In the run-up to the Fantastic Four’s return to the big screen in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, Marvel Comics has revealed they will release four quarterly one-shots, continuing to expand on the history of the First Family in the MCU. Dan Slott and Mark Buckingham will helm the first one-shot, due out in March, which will introduce the film’s version of the Mad Thinker, the villainous robotics engineer who first appeared in 1963’s Fantastic Four #15.
Return to the world of Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the first of a series of quarterly one-shot specials throughout 2026 expanding on different characters and moments from the film! On Earth-828, a cosmic mishap has transformed four brave astronauts into the world’s champions and protectors. They are the Fantastic Four — but one person isn’t happy about things. He’s known as the Mad Thinker, and he’s determined to get his proper due by turning the city of tomorrow against its heroic patrons!
Slott and Buckingham are no strangers to the Four, the former having penned the main series from 2018 to 2022, while the latter created the film’s first prequel comic with Matt Fraction. The book also include a two-page “Fantastic Science” feature written by current Fantastic Four scribe Ryan North, based on the educational show Reed Richards hosts in the movie.
The Mad Thinker was among the classic Fantastic Four villains mentioned in the movie when Reed tipped off the police to their location, to ensure the world would be a safer place when Franklin Richards was born. Based on his dialogue, we can expect the other three one-shots to respectively introduce the MCU’s Diablo, Wizard, and Puppet Master (whose daughter, and Ben Grimm’s longtime love interest, Alicia Masters, was conspicuously absent from the film.)
First Foes #1 will be released on March 4, with two covers by Phil Noto, and a variant by Kaare Andrews. In the meantime, you can check out the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday (due out December 18, 2026), in theaters now with Avatar: Fire and Ash.
