Warning: This text incorporates MAJOR spoilers for The Implausible 4: First StepsThe Implausible 4: First Steps has lastly opened in theaters. After a number of failed characteristic movie diversifications, the workforce and The Marvel Cinematic Universe, which have been working for 17 years, have joined forces. The not possible has occurred: Marvel Studios bought the Implausible 4 proper, capturing the guts of what followers have cherished about these characters for 64 years.
The Implausible 4: First Steps not solely kicks off Section 6 of the MCU, however the workforce is being positioned because the main faces of the franchise shifting ahead, as they’ll seem in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars. The film can be the final MCU movie for over a yr till Spider-Man: Model New Day on Jul. 31, 2026, which means it needed to depart audiences on a excessive be aware. The Implausible 4: First Steps options two post-credits scenes, and, as is custom, one teases the following film whereas the opposite is a enjoyable joke. But one in every of these post-credits scenes will definitely have followers speaking for nicely over a yr.
The Two Publish-Credit Scenes, Defined
The mid-credit scene of The Implausible 4: First Steps is the massive one. The credit soar ahead 4 years after the movie’s conclusion (which means it has been eight years because the workforce bought their powers). Sue Storm is studying The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a now four-year-old Franklin Richards. She will get as much as get one other e book, however when she returns to her son in the lounge, a determine in a inexperienced cloak is hunched over, Franklin Richards. Within the determine’s hand is a metallic masks, with Franklin reaching out to the touch the determine’s face earlier than the display cuts to black, with the phrases “The Implausible 4 will return in Avengers: Doomsday” showing throughout the display.
The determine is none aside from Physician Doom, the archenemy of the Implausible 4. Robert Downey Jr. will play Physician Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. Although within the mid-credits scene, Doom’s face just isn’t proven, and Downey Jr.’s voice just isn’t heard.
The post-credits scene of the movie options the opening intro of the in-universe Implausible 4 cartoon. The cartoon options animated variations of the Implausible 4 and H.E.R.B.I.E. accomplished within the type of the 1967 Implausible 4 sequence, with an authentic music titled “The Implausible 4 Energy Hour (Cartoon Theme).” The animation options the Implausible 4 preventing many iconic foes, together with Paul Walter Hauser’s Mole Man, in addition to two villains name-dropped earlier within the movie, similar to Puppet Grasp and Diablo. Moreover, it contains Dragon Man, a personality not talked about earlier within the film however who seemingly exists on this actuality. It is a enjoyable be aware that can depart audiences laughing, however it’s the Physician Doom tease that would be the buzziest new element.
There is a Physician Doom-Formed Gap in ‘The Implausible 4: First Steps’
Regardless of not seeing Robert Downey Jr. as Physician Doom, Doom’s presence in The Implausible 4: First Steps was alluded to earlier within the movie. When Sue Storm is addressing the United Nations as the top of the Future Basis, one nation’s seat is notably left empty: Latveria, dwelling of Physician Doom. This suggests that the Implausible 4 have already encountered Physician Doom and that he’s a identified entity on this actuality. It definitely offers credence to the truth that Robert Downey Jr.’s Physician Doom hails from Earth 828 and is a foe of this incarnation of the Implausible 4.
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Nevertheless, other than the Latverian seat on the Future Basis assembly, Physician Doom just isn’t proven or referenced all through the whole movie till the top credit. Even then, he’s not referenced by title, solely by iconography. On condition that Doom would seemingly have stepped in to attempt to save the day when Galactus threatens the planet and Mister Implausible by no means mentions Doom as a potential menace, this means that Physician Doom has been taken off the board earlier than the occasions of the movie.
How the Mid-Credit Scene Units Up ‘Avengers: Doomsday’
Identical to with the Thunderbolts* end-credits scene, The Implausible 4: First Steps‘ post-credits scene was shot by Joe and Anthony Russo on the set of Avengers: Doomsday. Initially supposed for launch in Could 2026, Avengers: Doomsday has since been delayed till December 2026, which means the follow-up to the Physician Doom tease is now 17 months away.
It seems that Physician Doom has kidnapped Franklin Richards, forcing the Implausible 4 to pursue their archenemy throughout the multiverse. This ties in with the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*, with the Implausible 4’s ship arriving in the primary MCU sacred timeline, prone to cease Physician Doom. Franklin Richards’ standing as an Omega-Stage mutant, a baby with the power to rewrite actuality, is vital to the plot of The Implausible 4: First Steps. Galactus desires Franklin so he can take his place because the Devourer of Worlds, just like how Franklin Richards is destined to grow to be the brand new Galactus within the comics. Regardless of saving Franklin from Galactus, his powers to change actuality make him a high-profile goal and one which Physician Doom might look to take advantage of.
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As for what Physician Doom has deliberate, he would possibly look to make use of Franklin’s powers to cease the assorted incursions, presumably merging all of the universes collectively and organising Battleworld for Avengers: Secret Wars. This combines the Secret Wars comedian with the 1996 occasion Heroes Reborn, by which Franklin used his powers to imprison the Implausible 4, The Avengers, and Physician Doom in a pocket actuality. Franklin Richards additionally seems to be filling the position of The Beyonders within the Secret Wars storyline, conserving the multiversal battle centered on its characters versus an outdoor celebration, just like how First Steps ditches the Final Nullifier as a key to defeating Galactus.
Doom focusing on one of many Implausible 4’s youngsters is harking back to Implausible 4 #68, Vol. 3, from June 2003. In that problem, it was Valeria Richards, Franklin’s youthful sister, that Doom focused. Within the comics, Doom has a robust bond with Valeria Richards, as he helped ship her when Reed was unable to take action. In alternate for his service, Doom solely requested that the kid be named Valeria, after his former childhood love. Doom places her below royal safety and acts because the kid’s godfather. It may be too early to carry Valeria into the MCU, so to maintain issues easy, Physician Doom may be seeking to kind the same bond with Franklin Richards, appearing as a darkish father determine. Is it odd for the epic MCU crossover team-up that’s seemingly going to be one of the vital costly motion pictures ever made to take a beat from Hook? Sure, however that is all hypothesis at this level.
One factor is for positive: Physician Doom is formally a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a sentence that felt like a pipe dream a decade in the past.