Phase

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed legislation that would have phased out a range of popular consumer products, including nonstick pots and pans, that contain synthetic chemicals with potential links to cancer.

“I appreciate the efforts to protect the health and safety of consumers, and while this bill is well-intentioned, I am deeply concerned about the impact this bill would have on the availability of affordable options in cooking products,” Newsom wrote in his veto statement. “I believe we must carefully consider the consequences that may result from a dramatic shift of products on our shelves.”

The legislation would have prohibited the selling or distributing of cookware with intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, by 2030. It phased out PFAS in products for infants and children, ski wax, dental floss, food packaging and cleaning products starting in 2028. Previously used items would have been exempt.

Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who introduced the legislation, Senate Bill 682, said he will continue to work on the issue moving forward.

“We are obviously disappointed,” he said. “We know there are safer alternatives — [but] I understand there were strong voices on both sides on this topic.”

Allen previously explained he introduced the bill to help protect the state’s water supply from contamination.

A study released in 2023 by the U.S. Geological Survey found tap water in urban areas of Southern and Central California is more likely to contain PFAS than the drinking water in most of the nation’s other regions.

“The water agencies, sanitation agencies and local governments are faced with increasingly impossible-to-meet standards just to keep the water supply for our constituents clean,” Allen said during a Senate committee meeting in April. “They’re facing the costs while the producers who keep pushing these products out on the market are not being held accountable.”

PFAS are commonly dubbed “forever chemicals” because of their well-established longevity. They are linked to adverse health effects, including liver enzyme changes and kidney and testicular cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The chemicals have been used for decades to prevent food from sticking to pans or packaging, or to make materials more resistant to stains. California has taken steps in recent years to ban their use in certain items, like cosmetics and menstrual products.

Dozens of organizations weighed-in on Allen’s bill, with the Sierra Club, California Health Coalition Advocacy and the League of California Cities supporting the legislation.

The Chemical Industry Council of California and the Cookware Sustainability Alliance were among those opposed.

Steve Burns, president of the sustainability alliance, was especially concerned by the provision barring the distribution of the banned products.

“California is the entry point for nonstick cookware and other products that come into the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles or the Port of Oakland, and then get distributed throughout the country,” he told The Times. “They go to warehouses, distribution centers and get loaded up on rail or usually trucks — so there’s a lot of jobs in the California economy that depend on products that have Teflon.”

Burns said science hasn’t shown that all PFAS are harmful and argued California should have studied the issue further. He pointed to Illinois, which recently passed similar legislation but ultimately nixed the line banning nonstick cookware. An amendment instead directs the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to assess scientific data on fluoropolymers, the type of PFAS used in nonstick pots and pans.

Several states have recently moved toward restricting items with PFAS. Last January, Minnesota became the first state to ban PFAS in cookware. The Cookware Sustainability Alliance filed a lawsuit arguing the law discriminated against out-of-state commerce. A judge dismissed the suit in August.

The sustainability alliance has shared letters of opposition on its website from several prominent chefs and culinary personalities, including cook and television host Rachael Ray and Mark Dommen, the chef at Hestan, a new restaurant in Napa slated to open later this year.

Dommen explained the legislation would have placed an unfair burden on restaurants and food service providers.

“Non-stick cookware is essential to our daily operations and eliminating these products without a viable alternative would drive up costs, disrupt our supply chain, and put California restaurants at a competitive disadvantage,” Dommen wrote.

Ray, who has a cookware line, argued easy-clean cookware helps families eat healthier by making it easier to prepare meals without extra oils or fats.

Her letter drew a gentle rebuke from actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo, who implored Ray on social media to reconsider her stance and said her advocacy on behalf of the cookware industry was putting the bill in jeopardy.

“Some of us have so much PFAS in our blood that we face a far greater risk of developing cancer,” he wrote in a recent letter shared on X. “Let’s work together to get PFAS out of the everyday products we bring into our home.”

Scientific studies about the health effects of PFAS will continue, according to the CDC.

“Ongoing research has identified associations between PFAS exposure and several health impacts,” the agency’s website states. “There are many factors that can influence the risk of these effects, such as exposure, individual factors and other health determinants. Research is ongoing to understand the mechanisms of PFAS toxicity.”

Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.

A government spokesperson has laid out how Israel will implement the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan in Gaza, saying it will start after today’s Israeli government cabinet meeting.

What has been announced?

What happens next?

What do we not know?

What’s been the reaction?

Reuters

Reuters

United States President Donald Trump says Hamas and Israel have agreed on the first phase of his plan for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and an exchange of captives.

“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.

“ALL the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel withdraw their troops to an agreed upon line,” he added.

Mediator Qatar said that more details of the agreement would be announced at a later date.

“The mediators announce that tonight an agreement was reached on all the provisions and implementation mechanisms of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which will lead to ending the war, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of aid. The details will be announced later,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari wrote on X.

The announcement came hours after Trump said negotiations were going “very well” and that he may travel to the Middle East later this week.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday,” he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Senior officials from Qatar, Turkiye, Egypt and the US joined the delegations in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday, the third day of the talks, as the mediators pressed the two sides to resolve their differences over Trump’s 20-point proposal.

The first phase of the plan calls for a ceasefire and the release of 48 Israeli captives held in Gaza, including 20 who are believed to be alive, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Hamas has submitted its list of detainees to be freed as part of the proposed swap.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – a close aide of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – were participating in the negotiations on Wednesday, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.

Also joining the discussions was the prime minister of longstanding key mediator Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

The Hamas delegation includes leaders Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, two negotiators who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar’s capital Doha that killed five people last month.

In a statement released late Wednesday, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said the group welcomes the participation of Qatar’s prime minister and Turkiye’s intelligence chief, alongside Egypt’s intelligence chief, in the current round of talks.

He said their involvement gives the negotiations “a strong boost” towards achieving positive results on ending the war and facilitating a prisoner exchange.

A delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group is also set to arrive in Egypt to participate in the indirect talks, according to a statement from the group.

The PIJ is the smaller of the two main Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip and is currently holding some Israeli captives.

For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the mediated negotiations had made “a lot of headway” and that a ceasefire would be declared if they reached a positive outcome.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says the talks remain tense with “some serious disagreements”, as crucial details are yet to be hammered out – including the timing and the extent of an Israeli withdrawal, the makeup of the post-war administration for the Gaza Strip and the fate of Hamas.

“You could say that the initial phase of the initial phase is working out,” Bishara said. According to him, both sides appeared to agree on “some sort of parameters” for a captive-prisoner exchange.

“According to the plan, … after Hamas hands over the captives, then the war should be over,” Bishara said. “Israel says no, the war will be over only after Hamas disarms.”

Israeli attacks continue

Even as the talks progressed on Wednesday, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza. At least eight Palestinians were killed across Gaza over the previous 24 hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday. At least 61 others were injured in attacks, it said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement on Wednesday that Israel carried out 271 air and artillery strikes over the past five days despite calls from the US to stop the bombardment. The attacks targeted densely populated areas and shelters for displaced people across the enclave, killing 126 civilians, including women and children – with 75 of them in Gaza City alone.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza’s az-Zawayda, said the situation on the ground “looks extremely bleak” as Israeli drones are still targeting residential buildings, particularly in Gaza City.

“Civilians have said the scale of bombardment sounds less intense in comparison with the days preceding the onset of the current round of negotiations,” Abu Azzoum said.

“They say that might be a sign that mediators are exerting further pressure on Israel to at least mitigate the scale of its bombardment on Gaza for one reason: It’s to allow for Hamas fighters to retrieve bodies of Israeli captives as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that just 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and only a third of 176 primary care facilities work.

Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza has been struggling with “dire shortages” of electricity, clean water and medicine, as well as broken equipment and damaged infrastructure in those health facilities still working.

“Some facilities have been hit and rehabilitated and hit once more,” she said.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people, according to health authorities, and has destroyed large swaths of land in the enclave where almost all two million residents have been forcibly displaced.

Gaza ceasefire breakthrough announced on third day of talks in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh on US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace proposal.

It’s getting close.

Chaminade Prep in West Hills expects to begin demolition soon of the 4.8 acres of buildings it acquired in 2018 that will become its.sports fields. Next year construction will begin on a baseball field, pool and training fields that could be completed by 2027, according to athletic director Todd Borowski. Both projects need final approval from the city before work can begin.

Buildings from the old shopping center have been abandoned and the property is fenced.

Chaminade has phases planned for construction that will include a pedestrian bridge to link its main campus across the street with the new fields. A new softball field will replace the current baseball field. There will be new campus classrooms and a new school entrance.

Here’s a video from the school explaining all the building that will soon begin.

Chaminade is the second Mission League school adding new sports fields. Harvard-Westlake is scheduled to open its River Park complex next year that includes a gym, fields, pool and parking.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

THE best teams in Europe are set to go head-to-head once again as the Champions League returns for another thrilling season.

PSG are the current kings of the continent after thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the Munich final last term.

1

The French giants are among the favourites for the trophy once again, as are Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Six Premier League teams have earned the right to mix it with the big boys in the Champions League this season.

Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea and Europa League winners Tottenham will all be in the draw for the league phase.

The Gunners went the furthest of the English sides competing in Europe’s elite club competition last term.

Mikel Arteta‘s men reached the semi-finals, losing 3-1 on aggregate to eventual winners PSG.

English sides will be looking to stop the rot after failing to make an appearance in the Champions League final in back-to-back seasons.

First up is the league phase, and SunSport brings you the all-important details ahead of the draw.

When is the Champions League draw?

• The draw for the league phase of the 2025/26 Champions League will take place on Thursday, August 28.
• The show will begin at 5pm BST.
• Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum will stage the draw.

How to watch the Champions League draw FREE

• The Champions League draw will be broadcast live on Uefa.com.
• TNT Sports 1 will also air the draw on regular TV.
• The broadcaster will also provide a FREE live stream via the TNT Sports YouTube channel.
• Alternatively, you can discover all the confirmed ties by following SunSport’s live blog of the draw.

How does the Champions League league phase draw work?

Like last year, the league phase has 36 teams from across Europe competing, with each side handed eight games.

The 36 clubs are split into four pots based on their Uefa coefficient, with the opponents generated by automated software.

Starting with Pot 1, one physical ball will be drawn before the automated software randomly draws two opponents from each pot, one home and one away.

Teams cannot face more than two opponents from the same country and are not permitted to face other sides from the same association as theirs.

The top eight teams in the final table will automatically go through to the last 16.

They will then be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides who were placed ninth to 24th in the table.

Champions League draw pots

Pot 1: PSG, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona

Pot 2: Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Atalanta, Villarreal, Juventus, Eintracht Frankfurt, Club Brugge

There is a new reality emerging in the parking lots of one of America’s biggest home improvement stores, highlighted by incidents big and small across Los Angeles.

Construction workers are still hauling lumber and nails, and DIY homeowners pushing carts of paint and soil. But all of a sudden, federal immigration agents may appear.

On Thursday, they moved on a Home Depot parking lot in Monrovia, sending laborers running, including a man who jumped a wall and onto the 210 Freeway, where he was fatally struck. A day prior, fear of a possible raid at a Ladera Ranch location sparked warnings across social media.

Since a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agents from targeting people solely based on their race, language, vocation, or location, the number of arrests in Southern California declined in July.

But over the last two weeks, some higher-profile raids have returned, often taking place at Home Depot locations, where migrant laborers often congregate looking for work.

The number of arrests in these incidents was not immediately known, but the fear that pervades the sweeps underscores how Home Depot has emerged this summer as a key battleground in the fight over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and Southern California.

“Home Depot, whether they like it or not, they are the epicenter of raids,” said Pablo Alvarado, the co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a group that represents the tens of thousands of day laborers working in L.A.

The renewed burst of raids outside neighborhood Home Depots began Aug. 6, when a man drove a Penske moving truck to a Home Depot in Westlake and began soliciting day laborers when, all of a sudden, Border Patrol agents jumped out of the back of the vehicle and began to chase people down. Sixteen people were arrested.

The raid — branded “Operation Trojan House” by the Trump administration — was showcased by government officials with footage from an embedded Fox News TV crew. “For those who thought Immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli posted on X.

The next day, federal agents raided a Home Depot in San Bernardino. Then, on Aug. 8, they conducted two raids outside a Home Depot in Van Nuys in what DHS described as a “targeted immigration raid” that resulted in the arrest of seven undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Over the weekend, activists say, a Home Depot was targeted in Cypress Park and word spread that federal agents were at a Home Depot in Marina del Rey. On Monday, day laborers were nabbed outside a Home Depot in North Hollywood, and on Tuesday more were arrested at a Home Depot in Inglewood.

“And it’s not just day laborers they are taking,” Alvarado added, noting that when federal agents descend on the hardware store’s parking lots, they question anyone who looks Latino or appears to be an immigrant and ask them about their papers. “They also get customers of Home Depot who look like day laborers, who speak Spanish.”

The national hardware chain — whose parking lots have for decades been an unofficial gathering point for undocumented laborers hoping to get hired for a day of home repair or construction work — was one of the first sites of the L.A. raids in June that kicked off the Trump administration’s intense immigration enforcement across Southern California.

Nearly 3,000 people across seven counties in L.A. were arrested in June as masked federal agents conducted roving patrols, conducting a chaotic series of sweeps of street corners, bus stops, warehouses, farms, car washes and Home Depots. But the number of raids and arrests plummeted dramatically across L.A. in mid-July after the court order blocked federal agents across the region from targeting people unless they had reasonable suspicion they entered the country illegally.

On Aug. 1, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s request to lift the restraining order prohibiting roving raids. But within just a few days, federal agents were back, raiding the Westlake Home Depot.

“Even though we’ve had two successful court decisions, the administration continues with their unconstitutional behavior coming and going to Home Depot stores,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference Thursday. “They are violating the” temporary restraining order.

Advocates for undocumented immigrants question the legality of federal agents’ practices. In many cases, they say, agents are failing to show judicial warrants. They argue that the way agents are targeting day laborers and other brown-skinned people is illegal.

“It’s clear racial profiling,” said Alvarado.

The Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions from The Times about how many people have been arrested over the last week at Home Depots across L.A. or explain what why the agency has resumed raids outside hardware stores.

After last Friday’s raids on Van Nuys, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said four of the seven individuals arrested had criminal records, including driving under the influence of alcohol, disorderly conduct and failing to adhere to previous removal orders. She dismissed activists’ claims that the Trump administration were violating the temporary restraining order.

“What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — not their skin color, race, or ethnicity,” McLaughlin said. “America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities.”

Activists say that federal agents are targeting Home Depots because they are hubs for a constant flow of day laborers — mostly Latino and a great deal of whom are undocumented.

“They know that at the Home Depot there will always be people who are day laborers, many of them undocumented,” said Ron Gochez, a member of the Unión del Barrio, a group that patrols neighborhoods to alert residents of immigration sweeps. “And so they figured it would be a much easier, faster and more effective way for them to kidnap people just to go to the Home Depot.”

Another reason the hardware store parking lots had become a focal point, Gochez said, is that they present a wide, open space to hunt people down.

“There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” Gochez said. “And when some of the day laborers started running inside of the Home Depot stores, the agents literally have chased them down the aisles of the store.”

In Los Angeles, pressure is mounting on Home Depot to speak out against the targeting of people outside their stores.

“They haven’t spoken out; their customers are being taken away and they are not saying anything,” Alvarado said. “They haven’t issued a public condemnation of the fact that their customers have been abducted in their premises.”

This is not the first time Home Depot has found itself in the center of a political firestorm.

In 2019, the Atlanta-based company faced boycott campaigns after its co-founder Bernie Marcus, a Republican megadonor, announced his support for Trump’s reelection campaign. Back then, the chain tried to distance itself from its founder, noting that Marcus retired from the company in 2002 and did not speak on its behalf.

But in a global city like L.A., where civic and political leaders are rallying against the raids and public schools have developed policies blocking federal agents from entering their premises, there are growing calls for the national hardware chain to develop consistent policies on raids, such as demanding federal agents have judicial warrants before descending on their lots.

On Tuesday, a coalition of advocacy groups led a protest in MacArthur Park and urged Angelenos to support a 24-hour boycott of Home Depot and other businesses that they say have not stopped federal immigration agents from conducting raids in their parking lots or chasing people down in their stores.

“We call them an accomplice to these raids, because there is no other location that’s been hit as much as they have,” Gochez said. “We think that Home Depot is being complicit. They’re actually, we think, in some way collaborating, whether directly or not.”

Home Depot denies that it is working with federal agents or has advance notice of federal immigration enforcement activities.

“That’s not true,” George Lane, manager of corporate communications for Home Depot, said in an email to The Times. “We aren’t notified that these activities are going to happen, and we aren’t involved in the operations. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”

Lane said Home Depot asked associates to report any suspected immigration enforcement operations immediately and not to engage for their own safety.

“If associates feel uncomfortable after witnessing ICE activity,” he added, “we offer them the flexibility they need to take care of themselves and their families.”

The targeting of day laborers outside L.A. Home Depots is particularly contentious because day laborers, primarily Latino men, have for decades represented an integral part of the Los Angeles labor force.

Since the 1960s, day laborers have formed an informal labor market that has boosted this sprawling city, helping it expand, and in recent months they have played a pivotal role in rebuilding L.A. after the January firestorms tore through Pacific Palisades and Altadena destroying thousands of homes.

“It appears they’re targeting and taking the very people rebuilding our cities,” Alvarado said. “Without migrant labor, both documented and undocumented, it’s impossible to try to rebuild Los Angeles.”

In many L.A. neighborhoods, day laborers are such a constant, ingrained presence at Home Depots that the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Department sets up its resource centers for day laborers next to the stores.

Day laborers are also a reason many customers come to Home Depot.

“Day laborers are a part of their business model,” Alvarado said. “You come in, you get your materials, and then you get your helper.”

Alvaro M. Huerta, the Director of Litigation and Advocacy of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, part of a coalition of groups suing Homeland Security over immigration raids in L.A., said the pick up of raids at Home Depot parking lots was “deeply troubling” and raised serious concerns that the federal government was continuing to violate the July temporary restraining order.

“This looks a lot like it did before a temporary restraining order was in place,” Huerta said.“My sense is they feel they can justify raids at Home Depots more than roving raids.”

Lawyers, Huerta said, were investigating the raids and asking some of the people taken into custody a series of questions: Did agents ever present a warrant? What kinds of questions did they ask? Did you feel like you were able to leave?

“One of the things we’ve been arguing is that some of these situations are coercive,” Huerta said. “The government is saying, ‘No, we’re allowed to ask questions, and people can volunteer answers.’ But we’ve argued that in many of these cases, people don’t feel like they cannot speak.”

Attorneys will likely present information about the arrests to court at a preliminary injunction hearing in September, Huerta said, as they press Trump administration attorneys for evidence that the arrests are targeted.

Huerta said some of the people caught up in recent Home Depot raids were not even looking for work at the parking lot.

One man, a 22-year-old who was getting gas across the street from a Home Dept last Thursday, Huerta said, was detained even though he had special immigrant juvenile status as he was brought to the U.S. as a teen. The man had an asylum application pending, work authorization and no criminal history — and yet a week after he was arrested he was confined in Adelanto Detention Center.

Times staff writer Julia Wick contributed to this article.

This story contains spoilers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

Marvel’s First Family has finally made its formal MCU debut, which means it’s time to engage in everyone’s favorite tradition: breaking down the movie’s post-credits teases to suss out what’s next.

Directed by “WandaVision” helmer Matt Shakman, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces audiences to Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn). The movie, which officially opens Friday, pits the quartet of superpowered astronauts against Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic entity with an insatiable hunger for planets.

As the title teases, “First Steps” marks the beginning of Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will culminate with a pair of massive “Avengers” crossover films.

Like most MCU installments, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” features multiple post-credits stingers. The first, which is shown midway through the end credits, sets up the superhero team’s next big adventure.

The mid-credits scene takes place four years after the Fantastic Four’s showdown with Galactus. It shows Sue sitting on a couch, reading a story to her and Reed’s son, Franklin Richards. After finishing the book, she steps away to grab another, turning down robo-assistant H.E.R.B.I.E.’s suggested title. Sensing something is wrong, Sue starts charging her powers. She rounds the corner to check on Franklin and finds a mysterious cloaked figure interacting with her child.

While his face is not shown, his green cloak and the mask he is holding make it clear to fans familiar with their Marvel lore that this is Doctor Doom.

This marks the first appearance of the iconic villain in the MCU. The character, also known as Victor von Doom, made his comic book debut in “Fantastic Four” No. 5 (1962) and has been a foe of Marvel’s First Family ever since. In the comics, the character is both a scientific genius and a sorcerer hailing from the fictional country of Latveria. (The name of the country is briefly shown in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.”)

Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and her son, Franklin (Ada Scott), in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

(Marvel Studios)

Doom’s introduction into the MCU has been highly anticipated since Marvel Studios’ presentation last year at San Diego Comic-Con. Among the major announcements was that the fifth “Avengers” film had been retitled “Avengers: Doomsday” and that “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the franchise as Doctor Doom.

While Doom’s exact interest in Franklin is not revealed, it’s easy to assume that the child’s powers would be appealing to a supervillain. This encounter also hints at the reason why the Fantastic Four eventually make their way to the universe where the rest of the MCU heroes reside.

“First Steps” is set on Earth-828 — a tribute to “Fantastic Four” co-creator Jack Kirby, who was born Aug. 28, 1917 — a retrofuturistic world in a separate corner of the Marvel multiverse. But the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene shows the Fantastic Four’s spacecraft Excelsior appearing in their world on Earth-616. Could Doom have kidnapped young Franklin and taken him to an alternate universe? Whatever the reason, Samuel Sterns’ warning from the “Captain America: Brave New World” post-credits scene was apt: The multiverse is coming.

Fans might wonder how the “Fantastic Four” post-credits scene might have played out had the studio not altered its original plans to feature Kang the Conqueror as the franchise’s next big bad. In the comics Kang and Franklin are part of the same family tree so it’s easy to imagine him as the surprise interloper Sue sees. Either way, a magical nanny might have been helpful. (Marvel Studios pivoted from its original plan after Kang actor Jonathan Majors was convicted on assault and harassment charges in 2023.)

The second “Fantastic Four: First Steps” credits scene is shown after the full credits roll and serves more as a fun bonus and tribute to the eponymous superhero team’s animated past.

“Avengers: Doomsday,” hitting theaters Dec. 18, 2026, will be a massive MCU crossover featuring members of the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts/New Avengers and more. Confirmed “Doomsday” cast members include veteran “Avengers” stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), as well as Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds), Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost).

Up next for the MCU is “Wonder Man,” a series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that will debut on Disney+ in December. The next Phase 6 film is Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” slated for a July 2026 release.

Poised to set a record for player popularity and elite production, the Dodgers had eight finalists for the National League starting lineup in the 2025 All-Star Game as voted by fans.

Voters had 48 hours to choose between the two players at each position who had accumulated the most votes over the last month in what MLB called Phase 1. Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani already was in the starting lineup because he led NL players in Phase 1 votes.

Who in Blue would join him after Phase 2?

MLB announced the winners Wednesday afternoon, and Dodgers catcher Will Smith and first baseman Freddie Freeman will start along with Ohtani. The other five Dodgers finalists — second baseman Tommy Edman, shortstop Mookie Betts, third baseman Max Muncy and outfielders Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages — were outvoted and won’t start.

The record of five starting players held by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati Redlegs, and the 1939 New York Yankees still stands. The Dodgers fell short, despite the bevy of finalists.

It is the ninth All-Star berth for Freeman, who is batting .308 with 21 doubles, and the third for Smith, who leads the NL with a .320 batting average and .419 on-base percentage. Both players have 10 home runs.

Eleven-time All-Star Mike Trout was the only Angels player among the American League finalists, and he did not finish among the top three outfielders in Phase 2. Thousand Oaks High product and Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson was voted the AL starter at shortstop, beating out Bobby Witt Jr.

Finalists not voted as starters have no guarantee of making the All-Star Game as a reserve. Pitchers and reserves for the 32-man rosters will be determined by a vote of MLB players and the commissioner’s office.

Complete rosters of 20 position players and 12 pitchers will be announced at 2 p.m. PDT Sunday on ESPN. The All-Star Game will take place July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta. Managers Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Aaron Boone of the Yankees have no say in the selections.

The teams that boasted five starters included Hall of Famers and also lesser-known players.

The ’39 Yankees had All-Star starters Joe DiMaggio, George Selkirk, Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe and Joe Gordon. Red Ruffing was named the starting pitcher by manager Joe McCarthy, making the ’39 Yankees the only team with six starting players.

The most recent team to land five All-Star starters was the ’76 Cincinnati Reds, known as the Big Red Machine, led by future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. Pete Rose, Dave Concepción and George Foster also started.

The Reds were called the Redlegs from 1953 to 1959 because of a period of intense anti-communism in the U.S. To distance themselves from the Red Scare, the Reds temporarily changed their name.

Cincinnati fans loved their team by any name, casting a deluge of last-minute votes two years in a row that eventually required intervention from MLB commissioner Ford Frick and caused MLB to eliminate fan voting for more than a decade.

Frick stood by the voting in ’56 despite complaints that five Redlegs were voted in, saying, “Everybody had a chance to vote, so there should be no squawks.”

A year later he changed his tune when last-minute voting — remember, all votes were handwritten and manually tabulated — resulted in an all-Redlegs lineup. Frick swiftly stepped in and replaced three Redlegs with future Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

Redlegs fans were incensed, some making an effigy of the commissioner and driving it through Cincinnati tied to a truck. The reaction from players was more muted, with Redlegs center fielder Gus Bell saying, “I’m not exactly burned up about being replaced by Willie.”

Dodgers who finished second likely will have little quarrel with the results. Players who edged them out in voting are having excellent seasons: third baseman Manny Machado, shortstop Francisco Lindor, second baseman Ketel Marte and outfielders Ronald Acuña Jr., Kyle Tucker and Harvard-Westlake High product Pete Crow-Armstrong.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6, 2.51 earned-run average) of the Dodgers is a strong candidate to make the NL pitching staff. At least one Angels player must be chosen as a reserve or pitcher, and the nod could go to Trout, who has 13 home runs but is batting .230.

Other possibilities for the resurgent Angels are catcher Logan O’Hoppe (17 home runs), shortstop Zach Neto (12 home runs, team-high 2.7 WAR), outfielder Jo Adell (18 homers, 44 runs batted in) and starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (2.79 ERA in 96.2 innings).

MLB All-Star Starting Lineups

National League
C: Will Smith, Dodgers
1B: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
2B: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
SS: Francisco Lindor, Mets
3B: Manny Machado, Padres
OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
OF: Kyle Tucker, Cubs
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
DH: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers

American League
C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers
SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
3B: Jose Ramirez, Guardians
OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees
OF: Riley Greene, Tigers
OF: Javier Baez, Tigers
DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles

All-Star voting resumes Monday at 9 a.m. PDT for 48 hours with the Dodgers entertaining the possibility of fielding an unprecedented eight position players.

The top two vote-getters at each position through Phase 1 of voting are finalists and moved on to Phase 2, which ends Wednesday at 9 a.m. PDT. The defending World Series champion Dodgers boast a finalist at each infield position and two among six outfielders.

Even though only three Dodgers led National League Phase 1 voting at their position, all eight have an equal chance of starting because votes don’t carry over to Phase 2. The player at each position to accumulate the most votes in the two-day window will start the July 15 game at Truist Park in Atlanta.

“Very proud. It’s great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously we’re playing well. As it stands now, we’re the best team in the National League, so we should have the most All-Star voting for the team.”

Shohei Ohtani locked in an automatic spot as starting designated hitter because he led all National League players with 3,967,668 votes in Phase 1. Catcher Will Smith and first baseman Freddie Freeman are the other Dodgers to lead voting, while second baseman Tommy Edman, shortstop Mookie Betts and third baseman Max Muncy finished second. Among outfielders, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages finished second and fifth, respectively.

In American League voting, the Angels’ Mike Trout is one of four finalists to secure one of two openings in the outfield. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees already earned a starting spot by leading all players with 4,012,983 votes in Phase 1.

Trout, who has 13 home runs in 56 games, is competing against Riley Green and Javier Báez of the Detroit Tigers and Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians.

Voting can be done online at MLB.com/vote, all 30 team websites, the MLB app and the MLB ballpark app. The winners will be announced on ESPN at 1 p.m.

The most position players voted to start an All-Star Game from a single team is five — accomplished by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds ,the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati Redlegs and the 1939 New York Yankees.

“I hope we get five, six, seven Dodgers,” Roberts said. “That’d be great.”

MLB All-Star finalists

AL guaranteed spot: Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees — 4,012,983 votes
NL guaranteed spot: Shohei Ohtani, DH, Dodgers — 3,967,668 votes

National League finalists
Catcher: Will Smith (Dodgers), Carson Kelly (Cubs)
First base: Freddie Freeman (Dodgers), Pete Alonso (Mets)
Second base: Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks), Tommy Edman (Dodgers)
Shortstop: Francisco Lindor (Mets), Mookie Betts (Dodgers)
Third base: Manny Machado (Padres), Max Muncy (Dodgers)
Outfield: Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Kyle Tucker (Cubs), Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets)

American League finalists
Catcher: Cal Raleigh (Mariners), Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays)
First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Paul Goldschmidt (Yankees)
Second base: Gleyber Torres (Tigers), Jackson Holliday (Orioles)
Shortstop: Jacob Wilson (Athletics), Bobby Witt Jr., (Royals)
Third base: José Ramírez (Guardians), Alex Bregman (Red Sox)
Outfield: Riley Greene (Tigers), Javier Báez (Tigers), Mike Trout (Angels), Steven Kwan (Guardians)

The Avengers will return slightly later than expected.

Disney is pushing back the release dates of its next two “Avengers” movies. “Avengers: Doomsday” is now slated to hit theaters Dec. 18, 2026, and “Avengers: Secret Wars” will be released Dec. 17, 2027. Both films were previously planned for May in their respective years.

Marvel Studios initially unveiled “Doomsday,” its fifth “Avengers” film, at San Diego Comic-Con in July. The movie marks the return of Marvel Cinematic Universe stalwarts Anthony and Joe Russo — who previously directed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014), “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) — as well as “Iron Man’s” Robert Downey Jr., as new villain Doctor Doom.

In March, Marvel revealed, in a five-plus hour livestream, 27 members of the “Doomsday” cast, which includes veteran “Avengers” stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), as well as “Thunderbolts*” (a.k.a. New Avengers) actors Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds), Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost).

“Doomsday” will also feature members of the MCU’s newest superhero team, the Fantastic Four. Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm) will make their debut in the upcoming “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which bows in theaters July 25. “First Steps” will mark the beginning of the MCU’s Phase 6. For now, Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is the only MCU film expected to be released between “First Steps” and “Doomsday” on July 31, 2026.

The MCU’s Phase 5 will officially conclude on TV with the upcoming series “Ironheart,” which premieres June 24 on Disney+.

Amid the “Avengers” release date shuffle, Disney also revealed that its “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel, which will reportedly see Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly navigating the decline of magazine publishing (too real, says this reporter), is scheduled to open May 1, 2026, while Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the post-apocalyptic “The Dog Stars” will hit theaters March 27, 2026.

UN chief Antonio Guterres says Gazans are enduring “the cruelest phase” of the war. He denounced Israel’s blockade, calling the 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza so far “a teaspoon of aid” when “a flood of assistance is required.”