Who is Franklin Richards? The baby at the centre of the MCU's The Fantastic Four: The First Steps
Who is Franklin Richards? Photograph: (WION Web Team)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps kicks off Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU). The movie introduces Marvel's First Family to the MCU and sets up the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. It also introduces one of Marvel Comics' most powerfull superheroes, Franklin Richards.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally hit the big screen. The movie has been receiving rave reviews from critics and audiences and currently holds an 88 per cent critics score and a 92 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie had grossed 57 million on its opening day from the US markets and 49.2 million overseas, bringing the total day one haul to 106 million, putting it well on track to beat its previous predicted opening weekend collection of 125 million. First Steps also sets up a major new character in the MCU, Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. (Spoilers below)
What happens in The Fantastic Four: First Steps? (Spoilers)
The movie is set in a different timeline from the rest of the MCU. In First Steps, four scientists, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are given extraordinary powers after their spacecraft is exposed to cosmic radiation. First Steps takes place four years later, with the team of heroes now household names and having saved the world countless times. The team are celebrating the news that Sue and Reed are going to have their first child when an alien being called the Silver Surfer arrives on Earth and announces that their world has been marked for destruction.
The Silver Surfer is the herald of a powerful cosmic entity called Galactus, who eats worlds to sustain himself. The team travels to Galactus' location in space to negotiate with the entity and spare their world. Galactus agrees to spare their world in exchange for their unborn child, Franklin Richards, whom he believes has immense power. The team refuses and eventually beats Galactus. However, in the movie's post-credit scene, which is set four years later, we see Doctor Doom kneeling before Franklin, as the screen cuts to black.
Franklin Richards could be the MCU’s most powerful hero
In the comics, Franklin is an immensely powerful superhero who can warp reality to his will and is said to be vastly more powerful than even Omega-class mutants, the most powerful level a mutant can have, and even has the power to create miniature universes at will. His powers are so impressive that powerful cosmic entities see him as an equal. Despite having such power, Franklin prefers to live an ordinary life and only uses his powers in an emergency.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
Doctor Doom’s sinister plan begins to unfold
In Doomsday, the Avengers will be teaming up with the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to take on Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom and his army of multiverse variants. While his motivations are unknown, his appearance in the Fantastic Four: First Steps post-credit scene and interest in Franklin Richards could mean that he plans on using the child's immense powers and most likely kidnaps him, leading to the Fantastic Four travelling to the MCU's version of Earth.
What comes next in Phase Six
For now, we can only speculate on what's in store for Franklin Richards and the Fantastic Four. MCU fans will have to wait till the release of the next entry in Phase Six, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in 2026 to get some answers.
