comic-Con 2024, the longtime Iron Man actor’s unexpected return several years after his death was made official right alongside the debut of a brand new title for the next Avengers sequel: Avengers: Doomsday.
At the time, it was unclear exactly how long audiences would have to wait to see the Academy Award-winning actor’s debut as the villainous Doctor Doom. Though it was only just being confirmed in July of 2024, Marvel had numerous feature-length films and several TV series set for release prior to the fifth Avengers film. Now, nearly exactly a year later, fans have their answer, in the form of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Why fans speculated Doctor Doom would appear in The Fantastic Four
Historically, Doctor Doom is a Fantastic Four foe. In the comics, he and Mister Fantastic himself, Reed Richards, have a longstanding relationship, and their origin stories are interwoven with one another. The antagonistic rapport between Reed and Doom is essential to both of their characterizations, and the fact that Robert Downey Jr.’s casting was announced at the same Comic-Con where Marvel Studios was premiering early footage of their in-the-works Fantastic Four film did not go unnoticed.
Many fans speculated that Doom could premiere in the Fantastic Four’s film, solidifying his interpersonal relationships with that team of characters prior to the events of Avengers: Doomsday.
This theorizing was further supported by the setting of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Within the larger multiverse of the Marvel films, the new entry is set in an entirely different universe from the previous films, which could explain why Victor Von Doom’s physical appearance is uncannily reminiscent of the traditional films’ iteration of Tony Stark.
However, the majority of Fantastic Four’s runtime goes by with only a single passing reference to Doctor Doom, that being his notable absence at Sue Storm’s international summit for the Future Foundation. While seemingly every other nation is represented, the chairs designated for the country of Latveria are shown to be empty.
In the comics, Latveria is the country that not only is Doom from, but also eventually comes to rule with an iron fist. Thus, this beat in the film is clearly meant to tease the fact that Doom does indeed exist within this universe and is already the ruler of Latveria. However, fans looking for any more concrete references to Doom or, much less, an actual physical appearance may feel a bit disappointed once the end credits start to roll.
Doctor Doom’s scene explained
Fortunately, as Marvel has no doubt conditioned its most ardent fans to know over the decades, sometimes the biggest reveal of a film comes after the credits roll. For First Steps, this remains especially true, as the film’s post-credit scene introduces audiences to Downey Jr.’s iteration of Doctor Doom onscreen for the very first time… sort of.
The scene features Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm in the Baxter Building, the home of the Fantastic Four. She is reading the iconic children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to her and Reed’s now five-year-old son, Franklin Richards. As was revealed in the film’s climax, the son of Sue and Reed has immense cosmic powers that neither he nor his family has yet to fully understand. Galactus spends the whole of The Fantastic Four: First Steps attempting to seize Franklin and utilize his powers for his own gain, and in the mid-credits scene, a new villain intrudes and corners the child: Doctor Doom.
The scene culminates with the reveal of Doctor Doom, who is standing with his face away from the camera, instead looking at Franklin, with his trademark green cloak and his iconic mask in his hand.
Since its release, it has been confirmed by Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman that the mid-credits scene is actually directed by the Russo Brothers, who are helming the upcoming Avengers film. The same was true of the post-credit scene from Thunderbolts* earlier this summer (which seemingly saw the Fantastic Four’s ship sailing between dimensions and entering the mainline MCU), indicating that both films’ post-credit scenes are actually abbreviated clips from Doomsday itself.
While this scene doesn’t give us a good look at Downey Jr.’s portrayal of the character just yet, it does give some crucial insight into his motivations moving forward. Clearly, Doom’s plan involves multiversal shenanigans and Franklin Richards’ unique powers, but it’s also fair to surmise that this version of Doom is also from the same universe as the Fantastic Four characters, as was hinted at by the empty Latveria seats.
These crucial crumbs of context also lead to a new implication for the aforementioned Thunderbolts* post-credit scene: it could be Doom coming to the mainline universe in the Fantastic Four-branded ship that enters through a mysterious portal.
It seems as though Marvel is looking to save Downey Jr.’s big introduction as the titular antagonist for Avengers: Doomsday itself, but that doesn’t mean they’ve left audiences high and dry in the meantime. The Fantastic Four: First Steps teases some tantalizing morsels of Doom’s story, and even deliberately leaves room (with its in-media-res approach to telling the origin story of the team) for Doom’s origins to still be interwoven with the Fantastic Four’s own.
Concrete answers may have to wait, but for the first time in several years, it feels as though the MCU is once again successfully building up momentum and anticipation.
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