Some viewers are asking about the child in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as the baby has appeared or been mentioned in several new trailers for the upcoming movie. One of the major plot points in the Fantastic Four reboot is that Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) and Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) is having a child, with Storm clearly being pregnant in a few shots and the couple playing with their baby in a bed. Meanwhile, one of the latest trailers named “Are We Safe?” reveals that the world-eating Galactus has asked the superhero team to save the Earth by sacrificing the baby. But who is this child and why is he important anyway?
Who is Reed Richards’ and Sue Storm’s baby son in the Fantastic Four movie?
The child of Reed Richards and Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is named Franklin Richards (played by Ada Scott), a character that shows incredible powers even as in infant in the comics.
While the trailers don’t show any of the abilities that baby Franklin Richards has, a newscaster boldly asks whether the child has any superpowers, which would be expected given his parents. In the comic books, Franklin is no ordinary hero and is actually classified as a high-level mutant, like one of the most powerful X-Men. His abilities include telepathy, telekinesis, energy projection, and reality warping on a scale that rivals other god-like entities in the Marvel universe. In some versions of the character, his powers go beyond Omega-level, past Jean Grey, Magneto, Storm, and Cassandra Nova Xavier.
This is likely why Galactus asks Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman to give their child to him in the trailer. Because Franklin Richards eventually gains the ability to create entire universes, the cosmic entity probably sees him as an infinite source of energy who is capable of creating as many planets as he needs to consume. That said, Galactus is not known for being evil or malicious, just merely hungry like a shark chomping at the bit.
An apparent spoiler for the movie’s plot shares what happens to the baby Franklin Richards and how this connects the film to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
