The Avengers: Doomsday directors are blowing the MCU conch, telling fans there is one specific reason they need to see Fantastic Four: First Steps. Despite taking place in a separate reality from the prime MCU, Matt Shakman's Fantastic Four reboot is supposedly set to feature key connective tissue to the next Avengers movie. This is especially the case as First Steps marks the last major Marvel Studios solo production (yes, we are not counting Sony and Marvel's Spider-Man 4) to be released before Avengers 5.
Because of this, Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo have released something of a super-powered PSA, telling fans they should see Fantastic Four because of how much of an on-ramp it is for the next Avengers film.
Posting on their personal Instagram page, the directing duo wrote, "Go see [Fantastic Four] this weekend," if only to see the movie's post-credit scenes:
"Huge congrats to Matt Shakman and the entire cast and crew!! Fantastic 4 is awesome! Go see it this weekend… And stay in your seats for the credits…"
Like Thunderbolts* before it, the Russo Brothers have been confirmed to have directed the Fantastic Four post-credit scenes, proving they lead right into the 2026 Marvel team-up.
In a recent interview, First Steps director Matt Shakman revealed that the Russos "were very involved" in the making of Fantastic Four, so much so that they took on filming the stingers as a part of Doomsday's ongoing production (via Comicbook):
"They were very involved and as we were making this film, they wanted to visit our sets and watch scenes as they were coming together and get to know these characters so they could treat them well, do right by them in the next movie. They're really good protectors of these characters as well. I often think of working at Marvel as like running a relay race. You pass the baton, you run as hard and fast as you can with it for that section of the race that belongs to you, and then you pass that baton. I passed it on to Joe and Anthony and they’re off and running, and that's great."
Fantastic Four: First Steps (coming to theaters on Friday, July 25) is set to lead right into next December's Avengers: Doomsday. Doomsday has the distinct honor of bringing together several big-name Marvel teams, including First Steps' Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Thunderbolts, and Fox's classic X-Men heroes, all to take on Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
How Fantastic Four Sets Up Avengers: Doomsday?
If Avengers: Doomsday is the meal, then Fantastic Four: First Steps is the appetizer. The MCU Fantastic Four reboot is the last solely Marvel Studios-produced film project coming to theaters before Avengers: Doomsday, so it justifiably has to do some setup for the 2026 team-up.
For the most part, this comes down to the movie's post-credits scenes.
Audiences got a taste of Avengers: Doomsday first at the end of Thunderbolts*, as that movie's titular team watched an interdimensional rocket enter the solar system sporting the Fantastic Four's iconic "4" logo.
Fantastic Four will very much do a similar thing with its post-credits stingers, once again teasing the arrival of Doctor Doom, and how the Fantastic Four play into the MCU's Multiversal story.
It does this with a scene actually shot and directed right on the Doomsday set as a cloaked figure steals away the newborn Franklin Richards. We will not spoil who the mystery kidnapper is here (click here for a spoiler-filled Fantastic Four post-credits scene breakdown).
This seemingly sets up the narrative drive of Avengers 5 and how Marvel's First Family arrives in the greater MCU story. With Franklin gone, Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four will be forced into action, traversing the Multiverse to save the team's newest member.
