Naturally, spoilers for the ending of "Midnight Suns" follow.

"Midnight Suns" is a truly great superhero game, although it hasn't been that long since Insomniac released a couple of good "Spiders-Men" titles this year. But it's great to see modern Marvel superimposed on the new genre of card games we're talking about, creating something "Mass Effect" like we've never seen before. Our Midnight Suns review gave it an 88% rating.

True to its Marvel license, Midnight Suns has two short post-credit scenes waiting for the player at the end of a 65+ hour long campaign (mine took 75 hours).

⚠ [**Real, Hulk-sized spoilers follow**] ⚠

After KOing Chthon in Midnight Suns' marathon final mission, the scene returns to the abbey library, where Caretaker, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch are rifling through the books, trying to find a way to resurrect you, the noble hero who gave his life (again) for the world. The bond between Lilith and the Hunter has defied death before: ...... Prophecy or no prophecy, we know this story is not over yet," Caretaker says.

Unless he's winking at the camera, it would be hard to get more explicit dialogue out of the character in this context. 2K Games and Firaxis have declined to comment to me about the endgame teaser, so let's enjoy speculating about three possibilities

...

. Above: the ending cutscene for Midnight Suns and the mysterious after-credits teaser.

Thanks to Data Miners, we already know there will be more characters in Midnight Suns: Morbius, Deadpool, Venom, and Storm. Deadpool was teased in the official November video, and the character is campaigning for a Ryan Reynolds-style addition to Midnight Sands.

What we don't know is the release scheme for these characters, but Firaxis will probably introduce one every three months through 2023. This slower schedule would give Midnight Suns a service game-like scheme that would keep players a bit preoccupied throughout 2023, allowing for individual promotions, which most publishers go out of their way to do.

Then again, wouldn't ending Midnight Suns with a line like "I know this story is far from over" suggest a larger continuation? After finishing the campaign, New Game+ will be unlocked, allowing players to take on missions outside of the story, and while the four DLC characters seem to fit this formula, the second post-credits video suggests even more strongly that there is more to come.

After some of the credits for Midnight Suns play, we are interrupted by a short cutscene. The camera zooms down from the purple starry sky to the Darkhold (the same book Lilith stabbed with the Chthon knife), lying on the rocky plane where the final battle took place. In the foreground is a foot clad in armor shaded by a green cloak.

You don't need to collect comics to know it's Dr. Doom.

As if more clues were needed at this point, a metal hand reaches across the screen and dispels the dark hold. 'Amateurs...'

a sophisticated voice murmurs between wicked grins.

A second campaign featuring Doom as a continuation of "Midnight Suns" would be a strong creative starting point for an expansion or sequel; Doom is a better known villain than the god Chthon and has his own country (Latveria) and could serve as the basis for a new stage. His Doombot army is the natural base enemy for heroes to fight, the equivalent of the endless Hydra infantry you stomp on in the Midnight Suns campaign.

Expanded editions are also Firaxis' preferred format. Battle of the Chosen was followed by XCOM 2, and Civilization has had many expansions throughout its lifespan. Therefore, this theory feels the most likely, but it is also possible that both 1 and 2 will materialize. However, there is another possibility that cannot be ignored.

Exhibit A, or what should be called Exhibit 4, is submitted into the record.

Computer, zoom, enlarge.

Folks, this is the Fantastic Four emblem laid out in stained glass. It is also blue, the color of the team's traditional uniform.

Normally, I would say this is just a cute little Easter egg, but it's worth noting that this place stands out because it will be back at the altar of Agatha throughout the game and all the emo kids' gatherings will take place there. In other words, Firaxis wants us to pay attention to this. And while Doctor Doom has fought everyone from the X-Men to Spider-Man to the Avengers throughout decades of Marvel history, he is the nemesis of the Fantastic Four.

Undermining this theory is the fact that the Fantastic Four are not very popular. A great graphic novel by legendary artist Alex Ross (opens in new tab) has just been released, but their films under the Marvel umbrella have been terrible (The Hollywood Reporter ranked the 2015 film among the Marvel films of the past 20 years (which ranked it at the bottom of the list). And on a technical level, Mr. Fantastic seems like a nightmarish development.

But to counter, the Midnight Sons were not a widely known superhero group either. The Fantastic Four have been around for 60 years.

Knowing that Marvel approached Phylaxis to make a game and not the other way around, the studio may have seen an opportunity to lock Phylaxis into a multi-game franchise from the beginning (as any Marvel film or television product as well).