Franklin Richards, the son of the Fantastic four’s Reed Richards and Sue Storm, isn’t just a young hero-in-training, but one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe. And chief among those powers is being completely insane, as these facts will prove.


Franklin is 47 years old.

Not in actual years, of course. But if you have an idea of Reed and Sue having adventures throughout the Marvel universe without a kid, well, there actually weren’t that many of them. Franklin was born in 1968, only seven years after the Fantastic Four debuted. That means that Franklin has been around for 87% of the FF’s publication history.


Franklin is one of the most powerful people in the Marvel universe.

Like Wolverine and the X-Men, Franklin is a mutant; unlike Wolverine and virtually all the X-Men, Franklin is what’s known as an “omega-level mutant,” a term used for only the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe. Not only was Franklin showing off his powers immediately after he was born (most mutants don’t develop their powers until puberty), Franklin is basically a god. He can rearrange matter, molecules and the fabric of reality itself, meaning he can basically make his tiniest wish come true, and that’s not counting his more basic powers of telekinesis, telepathy, and other more tradition psionic powers. Case in point...

Franklin once created his own universe.

Sure, it took the trauma of seeing his parents die at the evil Onslaught’s hands to force him to use his powers to their fullest, and yes, the resulting universe was the impossibly ‘90s Marvel relaunch known as Heroes Reborn, which was terrible. But the fact of the matter is that Franklin once created an entire universe, solely in order to house all the heroes Onslaught had killed, which ties into that whole “Franklin gets to decide who lives and who dies” thing. Furthermore, Franklin carried around this universe with him as a blue rubber ball. Because he’s a kid, you see.


Franklin was so powerful as a baby that his father had to shut down his mind.

To be fair, the evil Annihilus had kidnapped baby Franklin and put him in a machine that unleashed his full psionic powers, but yes, Mr. Fantastic absolutely turned off his own baby’s brain while trying to decide the best way to handle an infant with omnipotence. I assume this should be filed under “tough love.”


Franklin’s first babysitter was an immortal witch.

Her name was Agatha Harkness, and was born 500 years before Atlantis fell, supposedly. Note: Mr. and Ms. Fantastic didn’t know she was an immortal which before hiring her; they just failed to do a solid background check.


Franklin was named after one grandfather, and kidnapped by the other.

Franklin was named after Franklin Storm, Sue Storm’s father, who was arrested for murdering a loan shark (it was actually in self-defense). Franklin’s other grandfather, Nathaniel Richards (Reed’s dad), kidnapped Franklin and took him to the future, where he trained him to battle the villain Onslaught. When Franklin returned to the present, he was a teen, wearing power armor and calling himself Psi-Lord, because teenagers are insufferable.


Once when Franklin was feeling unloved, he created a supervillain.

It wasn’t a particular good one — he called himself Modulus and was data based — but still, neglect Franklin at your own peril.


Franklin once shot Norman Osborn with a toy gun.

I mean… really shot him. With a bullet. That came from his toy gun. You get what I’m saying here? Norman Osborn pissed Franklin off and Franklin shoots him with a toy gun he decided could briefly fire real bullets. Never get on Franklin’s bad side


Franklin has beaten the devil twice.

Alas, neither of those times was during a fiddle contest. But still, Franklin has completely thrashed Mephisto, Marvel’s lord of hell on two separate occasions, actually killing him — killing Satan — the first time they fought.


Franklin and Galactus are great pals.

Seriously, they actually talk to each other. This probably has something to do with the time that Franklin resurrected Galactus with only the power of his mind (they needed help in defeating Abraxas; long story). In one future, Galactus serves as Franklin’s herald, just like the Silver Surfer usually serves Galactus now. But nothing indicates their friendship better than this utterly ludicrous sinppet from Wikipedia:

[T]he adult Franklin shares a brief moment with Galactus. The two discuss the heat death of everything and the revelation of Franklin’s immortality, specifically that he will, a billion years from now, stand beside Galactus to witness the birth of a new universe.


Many of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful beings are scared @#$%less of Franklin.

The Celestials are known as “space gods” to most people and aliens in the Marvel universe. No one knows who they are, where they came from, or what they want, but they’re responsible for most intelligent lifeforms throughout the universe, are several thousand feet tall, and were around before the Watchers started watching things like intergalactic peepers. The Celestials also created the black monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is somehow Marvel comics canon. Anyways, the Celestials see Franklin as an equal, which should terrify pretty much everybody, all the time.


Franklin’s little sister may be even more messed up than he is.

Although less well known, Franklin does indeed have a young sibling named Valeria. Valeria appeared to be stillborn, but of course instead Franklin had sent the baby to an alternate dimension to be raised by another Sue Storm who had married a heroic version of Dr. Doom. When Abraxas attacked, Franklin summoned her, they resurrected Galactus, and then Franklin regressed his little sister into a fetus and put her back in his mother’s stomach to be born again. Even Oedipus thinks that’s a bit much.


Contact the author at rob@io9.com .