Like its four predecessors, Avengers: Doomsday is sure to place Earth's Mightiest Heroes at the forefront, given that they're part of the titular team. The X-Men are also sure to receive their fair share of love, since it's been quite a while since they appeared on the big screen. All that makes it easy to forget that the Fantastic Four may very well be Doomsday's most important group. After all, their rivalry with Doctor Doom in Marvel Comics is legendary.
Of all the members of Marvel's First Family, Doctor Doom holds the most contempt for Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. Part of their disconnect is that Doom thinks Richards misuses his massive brain, choosing to give back rather than take control. Well, their beef is about to visit its biggest stage yet because a recent piece of Doomsday marketing teases Doom's real feelings about Richards in the MCU.
At the Latveria coffee shop pop-up attended by the Russo brothers, there were little Easter eggs for Doom all over. Many focused on his connection to his home country and his mother, Cynthia von Doom. But one Easter egg on the menu stood out more than all the others, as it read, "Richards was wrong" (via @cinemakaination)
Of course, seeing Doom take a shot at his rival isn't all that surprising. What is notable is the phrasing the good people at Marvel Studios chose to use. Prior to the release of X-Men '97, the studio unleashed a marketing campaign centered on the phrase "Magneto was right," teasing that the villain's harsh and often violent actions were justified.
Doomsday appears ready to flip the Magneto argument on its head, putting a hero's actions under a microscope. A simple explanation could be that Doom blames Richards for the incursions taking place across the multiverse. Maybe the Fantastic Four messing with Galactus had consequences they did not foresee, or Franklin Richards has been messing with time and space without even knowing it.
But Doom might just be fanning flames that are already there. In the comics, Richards has been known to take matters into his own hands if he feels like he knows the best course of action. That mindset doesn't always sit right with other heroes who don't think the way he does.
It remains possible that Doomsday's heroes are the ones who feel Richards did something wrong, not Doom. What the phrase could be referring to is anyone's guess. However, given the stakes in Marvel Studios' upcoming team-up movie, it likely has something to do with Richards choosing the needs of the few over the needs of the many.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps showed how far Richards would go to protect his family. He and the rest of the team even had to explain to the world why they weren't going to hand over Franklin to Galactus in exchange for the Earth's survival. Instead of taking the easy way out, Richards gambled with everything. And he might be about to do the same in Doomsday.
No matter how or why Richards screws up, it won't be easy for him to accept that his allies are turning on him. He could start giving in to his worst impulses and go down the same dark road that his worst comic book counterpart did.
Avengers: Doomsday Could Be Setting Up A Villain Arc For Mr. Fantastic
When the words "Mangeto was right" were finally uttered in X-Men '97 Season 1, it signaled a change for the Master of Magnetism. He abandoned his efforts to change for the better and returned to his old ways, shutting down the Earth's magnetic field and sending the planet back to the Stone Age. Being abandoned by his allies was a hard pill for Magneto to swallow, and the same thing could happen to Richards in Doomsday.
Mr. Fantastic of Earth-1610 in the comics lost everything, including the support of his partner, Susan Storm. Without anywhere else to go, he went to live with his abusive father, a reunion that ended in tragedy. Richards started to descend into madness and began calling himself The Maker. Since no one could challenge, the villain was free to lead an assault on the universe, even destroying Asgard.
Eventually, The Maker was brought down, with pieces of him being scattered around the multiverse by Molecule Man. However, the damage he did was significant.
If the MCU's heroes, especially the rest of the Fantastic Four, aren't careful, they might accidentally create a new version of The Maker, one hellbent on recreating the multiverse in his image. And then they would have two major threats on their hands because it's unlikely that Doom and The Maker would sit down at the dinner table and break bread together.
All that to say, there are few things as dangerous in the MCU as a big brain. Whoever starts the Richards smear campaign would be wise to remember that.
