Fantastic Four: First Steps Introduces the Most Powerful Being in the MCU—& It’s Not Who You Expect
Marvel’s first family is finally in the MCU, and the introduction of the Fantastic Four, made up of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, brings about a lot of new things to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. New powers. New dynamics. And, perhaps, the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe, as well.
But it is not Reed Richards, whose powers include stretching and contorting himself into any shape he pleases, Ben Grimm, whose skin is made of basically stone, and who is pretty much immortal. It’s not even Sue Storm, who once killed a Celestial in the comics and whose force fields cannot be penetrated by even the most powerful telekinesis. No, the most powerful being in the MCU is actually a baby—Franklin Richards, Reed and Sue’s son, who is born during Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Franklin gets a chance to prove how powerful he is during the movie, saving his mom, Sue, from certain death. But what are Franklin’s powers in Fantastic Four? How did he even save Sue? And what can we expect from him in the future?
What Are Franklin Richards’ Powers in Fantastic Four?
In the comics, Franklin has vast reality-manipulating and psionic powers. Not just that, his powers include reality warping, matter and energy manipulation, energy projection, and all kinds of psionic abilities, such as telekinesis, telepathy, astral projection, and even precognition. Plus, he can also teleport and create pocket universes. In fact, Franklin is so powerful that Galactus senses it and takes an interest in him, demanding Franklin in exchange for sparing the Earth.
But how exactly did Franklin save Sue after Galactus seemingly killed her in Fantastic Four: First Steps? The specifics are not explained, but it seems like Franklin used either his reality-manipulating powers or his power to manipulate matter and energy to bring Sue back. Considering reality warping is his biggest power, that’s likely how he saved his mom.
Director Matt Shakman told Entertainment Weekly that the movie was always about Franklin. “I really wanted to bring Franklin into this world,” he explained. “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.”
“All of us [wanted to join this movie] because he wanted to focus on Franklin, the baby,” Vanessa Kirby also told EW. “That was really 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.”
And Franklin’s story is likely not over. In the movie’s first post-credit scene, we see a now four-year-old Franklin with another iconic name in Marvel history: Doctor Doom. We know Doom is set to be the villain of the next Avengers movie: Avengers: Doomsday. And we also know that, at some point in the comics, Doctor Doom is so fascinated by Franklin that he kidnaps him to use his reality-manipulating powers. Perhaps that’s how Doom even gets from Earth-828, where the Fantastic Four is set, to Earth-616, which is the main Marvel continuity. And maybe, that’s why the Fantastic Four follow in their spaceship, as we see at the end of Thunderbolts*.
