Iconic Marvel hero will make MCU debut in Marvel's Fantastic Four movie

As Marvel’s The Fantastic Four appears to be moving ahead non-stop, the least of all in terms of production, as principal photography is not expected to begin until this August, there have been numerous headlines and quite a lot of activity behind the scenes of Marvel Studios in casting and crew hires. None as explosive as this: Franklin Richards may be in the film, and if so, this marks his first-ever appearance on-screen.

The source comes to us from none other than everyone in geek culture’s favorite Hollywood insider, Daniel Richtman (aka Daniel RPK). According to Daniel RPK, Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm-Richards (uncertain of marital status in the movie) will appear and be part of the team with a shirt that has a “5” on it.

Of course, this is big news to MCU fans as none of Reed and Sue’s children have not appeared in any mainstream media except in one videogame such as Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. Franklin also had a non-speaking cameo in The Super Hero Squad Show. He and his little sister, Valeria Richards, were alluded to in the MCU by an alternate version of Reed who is a member of the Illuminati (not to be confused with the secret society) from Earth-838 portrayed by John Krasinski when confronting Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Franklin Richards in Marvel Comics

First appearing in Fantastic Four Annual No.6 in 1968 and created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, Franklin grew up to be one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616) and is the most powerful member of Marvel’s First Family. He manifested abilities of energy and matter manipulation whilst only being a toddler and is an incredible reality warper.

At the time of this post, Franklin is currently over twelve years of age, following the events of the “Dawn of X” arc in the X-Men titles, but has of late experienced difficulty using his powers. Since then, he resumed a normal, everyday life with his family but it has been revealed Franklin consciously decided to keep his powers hidden from himself so that he could mentally prepare himself to use them wisely as an adult except one day every year when he remembers everything.

His place with the MCU and Fantastic Four movie

Not much is known about what Franklin’s role would be in the 2025 Fantastic Four movie, but it is presumed that it is at least more than a non-speaking cameo. Since Daniel RPK claimed he would be part of the team, I suspect to a minor capacity. Also, due to the nature of his character, traditionally being the backbone of the mainstream comics’ universe, Franklin (assuming he has powers) will only be used sparingly.

With the film set entering production soon, it's going to be interesting to see if we'll get confirmation on the actor tapped to play the character. This could give us an indication of how old Franklin will be when we meet him in the MCU.