Marvel Studios decided to avoid The Fantastic Four: First Steps being an origin story movie, after the previous two Fox adaptations covered it extensively. While the MCU's interpretation of how they got their powers is truer to the source material, the tie-in comic Fantastic Four: First Foes #1 introduces some peculiar differences that could have interesting implications for Avengers: Doomsday. More specifically, the team's relationship, or lack thereof, with its titular villain.
Throughout First Steps, the only time Doctor Doom is even vaguely alluded to outside the post-credits scene is an empty seat for Latveria at the Future Foundation. Other than that, he's not even mentioned by name, despite the team already having existed for four years and him, supposedly, being their archenemy.
Instead, almost every other Fantastic Four supervillain gets directly referenced, like Mole Man, Puppet Master, the Wizard, Diablo, Red Ghost (who even had an entire sequence cut out), and the Mad Thinker. The latter of whom is even included in the true origins of the Fantastic Four in the tie-in comic and given a radically different relationship with Reed Richards. A relationship and rivalry that's eerily similar to Doctor Doom.
Not only did Richards know the man as Doctor Renè Rodin in the MCU before he adopted his villainous moniker, but he was also one of Reed's college professors whom he recruited to help with the mission that would give the group their powers. Neither of which is true in the comics, as Richards and Rodin were strangers before and after Reed became Mr. Fantastic. Although his inclusion does have parallels with the Ultimate Comics and Fox adaptations, as well as, again, Doom.
In First Steps, Reed didn't convince the others to steal a rocketship with him to study the cosmic rays, as he so recklessly did in the comics, but was instead allowed to do so on an officially sanctioned government mission four years before the events of the movie. Unfortunately, as they were observing the cosmic phenomenon, the rays struck them and penetrated through the ship's shields, changing them forever.
In the Ultimate Comics, another universe where Marvel characters were reimagined for newer readers, a different Fantastic Four supervillain was introduced into their origin story: Victor von Doom—a character who had literally nothing to do with their cosmic accident in the original comics.
Instead of cosmic rays and a spaceship like First Steps, it was a failed teleportation experiment into the Negative Zone, with Doom altering the coordinates behind Reed Richards' back. An origin that Fox would use twice as inspiration, with Doom being the common connection.
In 2005's Fantastic Four, the origin is a mix between the original and Ultimate Comics, in which Victor not only joins but also funds their trip to space to study a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic storm. Unfortunately, the storm arrived earlier than expected, leaving Ben outside the space station's protective shielding. Reed wanted to abort the mission, but Doom insisted they push ahead, leading to the cosmic storm bathing everyone in cosmic radiation.
In Fox's second attempt at the Fantastic Four in 2015, the origin was much closer to the Ultimate Comics. Not only were they all younger, but their mission was the same: to cross dimensions and explore the Negative Zone. They even worked alongside an equally young Victor von Doom. However, when the environment became too unstable, and Doom presumably perished, they made an explosive return, granting them horrifying powers.
What Does the Fantastic Four's MCU Origin Story Have to Do With Doctor Doom?
Absolutely nothing, which is in itself interesting. Except for the Fantastic Four's original comic book origin, every other reimagining or adaptation in the comics or movies has involved Victor von Doom in some way. It's especially curious, then, that the MCU's origin for the Fantastic Four placed the Mad Thinker in a similar role that Doom had usually occupied in those origins.
When the team was going to have a crash landing with the Exclisor, Renè Rodin, who had a hand in creating HERBIE, came to their quick aid to help avoid a deadly reentry into Earth's atmosphere by providing the family robot with new coordinates. Rodin was even praised across the nation, for a time, in helping save the team that would become the celebrated Fantastic Four.
However, Rodin quickly became jealous of the fame the team was garnering, driving him to become the Mad Thinker. He exacted his revenge by seizing control of New York's technology structure, as seen briefly in the opening montage of First Steps. After his defeat, the tie-in issue revealed that the Mad Thinker's calculations were actually "incomplete," as Reed so delicately phrased it.
It's clear Reed was attempting to preserve what little of Rodin's ego was left, but it wouldn't be the first time Reed had had to deal with a supergenius rival with a sensitive ego. Almost like the original comics, when Reed attempted to correct the calculations of Victor von Doom, an arrogant former classmate from college.
That's actually another, far more specific similarity between the MCU's Mad Thinker and Victor von Doom: both of them knew Reed in college. It'd be an amazing coincidence if Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom and Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards were also former classmates at university.
One has to wonder if this version of the Fantastic Four has ever even met Doctor Doom. After four years as an active team of superheroes, he's nowhere to be found in First Steps, even being a no-show as Latveria's leader at the Future Foundation.
However, the revelation of Doctor Doom's new insignia in Avengers: Doomsday could indicate two possibilities explaining his lack of acknowledgment: Robert Downey Jr.'s Doom is from another universe, separate from the Fantastic Four on Earth-828, or he took over Latveria much later than in the comics.
The latter would explain both the difference in the Latverian flag's insignia and the then-leader's absence (perhaps attempting to curtail Victor's revolution off-screen), his lack of mention alongside the other villains, as well as Doom's later appearance in the post-credit scene, which was a massive time-skip given Franklin's age.
Regardless, the Fantastic Four's new origin in the MCU and the Mad Thinker's placement in it seem deliberately designed to lessen Reed's connection to Doom. After all, Mad Thinker not only took the dictator's place on the team during their origin but also attended the same college as Reed and even had a massive hang-up with Mr. Fantastic over a mere calculation.
It'll be curious to see what sort of dynamic or relationship Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom and Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards will have in Avengers: Doomsday, despite their limited screentime and history so far.
