From Fantastic Four to Fantastic Five? All about Franklin Richards, superpowered baby in Marvel franchise

AP

Fantastic Four: First Steps, the newest Marvel movie, premiered on July 25, 2025. Several trailers showed that Marvel’s First Family will be getting bigger, as Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) are expecting their first child, Franklin. Comic book fans are well aware that he’s going to be much more than just a bundle of joy for his parents.

Notably, none of the previous onscreen adaptations of the Fantastic Four included the super-powered baby. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about Franklin’s introduction in the latest installment of the franchise, director Matt Shakman said that it was always his plan to debut Franklin into the MCU. “I really wanted to bring Franklin into this world,” he said.

“The most fantastic moment of my life was the birth of my daughter. And this movie is about these quiet, small, fantastic moments as well as these big moments, these moments of awe. And I think birth is one of those fantastic miracle moments that we all have, or those of us who are parents have.”

Shakaman explains why Franklin’s character is important

The director explained that Reed and Sue becoming parents to Franklin “was important” to their story, as well as to Sue’s brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and their close friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) in this film. “It made them unique,” the director stated.

“They are parents in the comics. [Their daughter] Valeria eventually comes. There’s another member of the Richards-Storm family, and I just wanted to be able to talk about how a child changes a family, how a child changes a couple,” Shakman said.

Franklin is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe In the Fantastic Four comics. Even as a baby in the movie, he’s not going to be a pushover in the MCU either. “I always liked that this movie was about the smallest, newest, most innocent thing on a collision course with the largest, oldest, scariest thing in the universe,” the director was quoted by USA Today as saying.

What did the Fantastic Four: First Steps stars say about Franklin

The stars appreciated how Shakman wove a parenthood story into this family-centered film. “All of us [wanted to join this movie] because he wanted to focus on Franklin, the baby,” Kirby tells Entertainment Weekly. “That was unique; that set it aside from anything else. Franklin is a huge star of Marvel’s legacy, so it was awesome that we got to have him in ours,” she continued.

How Powerful Is Franklin in Fantastic Four Comics

As far as the Fantastic Four comics are concerned, Franklin is the most powerful mutant ever. Because he was exposed to cosmic energy in the womb, he was born as an immortal Omega-level mutant who can warp reality, create pocket universes, and use telekinetic and telepathic powers, among lots of other abilities. At one point, his nanny was Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn in the MCU).

Franklin has gone by Powerhouse and Tattletale, and he’s so strong that even cosmic beings like Galactus (portrayed by Ralph Ineson in the new movie) pay attention to him. Franklin’s power is so great that, in the comics, he becomes Galactus and makes the former Galactus his herald.

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