Marvel’s new era for its First Family is already causing timeline headaches. Director Matt Shakman, whose Fantastic Four: First Steps opened in cinemas on 25 July 2025, said the movie’s finale was fully locked before Marvel devised the Thunderbolts mid‑credits tag that teases the quartet’s rocket streaking toward Earth‑616. Because that stinger was created “relatively late in my process,” he never saw it while writing or cutting his film, he told Deadline at San Diego Comic‑Con, adding that connective tissue will have to wait for future chapters.
The admission answers a question fans have pressed since Thunderbolts arrived in May, showing Valentina Allegra de Fontaine intercepting an unidentified spacecraft weeks before the Fantastic Four were canonically marooned in an alternate 1960s universe. Shakman stressed that his story sits on Earth‑828 and was never designed to dovetail instantly with the Avengers storyline now building toward Avengers: Doomsday in 2026.
Continuity speed bumps illustrate how looser coordination has crept into Marvel’s post‑Infinity Saga planning, an issue highlighted in recent industry analyses of unclaimed cliff‑hangers across Phase 4 and Phase 5 projects. Yet Shakman suggested that creative freedom mattered more than rigid alignment, noting that practical sets, 65 mm photography and a retro‑futurist palette were his top priorities in re‑introducing Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben.
First Steps plants the quartet in a Kennedy‑era New York and pits them against Galactus while hinting at the birth of Franklin Richards. Casting Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss‑Bachrach has already paid off at the box office, with the film posting a $168 million domestic debut that outpaced Marvel’s spring release Shang‑Chi 2. Shakman also confirmed there is “zero chance” of an extended cut, saying the theatrical version represents his preferred pacing despite online petitions for a longer battle sequence on the Baxter Building roof.
Whether or not future MCU entries reconcile the spacecraft discrepancy, the filmmaker is content to let the mystery breathe: “Sometimes the universe writes a post‑credit cheque you cash later,” he joked—leaving audiences to wait for that deposit slip.
