Franklin Richards (one of the most powerful Marvel characters of all time) is officially coming to The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
There’s a moment in the first official trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps that surprised Marvel fans. Right after Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) casually munches cereal and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) gets his cook on with the help of H.E.R.B.I.E., Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) stroll in looking suspiciously sheepish. Cue Johnny: “You’re late.” Cue awkward silence. Cue Ben dropping the bomb: “Are you pregnant?”
Then the Fantastic Four does what most families do when they find out there’s a bun in the cosmic oven—they celebrate like it’s the ’60s.
Now, if you’re familiar with Marvel comics lore, your brain probably shouted one name the moment you saw the crib in trailer two: Franklin Richards.
Yes, that Franklin Richards. The kid who can warp reality like it’s Play-Doh, create universes before breakfast, and once healed Galactus. Not only is he one of the most overpowered beings in Marvel canon, but Galactus himself once confirmed in History of the Marvel Universe #3 that Franklin isn’t just Omega-Level—he’s above it.
Thanks to a leak from Instagram user @dis.trackers, we now have our first official look at baby Franklin in The Fantastic Four: First Steps—via Funko Pop. He’s rocking a white jumpsuit that mirrors early comic versions of his suit. The figure of the mutant prodigy drops alongside Funko Pops of the main cast (yes, two versions of The Thing), plus a shiny Julia Garner as Silver Surfer (Shalla-Bal edition).
Connect some dots, and you can basically see what Marvel is planning here. The Fantastic Four: First Steps (a title which probably also alludes to Franklin Richards’ first steps) is set in the past. Avengers: Doomsday, where the X-Men fully enter the MCU, is clearly set further ahead. So by then, baby Franklin will either be a talking pre-teen with godlike powers—or an emotionally confused reality warper going through mutant puberty. Either way, chaos is incoming (Chris Claremont already spoiled some of it).
Of course, there are also some who believe that actor John Malkovich will play an older version of the character in the The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It’s a wild fan theory that involves time and space (think Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar).
Will the MCU dive into the comics’ more tragic twist—that Franklin loses his powers and discovers he isn’t even a mutant? (Long story short: he accidentally rewrote his own biology with reality-altering powers to simulate having the X-Gene.) Possibly not, but let’s be honest—they’re definitely planting seeds for the Franklin-Galactus connection. That whole “healed Galactus during the Baxter Building explosion” arc feels like it’s got Kevin Feige’s fingerprints all over it.
What does all of this mean for you, the MCU fan who just wanted stretchy limbs and a talking rock? Well, hold on. The MCU’s Fantastic Four isn’t just rebooting a franchise—it’s setting up a very powerful player for Marvel’s next big phase. Franklin Richards might not be throwing punches yet, but make no mistake: this baby’s going to break the multiverse.
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Are you excited for Franklin Richards’ arrival in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the MCU?
