If you watched The Fantastic Four: First Steps thinking the film would pay off Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers' post-credit scene, well, you probably left the theater disappointed.

Warning! Spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps follow

It's an odd situation — the whole point of a Marvel post-credit teaser is to set up what's next from the MCU. But here, with just months between their releases, Thunderbolts* teased the arrival of the Fantastic Four in the main MCU reality — only for it to never happen within First Steps' runtime.

So what happened here? Was this always the plan? Well, fans know that Thunderbolts*/The New Avengers' post-credits scene was only filmed very recently, on the set of Avengers: Doomsday by that film's directors, the Russo brothers. But so was the post-credits scene of The Fantastic Four, which despite featuring a time jump still appears to take place chronologically before the teaser seen in Thunderbolts*.

Now, The Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman has been asked about the situation — and how this year's two big Marvel movies that appeared to be linked ended up still feeling distinctly separate.

"The Thunderbolts* end credit scene was also created, you know, relatively late in my process too," Shakman told Cinema Blend, "so that was not something that I was familiar with because it hadn't been created at the time that I was working on my script, you know?

"I often use the metaphor of it [being] like a relay race, right?" he continued. "You pass the baton, you run your section of it as hard and fast as you can, do the best you can with your version of Fantastic Four – Earth 828, this world – and then you pass the baton, in this case to the Russo brothers."

In other words, The Fantastic Four doesn't pay off the Thunderbolts* post-credit scene featuring The Fantastic Four because Shakman himself hadn't yet been aware it needed to.

Again, it's an odd situation — especially as Marvel has had a pair of Avengers movies looming on its schedule now for years, with the Fantastic Four always looking likely to be key players.

As it is, Shakman's film ends with the defeat of Galactus and life returning to normal for the Fantastic Four's universe — until the movie's Russo brothers-directed post-credits scene set several years later shows toddler Franklin being held by Doctor Doom.

Now, fans have 18 months to wait — until the current December 18, 2026 release date of Avengers: Doomsday — to find out how the Fantastic Four get from (presumably) having their baby kidnapped, to arriving in the main MCU (as seen in Thunderbolts*) to then whatever happens next.

Earlier this week, Shakman confirmed there were no plans for an extended version of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, despite calls from fans for a longer edit of the film with its cut scenes restored.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social