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With this summer’s announcement that Robert Downey Jr. was rejoining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, fans wondered if this meant that we’d get to see him sooner rather than later — after all, Doctor Doom is traditionally the villain for the Fantastic Four, who have their own MCU debut in July 2025. A new update from Marvel about that latter movie might suggest otherwise, unfortunately.

Marvel Studios has released an official synopsis and main cast for next year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and it’s one that confirms a couple of previously rumored developments — the movie’s antagonists, and who’s playing them — and… there’s no mention of Victor Von Doom anywhere.

The official synopsis reads, “Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family — Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.”

Okay, we have some guesses about what “it suddenly gets very personal” might mean — could this be the origin of Reed and Sue’s romance in this incarnation? Or, if things are far further along, the discovery that Sue is pregnant with the kid who will one day be Franklin Richards? — but it should be noted: there really doesn’t seem a lot of space in there for Doom to fit in that story above, outside of an end-credits cameo. (Not that Marvel doesn't have history introducing big threats in post-credit scenes, of course.)

Does this mean that we won’t get to see Doom in action until 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday? Or is Marvel keeping a secret or two under its metal helmet in the hopes of giving fans more than they bargain for in the next few months? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to head to the box office as Marvel returns to theaters in a big way next year.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Which Secret Wars comic the Russos are basing Avengers 6 off of
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Marvel's accidental closure on the Kang storyline
• Robert Downey Jr. is entering his villain era
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• For Marvel actors, the MCU also stands for the Marvel Commercials Universe
• The Fantastic 4: First Steps offers Marvel a visual makeover, courtesy of a classic movie designer
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga