Warning! This article contains major SPOILERS for The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps debuted the most powerful character in the MCU with Franklin Richards, whose powers are almost second to none in Marvel Comics. The newborn was central to The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ plot, which homes in on the family dynamic of the titular team, and he is likely to play a huge role in future MCU installments.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens with Sue Storm and Reed Richards learning that Sue is pregnant with Franklin, who swiftly becomes a focal point of the movie. Soon after, even the god-like cosmic arch-villain of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Galactus, recognizes Franklin’s latent power andoffers to spare their Earth, Earth-838, in exchange for Franklin.
Franklin also goes on to play a pivotal role towards the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, setting up his MCU future as one of the franchise’s most consequential characters. Despite being no older than four in his MCU debut, these moments alone foreshadow the extent to which Franklin will impact the end of the Multiverse Saga.
MCU Franklin Richards’ Powers Explained
Franklin Richards Can Warp Reality Itself
Franklin Richards seemingly boasts some impressive powers even before he is born in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Although Reed Richards’ meticulous testing of his unborn child yields no notable anomalies, Galactus contradicts this in their first encounter, asserting that Franklin Richards not only harbors the Power Cosmic, but that he “hides his nature” from his parents.
All the powers Franklin demonstrates in The Fantastic Four: First Steps match his immense powers in Marvel Comics, where he is portrayed as one of the most powerful mutants in existence.
It isn’t made clear at this moment whether this is a conscious decision by the unborn Franklin, but it hints that the MCU’s Franklin shares a mighty power with his comic book counterpart. Namely, the ability to shape reality itself.
Nevertheless, months after Franklin’s birth in the vicinity of a neutron star, the infant’s powers cannot protect him from Galactus, leaving it to the Fantastic Four to snatch him from the villain’s clutches. This effort to restrain Galactus then drains Sue Storm of her life force, killing her.
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This leads to Franklin’s most impressive feat yet: resurrecting his mother with a touch. A violet glow emits from his hands and in Sue Storm’s eyes as they open, proving that the MCU’s version of Franklin Richards can resurrect the dead even as a baby.
All the powers Franklin demonstrates in The Fantastic Four: First Steps match his immense powers in Marvel Comics, where he is portrayed as one of the most powerful mutants in existence. Put simply, Franklin can shape reality to his will, even to the extent of creating entire pocket universes and, with a little extra help, multiverses. Other powers include:
- Telepathy
- Telekinesis
- Teleportation
- Energy Blasts
- Precognition
- Astral projection
- Flight
Franklin’s ability to alter reality even saw him resurrect Galactus at one point in Marvel Comics, albeit with the help of his sister, Valeria. With the MCU’s Franklin flouting the permanence of death in his first appearance, it seems to be establishing that the MCU’s Franklin will be just as powerful as his comic book counterpart.
Franklin Richards’ Marvel Comics History Explained
Franklin Richards Was Introduced In 1968
In Marvel Comics, Franklin Benjamin Richards’ birth was about as fraught as his live-action counterpart, though it was under markedly different circumstances. Just before being born, while the Silver Surfer threatens Franklin’s safety in the MCU, Sue’s unstable, super-powered blood cells threaten both their lives in Fantastic Four Annual #6, published in 1968.
Like his live-action counterpart, Franklin’s incredible abilities manifest early in his life.
To stabilize Sue Storm’s blood cells, Reed Richards and the remaining Fantastic Four members seize the Cosmic Control Rod from Annihilus, another of the team’s most iconic villains in Marvel Comics. Reed then uses the energy from this iconic artifact to stabilize Sue’s blood cells, helping to deliver a healthy baby Franklin.
Fantastic Four Annual #6 is also the first appearance of Annihilus in Marvel Comics.
Like his live-action counterpart, Franklin’s incredible abilities manifest early in his life. However, they initially manifest differently than the power of resurrection, with Franklin even willing himself to become an adult at one point. Nevertheless, it isn’t much longer before Franklin begins to perform such feats as creating a pocket universe from his bed as a child.
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This is unusual for most other mutants, whose X-Genes are typically awoken around the same time as puberty. This speaks to Franklin’s innate power in Marvel Comics, in which he is destined to become the next Devourer of Worlds, like Galactus, in the Ninth Cosmos. This destiny is also foretold by Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
What’s Next For Franklin Richards In The MCU?
Franklin Richards Will Possibly Play A Pivotal Role In Avengers: Secret Wars
Given that the MCU’s Franklin Richards looks to be fairly comics-accurate in terms of power, it is safe to assume that he will follow a similar narrative trajectory to the Franklin Richards of Marvel Comics. The proximity of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars offers a clearer indication of how this will unfold.
Whatever the case, Franklin Richards’ debut is certain to have huge ripple effects in the MCU’s upcoming movies.
The Fantastic Four and Franklin Richards play pivotal roles in the 2015 Secret Wars comics. Although Franklin’s powers are insufficient in staving off the collapse of the multiverse, an event that will likely occur in Avengers: Doomsday, he is integral in reshaping the new one, dubbed the Eighth Cosmos, at the end of the Secret Wars comics.
Given that the MCU hasintroduced Franklin Richards as the most powerful character at this particular juncture, Franklin may play a similar, if not identical, role in Avengers: Secret Wars. Now that a post-Avengers: Secret Wars reboot of the MCU has been confirmed by Kevin Feige himself, the prevailing theory suggests that the MCU will adapt this multiversal rebirth.
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Whether Franklin retains his godlike powers in a rebooted MCU remains to be seen. In Marvel Comics, for instance, Franklin Richards suppresses his powers, a move that Marvel Studios may wish to replicate to avoid a mind-boggling power imbalance in future MCU installments.
Whatever the case, Franklin Richards’ debut is certain to have huge ripple effects in the MCU’s upcoming movies. This notion is supported by the fact that The Fantastic Four: First Steps did not shy away from stressing the extent of his power, foreshadowing the pivotal role he is now bound to play in the remainder of the Multiverse Saga.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
7/10
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
- Runtime
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115 minutes
- Director
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Matt Shakman
- Writers
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Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman