{"slug":"the-fantastic-four-first-steps","type":"movie","title":"The Fantastic Four: First Steps","year":2025,"releaseDate":null,"franchise":"mcu","genres":["Science Fiction","Adventure","Action"],"creators":["Matt Shakman"],"url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps","hook":"The unreleased 1994 cast finally hits theaters, a young Stan Lee watches the Surfer land, and the Thing strikes the Action Comics #1 pose — Earth-828 hides its eggs in comics history.","intro":"Matt Shakman told TechRadar there are \"no Easter eggs or other heroes\" in *The Fantastic Four: First Steps* — and then planted dozens of them anyway. The trick is where he aimed. Because Earth-828 is a sealed retro-futurist universe where the Fantastic Four are the *only* superheroes, almost nothing points at the wider MCU. Instead, the references run backwards: to Lee and Kirby's 1961 comics, to sixty years of Fantastic Four screen history, and to the real 1960s the film so lovingly rebuilds. Even the universe's designation, **Earth-828**, is Jack Kirby's birthday.\n\nThat restraint makes the finds hit harder. The entire cast of Roger Corman's famously unreleased **1994 Fantastic Four** appears in the opening newsreel — their first time in theaters, 31 years late. When the Silver Surfer descends over Times Square, two young men who look an awful lot like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby watch from the window of a *Timely Publications* office, real 1960s Marvel art on the drawing board behind them. And Ben Grimm hoists a green car in the exact pose from *Action Comics #1*, the 1938 cover that invented the superhero genre.\n\nBelow is every egg worth knowing, ordered roughly as the film reveals them — the director-confirmed tributes, the freeze-frame storefronts, the deep cuts frame-hunters surfaced over weeks, plus what actually happens in both credits scenes and the QR code that pays out in free comics.","identifiers":{"tmdbId":617126,"tmdbUrl":"https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/617126","imdbId":"tt10676052","imdbUrl":"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10676052/"},"counts":{"eggs":20,"confirmed":7,"community":13,"theory":0,"sources":33},"postCredits":{"status":"yes","verdict":"Yes — The Fantastic Four: First Steps has 2 post-credit scenes.","scenes":2,"description":"Two scenes, both worth the wait. The mid-credits scene jumps four years ahead: Sue steps away to fetch Franklin a book (H.E.R.B.I.E. suggests his favorite, Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species') and returns to find a green-cloaked, uninvited visitor kneeling before her son, silver mask in hand — the setup for Avengers: Doomsday, confirmed by a closing title card. After the full credits, a second scene plays the opening titles of the in-universe 'Fantastic Four Power Hour' cartoon with an original Michael Giacchino theme. On the digital release, keep watching: a QR code unlocks a free Marvel Unlimited bundle of nine classic Fantastic Four comics.","detail":"Two scenes, and the split is deliberate: the one that matters is mid-credits, roughly where Marvel has trained everyone to expect it, while the one after the final card is a gift rather than a plot point. The full roll runs the better part of ten minutes.\n\nThe mid-credits scene jumps forward four years. Sue Storm is on the couch reading to Franklin, now a small boy. H.E.R.B.I.E. proposes Darwin's *On the Origin of Species*; Sue goes to fetch something lighter. She comes back to find her son standing face to face with a figure in a heavy green cloak, lowered to Franklin's height, a silver mask held in one hand. The face is never shown. It does not need to be — this is **Doctor Doom**, entering the MCU by walking into a nursery and reaching for the most powerful child in the multiverse, and a closing card names the destination: *Avengers: Doomsday*.\n\nStaging that reveal as a domestic intrusion rather than a throne-room monologue is the smartest decision in the sequence. Everything the film has established about Franklin — that Galactus wanted him, that the Baxter Building could not keep him — reloads in a single shot.\n\nAfter the credits finish, the register flips completely. A CRT television snaps on and plays the opening titles of the in-universe *Fantastic Four* cartoon: a period-perfect Saturday-morning pastiche scored with an original theme by the film's composer Michael Giacchino, the team squaring off against Red Ghost, the Puppet Master and Diablo, and Ben getting his catchphrase in. It is Earth-828 merchandising itself, which is exactly the joke a film this committed to its own retro-futurist bubble should be making.\n\nOne extra exists only on the digital release: a QR code appears in the credits and unlocks a free Marvel Unlimited bundle of nine classic Fantastic Four issues. Theatrical audiences never had a chance to scan it.\n\nBoth are worth the wait, for opposite reasons. The first is connective tissue for the next Avengers film. The second is the closest this movie comes to admitting how much fun it is having.","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps/post-credits"},"eggs":[{"id":"retro-marvel-logo-abc-bumper","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-retro-marvel-logo-abc-bumper","title":"A 1960s Marvel Logo and a Pitch-Perfect ABC Bumper","description":"The film opens on a flat, mid-century Marvel Studios logo card and an **ABC 'Special Presentation'** bumper matching the network's real 1960s formatting. The fanfare plays over the redesigned logo, and the in-universe TV retrospective follows behind the ABC card. It's a double signal — this story doesn't happen in the mainline MCU, and everything on Earth-828, right down to the studio branding and broadcast graphics, has been art-directed into the period. (ABC being a Disney network makes the bumper a quiet corporate in-joke, too.)","scene":"The very first minutes — the studio logo, then the TV retrospective celebrating the team's first four years.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","meta"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — 60 Fantastic Four: First Steps Easter Eggs & Marvel References Explained","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-marvel-references/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"corman-1994-cast-cameos","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-corman-1994-cast-cameos","title":"The Cast of the Unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four Finally Hits Theaters","description":"All four leads of Roger Corman's unreleased 1994 *The Fantastic Four* cameo in the opening newsreel, 31 years later. That $1 million film was completed but never released — reportedly made only to retain the film rights, without the cast ever being told. **Alex Hyde-White** (Reed) and **Rebecca Staab** (Sue) appear as TV journalists narrating the team's exploits, while **Jay Underwood** (Johnny) and **Michael Bailey Smith** (Ben) play power plant workers rescued by the Human Torch. Marvel also invited the four to the Hollywood premiere — the warmest piece of franchise archaeology in any MCU film.","scene":"The opening newsreel montage — the news desk and the power plant rescue.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","trivia","meta"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Gizmodo — 'First Steps' Includes a Touching Quartet of Cameos Bridging 'Fantastic Four' History","url":"https://gizmodo.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-spoilers-roger-corman-cameos-2000634035"},{"label":"Nerdist — First Steps Had a Cameo From the Cast of Unreleased '90s FF Movie","url":"https://nerdist.com/article/fantastic-four-first-steps-has-cameo-from-90s-roger-corman-movie/"},{"label":"SlashFilm — First Steps Features Four Cameos Only Hardcore Marvel Fans Noticed","url":"https://www.slashfilm.com/1922438/marvel-fantastic-four-first-steps-roger-corman-original-1994-cast-cameos/"}],"motifs":["cameo-of-original-actor"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"giganto-ff1-cover-plaque","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-giganto-ff1-cover-plaque","title":"The Fantastic Four #1 Cover — Restaged, and Given a Plaque","description":"The opening montage restages the team's battle with **Giganto**, the giant green monster from the cover of 1961's *Fantastic Four #1*. That image launched the Marvel Universe. Shakman went further and memorialized it inside the world: he confirmed to Marvel.com that a big plaque in Times Square honors the Giganto fight, added because the comic debuted on his own birthday, August 8. Marvel doubled down off-screen too, publishing an official in-universe tie-in comic weeks before release, written by Matt Fraction with art by Mark Buckingham and a Phil Noto cover homaging FF #1.","scene":"The opening newsreel's Giganto battle; the commemorative plaque sits in Times Square set dressing.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","visual"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Daps Magic — Director Matt Shakman Shares Easter Eggs in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'","url":"https://dapsmagic.com/2025/07/director-matt-shakman-shares-easter-eggs-in-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/"},{"label":"Marvel.com — Matt Shakman Reveals Comic and 'WandaVision' Easter Eggs","url":"https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/fantastic-four-first-steps-matt-shakman"},{"label":"Collider — 'First Steps' Pays Tribute to the Team's First Appearance With In-Universe Comic Book","url":"https://collider.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-comic-book-image/"}],"motifs":["comic-panel-recreation"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"opening-rogues-gallery","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-opening-rogues-gallery","title":"Mole Man, the Pan Am Building, and a Cut John Malkovich","description":"The newsreel montage is a speed-run through the Silver Age rogues gallery. Paul Walter Hauser's **Harvey Elder** — comic-accurate down to the full name Harvey Rupert Elder — rules the underground kingdom of **Subterranea**, and his forces are said to have brought down the **Pan Am Building**, a sly period marker (the real one opened in 1963, at the address where the mainline MCU later parks Avengers Tower). Reed grapples with one of the **Red Ghost's Super-Apes**, and the Mad Thinker, Puppet Master, the Wizard, and Diablo all get name-checked. The kicker: **John Malkovich** filmed scenes as Red Ghost that were cut, leaving only his ape behind.","scene":"The opening newsreel montage and early Mole Man confrontation; listen for the Pan Am name-drop.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","trivia"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Variety — Doctor Doom's Latveria, Easter Eggs, Cameos Explained","url":"https://variety.com/lists/fantastic-four-cameos-easter-eggs/"},{"label":"MovieWeb — 10 Easter Eggs in 'First Steps' That Only Diehard Fans Noticed","url":"https://movieweb.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-references/"},{"label":"GamesRadar+ — First Steps Easter eggs and cameos","url":"https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/superhero-movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-cameos-references-marvel-mcu-doctor-doom/"}],"motifs":["deleted-scene-remnant"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"herbie-babyproofing-debut","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-herbie-babyproofing-debut","title":"H.E.R.B.I.E. Babyproofs His Way Into the MCU","description":"**H.E.R.B.I.E.** makes his live-action feature debut babyproofing the Baxter Building. The family's helper robot (voiced by Matthew Wood, longtime voice of Star Wars' battle droids) covers outlets, locks cabinets, and installs baby gates once Sue's pregnancy is revealed. The deep cut is *why* he exists at all — H.E.R.B.I.E. was invented for the 1978 *New Fantastic Four* cartoon to replace the Human Torch, whose screen rights were tied up elsewhere, before entering comics canon in *Fantastic Four #209* (1979). The film's final stinger returns him to that original 1978 cartoon design.","scene":"Inside the Baxter Building, in the stretch after Sue reveals she's pregnant.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Gold Derby — All the Easter eggs in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'","url":"https://www.goldderby.com/film/2025/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs/"},{"label":"GamesRadar+ — First Steps Easter eggs and cameos","url":"https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/superhero-movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-cameos-references-marvel-mcu-doctor-doom/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"excelsior-rocket-stan-lee","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-excelsior-rocket-stan-lee","title":"The Rocket Is Named Excelsior","description":"The team's rocket is named the **Excelsior**, Stan Lee's lifelong sign-off. It carried Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben on the mission that gave them their powers, and they re-launch it against Galactus. Excelsior is the word most associated with the Fantastic Four's co-creator — and also the New York state motto, fitting for Marvel's most New York team. With no street-corner Stan Lee cameo possible anymore, *First Steps* scatters his memory across the world instead, and putting his catchphrase on the vessel that created the team is the most prominent tribute of the lot.","scene":"The team's rocket, seen in the retrospective montage, mission flashbacks, and the third-act launch.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — 60 First Steps Easter Eggs & Marvel References Explained","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-marvel-references/"},{"label":"GameRant — First Steps' 9 Best Easter Eggs and Hidden References","url":"https://gamerant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-best-easter-eggs/"}],"motifs":["crew-tribute"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"ted-gilbert-ed-sullivan-beatles","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-ted-gilbert-ed-sullivan-beatles","title":"Ted Gilbert: Ed Sullivan by Way of Gilbert and Sullivan","description":"Mark Gatiss plays **Ted Gilbert**, an Ed Sullivan stand-in whose name is a **Gilbert and Sullivan** joke. Sullivan's programme defined 1960s American television; swap his surname for Gilbert's and you land on the Victorian comic-opera duo. The staging seals the homage — when the team appears on the show, the stage is dressed with white arrows pointing at them, mirroring Bill Bohnert's iconic set design from the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan appearance on February 9, 1964. Marvel's first family, framed like the Fab Four.","scene":"The Fantastic Four's appearance on The Ted Gilbert Show — note the arrow-covered stage backdrop.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","meta"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — First Steps' Alternate MCU Universe Has a Deep Cut Easter Egg","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-egg-gilbert-sullivan/"},{"label":"Gold Derby — All the Easter eggs in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'","url":"https://www.goldderby.com/film/2025/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs/"}],"motifs":["character-name-homage"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"coppertone-retro-brand-ads","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-coppertone-retro-brand-ads","title":"Johnny Storm Is the Coppertone Kid","description":"A **Coppertone** ad on Earth-828 replaces the brand's famous tan-line toddler with Johnny Storm. The streets and TV spots are stuffed with period-faithful product placement — Yoo-hoo, Pop-Tarts, 7UP, Little Caesars — but that one is the keeper. It's world-building through advertising: the Fantastic Four aren't just Earth-828's heroes, they're its celebrity endorsers, which tracks with the comics, where the team's public fame and licensing income have always separated them from secret-identity heroes.","scene":"Background billboards and commercials across the New York street and TV scenes.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","meta"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — 60 First Steps Easter Eggs & Marvel References Explained","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-marvel-references/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"thing-action-comics-1-homage","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-thing-action-comics-1-homage","title":"The Thing Strikes the Action Comics #1 Pose","description":"Ben Grimm hoists a green vintage car overhead in the pose from 1938's *Action Comics #1*, Superman's debut and the most famous comic cover ever printed. Neighborhood kids ask him to show off, and he obliges. Fans noticed the match goes beyond the pose: the car's period model and even its shade of green track the 1938 cover art, hard to write off as coincidence in a film this deliberate about comics history. Nobody involved has confirmed it on the record, so it stays a fan-spotted homage — but the tonal inversion is the fun part: Superman smashes his car in anger, Ben lifts his for an audience.","scene":"Ben lifting the green car for a group of children on the street.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","reference"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — First Steps' Superman Comics Reference Picked Up On By Fans","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-the-thing-superman-car/"},{"label":"GameRant — First Steps' 9 Best Easter Eggs and Hidden References","url":"https://gamerant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-best-easter-eggs/"}],"motifs":["comic-panel-recreation"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":"Action Comics #1 (1938)"},{"id":"yancy-street-stanleys-kings","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-yancy-street-stanleys-kings","title":"Stanley's and King's: The Shops of Yancy Street","description":"Yancy Street's storefronts hide the film's quietest creator tributes: **Stanley's Service Center** for Stan Lee and a shop called **King's** for Jack Kirby. Lee was born Stanley Lieber; Kirby was \"King\" Kirby. Ben's home turf is the comics' stand-in for Delancey Street on the Lower East Side, home of the Thing-heckling Yancy Street Gang. It's also here that schoolteacher Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne) asks Ben whether he grew up on Yancy Street, quietly canonizing the Thing's comic-book roots on Earth-828.","scene":"Freeze-frame the storefront signage during Ben's Yancy Street walks, especially the bakery trip.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","reference"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBookMovie — 10 Easter Eggs, References, And Cameos You Need To See","url":"https://comicbookmovie.com/fantastic-four/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-10-easter-eggs-references-and-cameos-you-need-to-see---spoilers-a223046"},{"label":"Soap Central — The only First Steps easter eggs explainer you need","url":"https://www.soapcentral.com/entertainment/the-the-fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-explainer-need"}],"motifs":["blink-and-miss-signage","crew-tribute"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"deadpool-wolverine-backlot","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-deadpool-wolverine-backlot","title":"Yancy Street Was Built on Deadpool & Wolverine's Bones","description":"The Yancy Street set reuses part of the Pinewood Studios backlot built for *Deadpool & Wolverine*'s all-the-Deadpools brawl. Here's one you literally cannot see. Shakman told Brandon Davis: \"We used part of that backlot that they had built at Pinewood for that big fight with all the Deadpools... we tore down a bunch of it and rebuilt things, but a few of those storefronts and things are the same.\" A corner of the Void, redressed as 1960s Manhattan — the only physical MCU crossover in a film that otherwise refuses them.","scene":"The Yancy Street exteriors — same physical storefronts, redressed for the period.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["trivia","meta"],"difficulty":5,"difficultyName":"White Whale","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"The Direct — First Steps Director Reveals A Subtle Deadpool & Wolverine Easter Egg Everyone Missed","url":"https://thedirect.com/article/fantastic-four-first-steps-deadpool-wolverine-easter-egg"}],"motifs":["prop-reused-from-earlier-film"],"referencesSlug":"deadpool-and-wolverine","referencesWork":null},{"id":"timely-office-lee-kirby","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-timely-office-lee-kirby","title":"Young Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Watch the Surfer Arrive","description":"Two young men who look like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby watch the Silver Surfer arrive from the window of a **Timely Publications** office. Timely was the 1940s company that became Marvel Comics. The pair (Martin Dickinson and Greg Haiste) are dead ringers for a young Kirby and a pre-mustache Lee, and Dickinson, credited as Timely Employee #1, confirmed on social media that he's playing Kirby. Pause inside the office and it gets richer: an uncolored panel from *Tales of Suspense #27*'s \"Oog Lives Again!\" and a finished page from *Fantastic Four #13* — the first appearance of Uatu the Watcher — sit in plain view. On Earth-828, Lee and Kirby may be drawing the marvels they're watching outside.","scene":"The Silver Surfer's Times Square arrival — the office window with two young men watching, and the artwork inside.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["cameo","visual","meta"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"GeekTyrant — First Steps Hid a Heartfelt Tribute to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby You Probably Missed","url":"https://geektyrant.com/news/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-hid-a-heartfelt-tribute-to-stan-lee-and-jack-kirby-you-probably-missed"},{"label":"The Direct — First HD Photos of Stan Lee's Secret 'Cameo' In Fantastic Four: First Steps","url":"https://thedirect.com/article/stan-lee-fantastic-four-first-steps-cameo-photos"},{"label":"ComicBook.com — First Steps Easter Eggs, Jack Kirby & Stan Lee Cameos Explained","url":"https://comicbook.com/movies/news/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-jack-kirby-stan-lee-cameo-uatu-the-watcher/"}],"motifs":["crew-tribute","stan-lee-cameo"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"westview-appliance-wandavision","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-westview-appliance-wandavision","title":"Westview Appliance: Shakman's WandaVision Signature","description":"**Westview Appliance** sits among the Times Square storefronts — Matt Shakman's nod to *WandaVision*, which he directed in full. It is the film's one deliberate reference to the wider MCU. Westview, New Jersey was the sitcom-trapped town at that series' heart. Shakman confirmed it to Marvel.com: \"There is one nod to WandaVision with the Westview Appliance store in Times Square, which is just because I love Vision and Wanda.\" Given WandaVision's pastiche also began in a black-and-white 1960s suburbia, a retro appliance shop is the perfect hiding spot.","scene":"Storefront signage in Times Square — easiest to catch during the Silver Surfer arrival sequence.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["visual","reference","meta"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Marvel.com — Matt Shakman Reveals Comic and 'WandaVision' Easter Eggs","url":"https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/fantastic-four-first-steps-matt-shakman"},{"label":"Daps Magic — Director Matt Shakman Shares Easter Eggs in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'","url":"https://dapsmagic.com/2025/07/director-matt-shakman-shares-easter-eggs-in-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/"}],"motifs":["blink-and-miss-signage"],"referencesSlug":"wandavision","referencesWork":null},{"id":"088-light-speed-bttf","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-088-light-speed-bttf","title":"0.88 Times the Speed of Light","description":"Reed calculates that the Excelsior must hit **0.88 times the speed of light** — a decimal-shifted wink at *Back to the Future*. The DeLorean needs 88 mph to trigger the flux capacitor; Reed needs 0.88 c to slingshot away from a black hole's pull. The number does real physics work too: relativistic travel near a black hole causes genuine time dilation, and the team returns to an Earth where more time has passed than they experienced — an actual time-travel-adjacent consequence that makes the 88 callback smarter than a throwaway gag.","scene":"The space mission — Reed stating the required escape velocity as the team flees Galactus.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference"],"difficulty":3,"difficultyName":"Freeze Frame","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Looper — Small Details You Missed In The Fantastic Four: First Steps","url":"https://www.looper.com/1920859/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-small-details/"},{"label":"Talk Nerdy — Hidden Back To The Future Reference In First Steps Goes Way Deeper Than You'd Expect","url":"https://www.talknerdy.uk/fantastic-four-first-steps-back-to-the-future-reference.html"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":"back-to-the-future","referencesWork":null},{"id":"galactus-galan-origin","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-galactus-galan-origin","title":"Galactus Admits He Was Once Small","description":"Galactus tells the four that he was once as small as they are — a line lifted straight from his comics origin. Before becoming the Devourer of Worlds, he was **Galan of Taa**, a mortal explorer and sole survivor of the universe that existed before this one, transformed as that cosmos collapsed. H.E.R.B.I.E.'s research earlier in the film backs it up, noting Galactus predates the universe itself. One quiet line smuggles in one of Marvel's biggest cosmological ideas without a single flashback — and his Star Sphere transport is pulled straight from the comics, too.","scene":"The confrontation aboard Galactus' ship during the space mission.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","trivia"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ComicBook.com — 7 Obscure Marvel Easter Eggs & MCU References You Might've Missed","url":"https://comicbook.com/movies/list/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-7-obscure-marvel-easter-eggs-mcu-references-you-mightve-missed/"}],"motifs":["book-accurate-detail"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"shalla-bal-silver-surfer","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-shalla-bal-silver-surfer","title":"Shalla-Bal: The Surfer's Name Is a 60-Year-Old Deep Cut","description":"Julia Garner's Silver Surfer isn't Norrin Radd — she's **Shalla-Bal**, a name only comics readers would clock. In the source material (introduced in 1968's *The Silver Surfer #1*), Shalla-Bal is the Empress of Zenn-La and Norrin Radd's great love, the woman he leaves behind when he becomes Galactus' herald to save their world. The film inverts the classic origin: here Shalla-Bal herself makes the bargain on a Zenn-La beach. Meanwhile, Johnny's fascination with her remixes his comics romance with **Frankie Raye**, another of Galactus' heralds. Two threads of herald lore, braided into one character.","scene":"The Surfer's herald announcement, Johnny's attempts to decode her language, and the Zenn-La flashback.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["reference","trivia"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Space.com — Who is Shalla-Bal, the female Silver Surfer in 'First Steps'?","url":"https://www.space.com/entertainment/who-is-shalla-bal-the-female-silver-surfer-in-the-fantastic-four-first-steps"},{"label":"ScreenRant — Who Is Shalla-Bal? The Female Silver Surfer Explained","url":"https://screenrant.com/shalla-bal-fantastic-four-mcu-silver-surfer-female/"},{"label":"MovieWeb — 10 Easter Eggs in 'First Steps' That Only Diehard Fans Noticed","url":"https://movieweb.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-eggs-references/"}],"motifs":["book-accurate-detail"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"latveria-empty-seat","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-latveria-empty-seat","title":"Latveria's Empty Seat","description":"**Latveria's** nameplate sits at a conspicuously vacant seat in the Future Foundation assembly. Every other member nation of Earth-828's answer to the United Nations is represented, and the country is mentioned twice without explanation. Comics readers know exactly whose kingdom that is: Victor von Doom's. The film never says his name, but the empty chair is a running tease that pays off in the mid-credits scene and points straight at *Avengers: Doomsday*, where Robert Downey Jr. takes the throne. The ambiguity is the hook — is Doom absent, or has he simply not revealed himself on this Earth yet?","scene":"The Future Foundation assembly scenes — scan the delegate nameplates for the unoccupied one.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["foreshadowing","visual"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":true,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — What Is Latveria & Why Was The Seat Empty?","url":"https://screenrant.com/latveria-avengers-doomsday-doctor-doom-seat-tease-explained/"},{"label":"SuperHeroHype — Why Was Latveria's Chair Empty in First Steps?","url":"https://www.superherohype.com/guides/615173-fantastic-four-first-steps-latveria-chair-empty-doctor-doom"},{"label":"Variety — Doctor Doom's Latveria, Easter Eggs, Cameos Explained","url":"https://variety.com/lists/fantastic-four-cameos-easter-eggs/"}],"motifs":["sequel-tease"],"referencesSlug":"avengers-doomsday","referencesWork":null},{"id":"earth-828-kirby-birthday","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-earth-828-kirby-birthday","title":"Earth-828 Is Jack Kirby's Birthday — Sealed With a Kirby Quote","description":"The team's reality carries the multiverse designation **Earth-828** because Jack Kirby was born on August 28, 1917. Kirby co-created the Fantastic Four, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer. Matt Shakman confirmed the tribute, describing it as one of several Kirby homages threaded through the film, and the end credits close the loop with Kirby's own words: \"If you look at my characters, you will find me.\" The MCU's architects effectively signed an entire universe with its co-creator's birth date — the single most-searched easter egg in the film.","scene":"The universe designation is stated on screen; the Kirby quote closes the end credits.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["meta","trivia","reference"],"difficulty":4,"difficultyName":"Deep Cut","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"Daps Magic — Director Matt Shakman Shares Easter Eggs in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'","url":"https://dapsmagic.com/2025/07/director-matt-shakman-shares-easter-eggs-in-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/"},{"label":"Collider — Earth-828 Isn't Just a New Timeline — It's a Tribute to a Huge Marvel Legend","url":"https://collider.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-earth-828-explained-mcu-jack-kirby/"}],"motifs":["crew-tribute","real-world-date-reference"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"power-hour-cartoon-clobberin-time","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-power-hour-cartoon-clobberin-time","title":"The Fantastic Four Power Hour — Where 'It's Clobberin' Time' Comes From","description":"On Earth-828, \"It's clobberin' time\" originates with the in-universe *Fantastic Four* cartoon rather than with Ben. In a sly inversion of sixty years of comics history, the real Ben grumbles that it's not something he actually says — until the finale finally earns him the line. The final post-credits scene then plays the cartoon's full opening: *The Fantastic Four Power Hour*, animated by Titmouse, Inc. in the style of the 1967 and 1978 series, scored with an original Michael Giacchino theme song, and packed with comic-accurate versions of Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, Puppet Master, Diablo, Mad Thinker, and Dragon Man — plus H.E.R.B.I.E. in his original 1978 design.","scene":"Ben reacting to the cartoon mid-film; the full Power Hour intro is the second post-credits scene.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["callback","music","meta"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"community","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"TheWrap — 'First Steps' Post-Credits Scenes Explained","url":"https://www.thewrap.com/fantastic-four-post-credits-scene-explained/"},{"label":"MovieWeb — Both 'First Steps' Post-Credits Scenes, Explained","url":"https://movieweb.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-post-credits-scene-explained/"},{"label":"Comic Book Club — First Steps Has Two End Credits Scenes","url":"https://comicbookclublive.com/2025/07/24/fantastic-four-first-steps-end-credits-scenes-explained/"}],"motifs":[],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null},{"id":"qr-code-free-comics","url":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps#egg-qr-code-free-comics","title":"The QR Code After the Credits Pays Out in Free Comics","description":"A **QR code inside the Future Foundation logo** shown after the credits unlocks a free bundle of nine Marvel comics. It appears on the digital and Disney+ release, alongside the message \"The Future Foundation extends its thanks.\" Scanning it opens a Marvel.com page styled as Reed's Future Foundation site and delivers *Fantastic Four* (1961) #1, the complete Galactus Trilogy (#48-50), *Fantastic Four: Life Story* #1, and *Earth X* #12 among others — essentially the film's required-reading list, handed out as a reward for watching every last credit.","scene":"After the Power Hour stinger on the digital/Disney+ release — keep your phone ready.","timestamp":null,"episode":null,"types":["meta","trivia"],"difficulty":2,"difficultyName":"Second Watch","verification":"confirmed","spoiler":false,"sources":[{"label":"ScreenRant — First Steps Hides the Perfect Marvel Comics Easter Egg","url":"https://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-first-steps-easter-egg-qr-code-marvel-comics/"},{"label":"The Mary Sue — First Steps' digital release hides a new credits surprise","url":"https://www.themarysue.com/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-digital-release-hides-a-new-credits-surprise/"}],"motifs":["arg-beyond-the-screen"],"referencesSlug":null,"referencesWork":null}],"faq":[{"question":"How many easter eggs are in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?","answer":"We catalog 20 significant easter eggs in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, seven of them confirmed on the record by director Matt Shakman or the people involved — from Earth-828's Jack Kirby birthday tribute to the reused Deadpool & Wolverine backlot. Deeper hunts go further: ScreenRant documented 60 references in total. Because Earth-828 has no other superheroes, nearly all of them point to 1960s Marvel comics and TV history rather than the wider MCU."},{"question":"How many post-credits scenes does The Fantastic Four: First Steps have?","answer":"Two. The mid-credits scene jumps four years ahead and introduces a green-cloaked Doctor Doom kneeling before Franklin Richards, silver mask in hand, followed by a title card announcing Avengers: Doomsday. The scene at the very end of the credits plays the in-universe 'Fantastic Four Power Hour' cartoon intro with an original Michael Giacchino theme. On the digital release, a QR code afterward unlocks nine free Fantastic Four comics on Marvel Unlimited."},{"question":"What does Earth-828 mean in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?","answer":"Earth-828 is the official multiverse designation of the film's retro-futurist reality, separate from the MCU's main Earth-616. The number honors Jack Kirby, co-creator of the Fantastic Four and Galactus, who was born August 28, 1917. Director Matt Shakman confirmed the tribute, which pairs with the Jack Kirby quote that closes the end credits: 'If you look at my characters, you will find me.'"},{"question":"Why was Latveria's chair empty in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?","answer":"During the Future Foundation assembly, every nation's delegate is present except Latveria's — the country ruled by Doctor Doom in Marvel Comics. The film never explains the vacancy, which is the point: it's a deliberate tease for the mid-credits scene, where a cloaked Doom appears before Franklin. Whether Doom was simply absent or hasn't yet claimed Latveria's throne on Earth-828 is left open for Avengers: Doomsday."},{"question":"Do the actors from the unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four movie appear in First Steps?","answer":"Yes — all four leads of Roger Corman's never-released 1994 film cameo in the opening newsreel. Alex Hyde-White (Reed) and Rebecca Staab (Sue) appear as TV journalists covering the team, while Jay Underwood (Johnny) and Michael Bailey Smith (Ben) play power plant workers rescued by the Human Torch. Marvel also invited the four to the film's Hollywood premiere — their first big-screen moment in these roles, 31 years later."},{"question":"Is Stan Lee in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?","answer":"Not as himself, but his memory is scattered across the film. When the Silver Surfer descends over Times Square, two young men watch from a Timely Publications office window — Timely being the company that became Marvel — and they are dead ringers for a pre-mustache Stan Lee and a young Jack Kirby. Actor Martin Dickinson, credited as Timely Employee #1, has confirmed he is playing Kirby. Elsewhere, the team's rocket is named the Excelsior after Lee's lifelong sign-off, and a Yancy Street storefront reads Stanley's Service Center, for Stanley Lieber."},{"question":"Who is the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?","answer":"Julia Garner plays Shalla-Bal, not Norrin Radd. In the comics — she was introduced in 1968's The Silver Surfer #1 — Shalla-Bal is the Empress of Zenn-La and Norrin Radd's great love, the woman he leaves behind when he becomes Galactus' herald to save their world. The film inverts that origin so Shalla-Bal makes the bargain herself, on a Zenn-La beach. Johnny's fascination with her also remixes his comics romance with Frankie Raye, another of Galactus' heralds."},{"question":"Does The Fantastic Four: First Steps connect to the rest of the MCU?","answer":"Barely, and deliberately. Matt Shakman told TechRadar there were 'no Easter eggs or other heroes,' because Earth-828 is a sealed retro-futurist universe where the Fantastic Four are the only superheroes. The exceptions: a Westview Appliance storefront in Times Square, which Shakman confirmed as a WandaVision nod; Latveria's empty seat at the Future Foundation assembly; and the mid-credits scene that hands the story to Avengers: Doomsday. There is also a physical crossover nobody can see — the Yancy Street set reuses part of the Pinewood backlot built for Deadpool & Wolverine."}],"publishedAt":"2026-07-09","updatedAt":"2026-08-12","source":{"name":"The Things You Missed","page":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/movies/the-fantastic-four-first-steps","api":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/api/titles/the-fantastic-four-first-steps","methodology":"https://thethingsyoumissed.com/about"}}