Franklin Benjamin Richards is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a supporting character in Fantastic Four. He has been portrayed as a child and as a novice superhero.
Franklin is an immensely powerful being with vast reality-manipulating and psionic powers beyond most Omega level mutants. He is the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, the older brother of Valeria Richards, and the nephew of Invisible Woman's younger brother, the Human Torch. His parents named him Franklin Benjamin Richards; his middle name is taken from his godfather Ben Grimm, the Thing. Franklin's first name comes from Franklin Storm, his maternal grandfather. He has started using the code name Powerhouse. Franklin restricts the use of his powers to once a year in an attempt to give himself a normal, healthy childhood.
Publication history Franklin first appears in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (November 1968), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, although he didn't receive his name until two years later in Fantastic Four #94 (January 1970). Lee recounted:
Appearing sporadically in the pages of Fantastic Four over the following fifteen years, Franklin became a member of the pre-teen superhero team Power Pack as of issue #17 (December 1985) of that title until its cancellation with issue #62 (February 1991). From November 1994 an older version of the same character (aged for the purposes of a story) appeared in the pages of Marvel's Fantastic Force until publication ceased as of April 1996. Between appearances in these other titles, Franklin has remained a recurring cast member of the Fantastic Four comic book. From July 2007 until the series' cancellation in February 2009, an alternate version of Franklin appeared as a cast member in the Marvel Adventures all-ages Power Pack series of titles.
Fictional character biography
Origin Franklin Richards was born in New York City to Reed and Susan Richards.Fantastic Four Annual #6 (November 1968) He manifests his powers as a toddler, which draws the attention of Annihilus. Annihilus seeks to use Franklin as a source for his own resurgence, transferring some measure of the child's latent power to himself with a gene-based machine, and releasing Franklin's full potential in the process. Fearing the immediate threat of his son's powers to the entire populace of Earth and unable to find another solution in time, Reed Richards shuts down Franklin's mind.Fantastic Four #140-141 (November - December 1973)
During a battle between Ultron and the Fantastic Four, Ultron's energy output awakens Franklin's powers again, resulting in Ultron's defeat. Free of the energies expended in the confrontation with Ultron, Franklin is seemingly returned to his normal power level.Fantastic Four #150 (September 1974)
Needing someone to watch over Franklin in their absence, Reed and Susan Richards hire Agatha Harkness as a nanny.Fantastic Four #94 (January 1970) Franklin and Agatha soon developed a familial-like bond, even residing together for a time at Whisper Hill, Agatha's old residence. Eventually, Agatha returned to live in the secret witch community of New Salem, Colorado, and Franklin moved back in permanently with his parents and the rest of the Fantastic Four.Fantastic Four #129 (December 1972) His powers, no longer dormant, continue to manifest.Fantastic Four #130 (January 1973)Fantastic Four #227 (February 1981)
Under the care of yet another guardian, H.E.R.B.I.E., Franklin unintentionally used his powers to age himself into adulthood.Fantastic Four #244 (July 1982) As an adult, he is an adept at molecular manipulation and psionics. On realizing his mistake, he restored himself to childhood.Fantastic Four #245 (August 1982)
Attempt at a normal life To try to give his son a "normal" life, Reed Richards creates psychic inhibitors to prevent his powers from being used, but Franklin, whether by fault or by intent, could still at times bypass the inhibitors and use his powers, such as projecting an image of himself at a long distance. At this point he secretly joined a team of pre-teen superheroes called Power Pack, in which he was code-named "Tattletale".Power Pack #17 (December 1985) Katie Power of the group is sometimes resentful of the attention Franklin gets, and Power Pack writer Louise Simonson commented that they "kind of become friends, but there will always be a little bit of rivalry between the two of them."
Franklin lives with the Power family for a time when his parents decide that a superhero headquarters was a dangerous place for a child to live, and want Franklin to spend time in a "normal" family environment. He returns to his family when Power Pack temporarily left Earth for the Kymellian homeworld.Power Pack #62 (February 1991)Power Pack Holiday Special (February 1992)
Psi-Lord Franklin is later kidnapped by his time-traveling grandfather Nathaniel Richards and replaced with his teenage counterpart, Psi-Lord, who had been raised by Nathaniel in a dimension outside of time.Fantastic Four #376-377 (May - June 1993) Franklin, as Psi-Lord, founds the team Fantastic Force.Fantastic Force #1 (November 1994) By tapping a stud hidden within the glove of his costume, Franklin was able to summon battle armor from a pocket dimension; it was designed specifically to siphon off the full measure of his powers.Fantastic Four #384 (January 1994) As such, Franklin's abilities at this time were limited to telepathy, precognition, and psionic energy blasts.
Nathaniel eventually revealed that in another possible future timeline, Franklin Richards would, with Rachel Summers, father the villain Hyperstorm. In an effort to divert the attention of the Fantastic Four, Nathaniel traveled back to the precise point in time when Franklin was abducted by Nathaniel Richards and returned the child to his parents mere seconds after he was first kidnapped, thus rendering the Psi-Lord version of Franklin Richards obsolete in the Earth-616 timeline.Fantastic Four #413-414 (June - July 1996)
Onslaught Shortly after these events, Onslaught kidnaps Franklin in order to use his abilities to reshape reality. To defeat Onslaught, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and several other heroes destroy first his physical form, and then his psychic form. In the process, Franklin's parents seemingly die. Franklin displays his true power, singlehandedly creating the "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe to contain the heroes who had "died" in that adventure. Some of them are recreated based on Franklin's memories of them, such as the temporally-displaced teenage Tony Stark becoming an adult once more while the mutated Wasp is restored to human form. While his parents are away in the Heroes Reborn universe, Generation X and Alicia Masters look after Franklin. This universe comes to be represented by a small, bluish ball which Franklin carries with him.Heroes Reborn: The Return #1 (December 1997) He is ultimately convinced to allow the heroes to return and both universes to remain functioning.X-Men Unlimited #14 (March 1997)
In the wake of Mister Fantastic's activation of the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy Abraxas, Franklin loses all his powers in the process of reforming Galactus and thus becomes a normal child.Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #49 (January 2002)
Future Foundation On his birthday, Franklin's powers are reactivated by a strange intruder who is revealed to be a future version of Franklin himself.Fantastic Four #574 (February 2010) The future version of Franklin secretly tutors his younger self in the use of his powers.Fantastic Four #600 (January 2012) The future Franklin reiterates to his young counterpart that his powers must be properly harnessed for a singular intent: the act of life preservation.FF #15 (April 2012)
In a confrontation between the Future Foundation and the Mad Celestials of Earth-4280, Franklin is described by one of the Celestials as 'beyond [the] Omega classification' applied to mutants, and is subsequently attacked with concussion beams. Franklin repels their attacks.FF #13 (February 2012) It is revealed that Franklin is immortal and will survive billions of years in the future to witness the birth of a new universe alongside Galactus.FF #16 (May 2012)
The Secret of Franklin Richards During the Krakoa era, it is revealed that Franklin is not a mutant, and that he had subconsciously used his cosmic powers to alter the cells of his body so that he had previously appeared to be a mutant.Fantastic Four (vol. 6) #26 (November 2020)
After resuming a normal, everyday life with his family, Franklin awakens one night to find his conscious control over his reality-altering powers restored. Having previously reasoned that if his abilities were left unchecked throughout his remaining adolescence, he would never be able to grow up normally or reach the emotional development needed to use them wisely as an adult, Franklin chose to keep his powers hidden from himself and others except for one day a year when he wakes up and remembers everything. On such days, Franklin uses his powers to explore the multiverse for any potential threats and only intervenes when absolutely necessary.Fantastic Four (vol. 7) #18 (May 2024)
Powers and abilities Originally, Franklin possesses the power to warp reality, i.e., to make any thought or desire come to fruition, even up to a cosmic scale. He is able to rearrange the molecular structure of matter and energy at will. Once, Franklin subconsciously created his own pocket universe, encompassing a virtual replica of Earth-616. Franklin has been referred to as being equal in power to the Celestials and other cosmic entities.Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 (December 1997)
In addition to reality and molecular manipulation, Franklin has vast psionic powers that have manifested as telepathy, telekinesis, energy blasts of concussive force, precognition, and astral projection. Being a child, Franklin's abilities are restricted to an extent by his limited control. Moreover, it remains unclear what power levels Franklin will ultimately achieve as an adult, as several future incarnations from alternate realities as well as the mainstream Marvel universe have been shown to vary in power. One such manifestation of Franklin in adult form was able to destroy two Celestials from Earth-4280 during physical combat; in the aftermath of their defeat, Franklin's immortality was strongly implied. The same individual also tapped into the power of his younger self to resurrect and transform Galactus into his own personal herald after the Devourer of Worlds had been rendered unconscious in battle against the Mad Celestials.Fantastic Four #604 (May 2012)
Other versions Days of Future Past An alternate universe version of Franklin Richards appears in Days of Future Past. This version is known as Scrapper and is the lover of Rachel Summers until he is killed by Sentinels.Uncanny X-Men #202 (February 1986) In a variant of this timeline, Richards and Summers give birth to Hyperstorm (Jonathan Richards), a mutant capable of drawing virtually limitless energy from Hyperspace.
Fantastic Four: Annual 1998 A possible future version of Franklin Richards appears in Fantastic Four Annual (1998). This version is married to a Wakandan woman named Zawadi and has a daughter named N'Yami. Franklin is also a member of the Fantastic Four, codenamed Zero Man, and has the ability to access the Negative Zone.
Earth X In Earth X, Franklin Richards curses Namor for killing the Human Torch. Half of Namor's body is now constantly burning, even underwater. Franklin later takes Galactus' armor and becomes Galactus before leaving Earth.
Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius