Leaked Fantastic Four Concept Art Includes A Strange Spider-Man Easter Egg
In-universe superhero fandom apparently starts early.
Marvel concept art may not always look like the final product, but it can at least communicate the tone and intention of a scene. The illustrations exist to communicate what the movie should look like, even if the plot may not adhere to it all the time. So when a treasure trove of concept art from artist Mushk Rizvi leaked, fans flocked to the images of what looked to be upcoming Marvel movies The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Avengers: Doomsday. They may not spoil guaranteed plot points, but they at least show the artistic direction the MCU is taking.
But one piece of concept art is too different from the rest to ignore, and it depicts something that confirms two different fan theories about what’s coming up in First Steps, all wrapped in a wild Spider-Man reference.
The Fantastic Four may not be long for this universe — but could pop up in another.
In one piece of animated concept art, we see Sue Storm keeping her son Franklin from falling by generating a forcefield. It’s an adorable look into a superhero’s parenting style, but much of it looks out of place. There’s no hint of Franklin in the trailers, but many fan theories suggest we’ll see him be born at some point in the film, and the “first steps” of the title refer to him learning to walk, not the movie’s space-age setting.
Besides Franklin’s mere existence, there’s another part of the image that goes against everything we know: Sue appears to be dressed in modern-day apparel, and Franklin is wearing what look to be Spider-Man pajamas. Considering First Steps either takes place in the 1960s or in an alternate universe that looks like the 1960s, this wouldn’t make any sense. Believe it or not, the MCU’s version of Spider-Man wasn’t even born until the 21st century, so Spider-Man pajamas would be a massive anachronism.
Franklin Richards’ reality-warping powers may be created through his birth in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
So how could this be explained in the movie? Since this movie is completely unconnected to the rest of the MCU, many fans believe it will end with Marvel’s first family — Franklin included — being somehow brought into Earth-616, the main MCU universe. This perfectly sets up their integration into the events of Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Doomsday, and if the other concept art is to be believed, Sue and Franklin will play a major role.
This may still be just a leak, and concept art can depict scenes or plot points that end up on the cutting room floor, but this image is just yet another bit of evidence that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will end with a multiversal twist that will shove the characters into the modern day MCU universe.
