From the moment The Fantastic Four: First Steps was announced, I knew Franklin Richards would play into the plot. Despite the movie’s space age retrofuturistic aesthetic, “First Steps” clearly didn’t refer to walking on the moon, but to a young child. Sure enough, recent trailers have revealed that Sue Storm’s pregnancy and Franklin’s birth will be central to the story.
Now, a new clip from the movie suggests Franklin is more than just a precious character to further motivate Marvel’s First Family to defend their planet from Galactus; he could be the entire point of Galactus’ invasion, and possibly one of the most powerful characters in the MCU. Check out the clip below.
The sneak peek shows Reed speaking to the press while Sue holds Franklin in the background, presumably after their first brush with Galactus. “We attempted to negotiate, but Galactus... he asked too high a price,” Reed says. When a reporter asks what that price was, he replies, “He asked for our child.”
Galactus consumes whole planets; what would he want with a baby who can’t even control his limbs yet? The request suggests that Franklin is anything but normal, which supports the fan theory that Franklin’s reality-warping comic book powers will appear in First Steps. In the comics, Franklin is born a mutant thanks to his parents’ exposure to radiation. But his powers aren’t as straightforward as those of other mutants: he can create and alter entire universes, a power on par with the Celestials.
With that context, it’s clear why Galactus would want Franklin. Such a powerful child would be invaluable to a supervillain, and Franklin’s ability to conjure up entire universes could provide Galactus with an infinite food source. Of course, there’s no way Franklin’s parents will stand for that, which will make their fight personal.
The Fantastic Four will be a movie about family on far more than a thematic level. It appears to be what thrusts the entire planet into danger, and it might possibly introduce the most powerful mutant in Marvel history as well.
