Why the Baby Franklin Reveal Shifts the Entire MCU’s Power Structure

Nivedita Dubey
July 28, 2025

Summary

Franklin Richards debuts in Fantastic Four: First Steps, revealing cosmic-level powers.
His abilities rival Celestials and include reality warping and resurrection.
The reveal sets up mutant integration and multiversal stakes for the MCU.

Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Baby Franklin Richards, whose cosmic birthright immediately disrupts the MCU’s existing power structure. With ties to both mutantkind and the Power Cosmic, Franklin’s presence connects multiple Marvel narratives and marks a turning point in how future conflicts and characters will unfold across the multiverse.

How Does Baby Franklin’s Power Redefine the MCU Hierarchy?

Baby Franklin in The Fantastic Four_ First Steps _ Final Trailer

In Fantastic Four: First Steps, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) learns she’s pregnant with Franklin. While Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) initially worries about common parenting challenges, his deeper fear concerns the effects of cosmic radiation. That fear proves valid—Franklin is no ordinary child.

In Marvel Comics, Franklin Richards is a mutant capable of reality manipulation at a scale surpassing even Omega-level classifications. His abilities rival the Celestials, beings previously introduced in Eternals and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. These aren’t latent powers either; Franklin begins exhibiting them as a toddler, something rare even among powerful mutants.

In the MCU, his capabilities are shown early. From triggering cosmic reactions to reviving a central character, Franklin emerges not just as a powerful being—but as a pivotal entity in the balance of the universe. This establishes a new high in MCU power tiers, placing him alongside or even above characters like Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, and Kang the Conqueror.

Why Is Franklin Richards’ Parentage Central to the MCU’s Evolution?

The Fantastic Four_ First Steps _ Final Trailer

Franklin is the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, two of the most influential characters in Marvel lore. With Fantastic Four: First Steps debuting ahead of the full Fantastic Four reboot scheduled for July 25, 2025, the child’s birth is perfectly timed to anchor Marvel’s next phase.

His conception links directly to the Baxter Building, cosmic radiation, and the multiverse research Reed is conducting. That scientific backdrop sets the stage for integrating Bridge technology—used to access alternate dimensions—into future plots. In Hickman’s comic run, this very tech plays a role in multiversal conflicts involving Celestials and Galactus.

Franklin’s mutant status also confirms that mutations exist organically in the MCU timeline, rather than being restricted to alternate realities or inherited from legacy properties. This allows Marvel to bring in X-Men, mutant politics, and legacy characters without rebooting continuity. Franklin becomes a bridge—not just between science and mutation, but between core MCU continuity and previously siloed franchises.

What Does Galactus Want With Baby Franklin in the MCU?

Galactus in The Fantastic Four_ First Steps _ Official Teaser

Galactus appears in Fantastic Four: First Steps as the main antagonist, targeting Baby Franklin as a successor. This adaptation is consistent with comic arcs where Franklin and Galactus share a complex bond. In the Earth X storyline, Franklin even becomes Galactus. In another, he resurrects the world-devourer to fight multiversal threats.

In the film, Galactus believes Franklin possesses the Power Cosmic, an energy force wielded by Silver Surfer and Galactus himself. This detail suggests Franklin’s strength isn’t just mutant-based but connected to a cosmic source. Galactus views him as a vessel capable of absorbing the insatiable hunger that defines his existence.

Using Franklin as bait, Reed and Sue trap Galactus in an interdimensional device. The move costs Sue Storm her life—temporarily. In a dramatic moment, Franklin emits a burst of energy that revives his mother, likely by recharging the same cosmic power that had drained her.

This resurrection isn’t just emotional—it’s a showcase of Franklin’s reach across life, death, and energy. It places him in a rare category of beings who can intervene in cosmic balances and not just battle villains.

How Does Franklin’s Powerset Signal Mutant and Multiverse Integration?

Franklin Richards has been kidnapped in comics by entities ranging from Annihilus to Onslaught to his time-traveling grandfather. In Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s Galactus who seeks him, reinforcing his cosmic significance. But these repeated abductions point to something else: everyone wants what Franklin represents.

His powers include telepathy, precognition, energy projection, and now in the MCU—revival through cosmic energy manipulation. Unlike other mutants who manifest abilities during adolescence, Franklin’s appear in infancy, proving the mutation is inborn and active.

By confirming a natural-born mutant in the mainline MCU, Marvel removes ambiguity. This isn’t a variant or multiversal guest—it’s a native superbeing who could catalyze the formation of groups like the X-Men or X-Factor.

Franklin’s role might also tie into future threats and alliances, particularly with characters like Doctor Doom, who’s shown a mysterious interest in the child in the film’s mid-credits scene. Doom’s motives remain unclear, but his unmasking in front of the baby hints at a future arc filled with power games and legacy conflicts.

What Are the Bigger Implications of Franklin’s Existence in the MCU?

Fantastic Four: First Steps makes one thing clear—Franklin Richards is not a side plot. His powers, lineage, and enemies place him at the heart of Marvel’s evolving cinematic structure. This opens doors to arcs involving mutant uprisings, multiversal wars, and cosmic entities seeking control or alliance with Franklin.

The film hints that Avengers: Doomsday will further explore Franklin’s significance. Doom’s interest may involve leveraging the child’s powers for personal gain, multiverse navigation, or even curing his own disfigurement. The idea that Franklin can both restore life and contain cosmic hunger elevates him as a character whose every move could tip the balance of the universe.

Franklin’s early manifestation of such immense abilities also allows Marvel to organically justify timeline resets, variant interactions, or even cross-franchise integration. If Franklin can bend reality, then everything from Spider-Verse characters to Fox-era mutants could become canonically consistent within MCU logic.