Warning: spoilers for this MCU Phase 6 kickoff are in play.
Some of the best stories see the hero’s journey turned into something much darker. As The Fantastic Four: First Steps brings the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2025 movies to a close, it also sets the stage for the upcoming Marvel movies of Phase 6 – and beyond. Which means Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars are on the horizon, with Robert Downey Jr’s return as Doctor Doom promising a big bad for the ages.
Some people aren’t exactly thrilled with this casting, but I’m open to seeing how the former Iron Man star makes his big four-panel heel turn in 2026. You might not expect that, but part of my happiness comes from the parallels between Marvel Studios’ 2008 origin story and The Fantastic Four’s cinematic return. Let’s talk about why:
Reed Richards Perfectly Embodies Tony Stark’s Guilty Genius
It figures that Pedro Pascal’s Fantastic patriarch would be the lighter mirror image to Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom. As we see throughout First Steps’ narrative, Reed Richards is conflicted about the fact that the space mission he and his family went on mutated them into their metahuman state. That’s the sort of guilt that Tony Stark has shouldered throughout the MCU, as both men expect themselves to think their way out of any scenario safely.
What really snapped this comparison together was the moment in The Fantastic Four: First Steps where the hero, also known as Mr. Fantastic, is called out by Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) for “baby proofing the world.” Hearing those words triggered memories of Avengers: Age of Ultron’s “suit of armor around the world” remarks that Tony Stark threw out.
Reed Tech Is The Stark Industries Of Earth 828
Quick question for you: who has a lavish New York tower that acts as a lab, headquarters, and living space to die for? If you answered, “the guy with the indispensable robotic assistant,” then you’ve proven my point.
Reed Richards also lives like Tony Stark, inventing a lot of the sorts of devices his Earth-616 counterpart (and his departed dad) would have dabbled in through decades of history. While it lacks the problematic arms dealing, ReedTech has the same sort of hold on Earth-828’s economy as Stark Industries does in its relative dimension.
Baby monitors, flying police cars, a ‘60s equivalent to hyperspace travel, and of course, teleportation are all part of the achievements The Fantastic Four’s alternate 1965 benefits from. Reed Richards and Tony Stark are practically corporate cousins at this point.
Johnny Storm Represents The More Casual Side Of Tony
Turning back to the more personality-based assessment of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, another strong parallel comes from Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm. The young heartthrob of the group, Johnny’s resemblance to Tony Stark’s mix of bravado, wisdom, and lady chasing is something we saw even before getting eyes on the full movie. You can thank the “Sunday Dinner” promo clip for that, which is shown below:
The entire family loves to “work the problem,” practically adopting the words “we’ll figure it out” as a motto. However, what pushes Johnny Storm over the line and into Tony territory is the fact that he tries to sacrifice himself to send Galactus (Ralph Ineson) into a wormhole intended to strand him.
Those of you with a Disney+ subscription who want to check my math, you can skip to the end of The Avengers, and compare that time Tony Stark tried to pull an Armageddon style sacrifice – but fell back to Earth in the nick of time.
The Fantastic Four Are Seemingly The First Superheroes Of Their Dimension
While the historical timeline in the MCU saw heroes such as the Eternals and Captain America pre-dating Iron Man’s big reveal, the release order saw Tony Stark building the foundation of this long-term juggernaut. Meanwhile, in Earth-828, The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems to place these heroes as the first meta-humans in their home base.
How else would you expect repeated primetime TV specials on The Ted Gilbert Show, celebrating their arrival? Besides, of course, an easy source of exposition that allowed The Fantastic Four: First Steps to make some challenging cuts.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark may not have been the first hero in his timeline, but he did inspire Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to revive The Avengers Initiative. After sitting in a desk drawer for at least 13 years (per Captain Marvel’s chain of events), Tony did help initiate the first incarnation of Earth’s mightiest heroes.
As The Fantastic Four: First Steps Opens MCU Phase 6, It Sets Up Massive Hype For An Evil Robert Downey Jr.
There very well may be more parallels I’ve overlooked in this comparison, but I think I’ve proven my point. Tony Stark and Marvel Studios’ legacy have been renewed through the first picture in MCU Phase 6. Over the course of the three times I’ve seen the film (so far), the point that drove this entire conversation revealed itself to me: Robert Downey Jr. is one hell of a choice for Doctor Doom.
As a James Bond fan, I can appreciate the “dark mirror” plot device, in which a hero is confronted by their opposite number. Audiences used to seeing Downey as the heroically flawed and in-control Tony Stark are going to be in for a surprise when seeing him play the Latverian figure that rejects everything Reed Richards stands for.
To bring it all home, consider this: Robert Downey Jr. is going to be playing a Marvel Comics character that could bring his Academy Award-winning turn in Oppenheimer into the MCU. J. Robert Oppenheimer had Lewis Strauss, and now Reed Richards has his Doctor Doom.
Think of what a man like that would be capable of with resources and superhuman powers. With that scenario in mind, feel free to revisit The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters now, paying close attention to what clues may be present in that Doom’d mid-credits scene.
