A Fantastic Four: First Steps promotional tie-in with People Magazine has offered Marvel's first reference to the team's ultimate villain, Doctor Doom, as oblique as it may be. Up till this point, The Red Brand has been mum about the nature and existence of Doom, even though audiences know his path to the big screen is clear.
The nefarious name-drop came in the form of text from an in-universe advertisement, meant to persuade readers into purchasing their own HERBIE robot, just like the one that aids the Fantastic Four (FF) at the Baxter Building.
While a real-life HERBIE is, by the limits of real-world technology, only something that can exist on the silver screen (fans can still take home a pint-sized, toy version of the friendly bot, though), there is something on the page far more intriguing where the MCU's path forward is concerned. At the bottom, there is copy that explicitly mentions a "Doom Detection" function built in to HERBIE.
This is likely meant to be a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun for fans in the know. A silly little wink and nod to a significant part of FF lore. After all, there can't be a Fantastic Four without Doctor Doom. However, the "Doom Detection" bit stands as the very first time Victor has been hinted at in any MCU or MCU-adjacent material:
Order now and we'll throw in a free 30-day trial of our "Doom Detection" early-warning system!
Ever since Marvel Studios revealed that ultra-fan-favorite Robert Downey Jr. (known to millions as Iron Man) would be returning to the MCU as the malevolent Latverian despot Victor Von Doom (and explicitly not a Tony Stark Variant), fans have hardly been able to stop themselves from speculating. The announcement came at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024, during Marvel Studios' Hall H panel.
The presentation is always a showstopper, but that year, Marvel upped the ante. A masked and green-cloaked figure lurked on to the stage, clearly meant to represent Doctor Doom. But attendees immediately exploded in a cacophony of applause, cheers, and shocked exclamations when that mask came off, exposing the face of Robert Downey Jr.
Downey's Doom will make his power grab in the two upcoming Avengers movies, Avengers: Doomsday, hitting in December 2026, and Avengers: Secret War, slated for the close of 2027.
First Steps' director Matt Shakman clamped down on rumors that Robert Downey Jr.'s Vic will cameo in the FF's first MCU foray. Per Shakman, "Doom is not a part of my film."
Naturally, this has not ceased the endless barrage of fan theories that Shakman could be lying to preserve a surprise, or that Doom will crop up in a post-credits scene that Matt Shakman himself did not oversee, thus making the sequence "not a part of" his film.
Whatever the case may be, Victor Von Doom has always known exactly what he wants, and his intentions for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nay, Multiverse, will be clarified soon enough.
Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps lands in theaters on Friday, July 25. The movie stars Pedro Pascal as the First Family's elasticized elder, Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as its passionate powerhouse, Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as the high-flying hothead Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the rock-solidly stalwart Ben Grimm. Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, and Sarah Niles help fill out the supporting cast.
The villain of the piece is the unceasing cosmic hunger, Galactus, brought to life by Ralph Ineson. Joining Big G is his chromium herald, Julia Garner's Silver Surfer.
When Can MCU Audiences Expect A Glimpse at Doctor Doom?
With Avengers: Doomsday currently in production, Marvel wants to keep any of the goings on surrounding filming under lock and key, as is tradition. Many film studios are secretive about the movies they make these days, but few more so than Marvel.
With that in mind, Downey Doom devotees will probably need to exercise patience. Marvel knows that Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the franchise is one of Doomsday's biggest hooks, and there's virtually no chance of the House of Ideas letting this cat out of its bag early.
MCU die-hards hotly anticipating a spotlight on Doom at Marvel Studios' famous Comic-Con panel at San Diego this year are also out of luck.
Apart from a "presence" for The Fantastic Four: First Steps (which is scheduled for the day following the picture's theatrical release), Marvel will skip the show and studio boss Kevin Feige will not take the stage at the San Diego Convention Center's Hall H, the usual launching ground for big MCU surprises.
Now, there's always the possibility that Doom could make a post-credits pop-in on First Steps. Note that Matt Shakman claimed the character was not an aspect of his film. But the MCU's post-credits stingers are not always shot by the directors of the rest of the movies. Case in point: Thunderbolts*' after-credits sequence was not supervised its helmer, Jake Schreier, but by Joe and Anthony Russo on the Avengers: Doomsday set.
So, to borrow a phrase from Obi-Wan Kenobi, what Shakman stated could be true "from a certain point of view." There may very well be a Doctor Doom cameo in The Fantastic Four: First Steps that he had no hand in the production of. This is not presently confirmed and audiences will need to be patient just a bit longer to find out for sure.
