Franklin Richards

Son of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Brother of Valeria Richards. Former leader of the New Warriors. Potential future boyfriend of Icarus.

Alpha Level mutant.

## History

The first born son of Reed and Sue Richards, Franklin was born with vast psionic powers which eventually proved to be uncontrollable, forcing Reed to place psychic dampeners in his brain to block his abilities, allowing Franklin to experience a normal childhood, although his vast powers would slip through on occasion.

As Franklin grew older, he would have adventures with many heroes of the Marvel Universe, including not only the Fantastic 4, but Spider-Man, the Power Pack, the X-Men and more. Eventually Franklin would get a little sister in Valeria, whose I.Q. would cause Franklin self-esteem issues where his family's love for him was concerned.

## The New Warriors

Shortly after turning 16, Franklin would be left behind while his family went on a journey to another world to aid them during a crisis. It was during this time that a trio of reality warpers had begun cutting a swath of destruction through the universe, causing genocide on multiple planets. When word of their approach reached Earth, Franklin scrambled to find help after not being able to get in contact with his parents. Being turned down by virtually every hero in the city who didn't believe the threat was real, Franklin decided to form his own team to face the threat head-on. The heroes Franklin found were local paperboy Andy Maguire, who would soon get powers of his own to become Alpha; Adam Aaronson, the Machine Teen; and Juston Seyfert, who had his own Sentinel. The group would soon be joined by the alien princess Kittania, a humanoid cat creature whose home planet had been destroyed the Trio of A, B, and C.

During the initial first fight with the Trio, Franklin's psychic dampeners were destroyed, allowing him to unleash his full potential and allowing him to defeat the threat by turning the Trio into harmless puppies. The group of teens decided to stay together and formed the current incarnation of The New Warriors.

## First Love and Betrayal

Upon returning home from their mission, the Fantastic 4 learned of Franklin's new team of heroes, and soon Franklin's sister Valeria was \*encouraged\* (re: forcibly pushed) by her mother Sue into spending more time outdoors, leading her to force herself into the team.

Meanwhile, Joshua Guthrie (Icarus) had just arrived in New York in the hopes of both breaking into the music industry and reconnecting with his big brother Sam, a.k.a. Cannonball. Soon Josh crossed paths with New Warriors during a fight with Jester and Trapster, earning a place on the team and a place to call home at the Baxter Building, courtesy of Franklin when he learned Josh had nowhere to go since Cannonball couldn't be reached.

The team realized they needed a headquarters, and Valeria, having already helped in the previous fight, offered to buy the large abandoned mall with the money she'd earned through investments in the stock market. But their HQ would come at a cost: She would now be in charge of the team. Franklin soon found himself outvoted by everyone but Icarus simply because Valeria had essentially just bribed the entire team. Insulted and rejected, Franklin walked away from the team he'd helped create.

Icarus, having bonded with Franklin the most since his arrival, left with him and the two decided that in order to become better heroes and win back their team, had to realize their full potential by going across different dimensions and honing their skills. As the two adventured, they nearly shared a kiss on a wilderness planet before backing off. Things got stranger as on the next planet they ventured to, they inadvertently got married when accidentally playing out an ordinary series of innocent gestures in front of royalty. The planet's highly intellectual inhabitants had lured the duo there in the hopes of capturing Franklin and stealing his psionic powers, but Sophie Von Doom, in a bid to take Franklin for herself, intervened and accidentally freed the both of them.

Escaping back to the Wilderness planet, the two decided that they should settle down their for a while. Icarus would later reveal that (offscreen) the two really did end up sharing a kiss during this time. Before long, the two would realize that they couldn't stay as they both had families that they missed, returning to Earth just in time to save the New Warriors from Sophie and Vincent Von Doom.

Franklin and Icarus were given a chance to rejoin the team, this team with Franklin and Valeria co-leading together. Cannonball also took the chance to join the team as a mentor after taking a leave of absence from the X-Men in order to spend time with his little brother.

## Flaming Vengeance

With Ben Grimm having died in Fantastic 4, Johnny Storm had become more violent towards criminals and very nearly killing a few people. With his parents too grief stricken, Franklin ended up taking matters into his own hands, using his powers to steal Johnny's flame powers until he came to his senses. An enraged Johnny swore vengeance, going so far as to hire the Trapster and Jester to kidnap Franklin to force him to restore his powers.

Meanwhile, the orb containing Johnny's powers had been destroyed by Alpha, which then transferred Johnny's powers to Valeria, who wasted no time to go rescue Franklin. Johnny, upon hearing that the job had been completed, was horrified to find that Franklin had been over-drugged to keep him docile, causing him to OD, which in turn forced Franklin to astral project. Franklin ended up in the far future with his adult self, who helped Franklin with his confusing feelings over Icarus. Older Franklin revealed to his younger self that he was pansexual, and Icarus's eventual death would be the most painful thing that young Franklin would ever experience.

Meanwhile in Latveria, Doom sensed Franklin's aura leaving his body and used magic to not only lock Franklin out of his own body, but propelled the boy through time and space so that he'd never be able to return home. Franklin's last act before being sent off through the cosmos was to restore Johnny's powers to him, leaving before Icarus could profess his love.

## Lost in Time

With Franklin lost in time and space, Sophie Von Doom would soon sneak into New Warriors HQ and steal Franklin's physical body so that even if his aura did return, he wouldn't have a body to reunite with. This was compounded by the arrival an alternate reality Franklin, who was making the attempt to take over the real Franklin's life. Although he had everyone fooled, Icarus immediately saw through the alternate Franklin's ruse as his kiss didn't feel the one he'd experienced before. Icarus, having been trapped so he couldn't warn the others, eventually talked the alternate Franklin into seeking out a version of him who had lost his own Franklin, like the alternate version of Franklin had lost his version of Icarus to a violent crime.

After a trip to the Negative Zone, the New Warriors eventually wound up at Castle Von Doom, where Franklin's body was being held unbeknownst to them. Sophie captured the team immediately, and made it a point to isolate Icarus as he was the one who held Franklin's heart instead of her.

Meanwhile, Franklin's aura traversed space and time, with each new stop diminishing Franklin's memory until he couldn't even remember his own name. Franklin ended up on an alternate version of Earth, where the heroic population had been whittled down to a select few due to a global genocide. Alex Power, having taken the mantle of Captain America, informed Franklin that Dr. Doom's successor, Valeria Richards, was responsible for the carnage, including the deaths of that world's Fantastic 4 and Franklin.

With no memory of who he was, Franklin vowed to help Alex and his team of New X-Avengers in any way he could. Alex informed Franklin that this world's version of Franklin had been intimate with Icarus, and showed Franklin a blind and wingless Icarus, whom Franklin now had no memory of.

## Powers & Abilities

Franklin is classified as an Alpha-level Mutant. When Franklin achieves the conscious use of his full powers, he will have vast telepathic powers, tremendous telekinetic powers, the ability to fire enormously powerful energy blasts, and the ability to rearrange the molecular structure of matter and energy. His powers are so great that he has been able to create pocket universes, and his abilities have been described as equal to the Celestials.

Unfortunately at his current age, even with his full powers unlocked, Franklin's powers are mostly controlled through his emotions. He can only activate certain powers depending on whether he's happy, sad, full of rage or even experiencing feelings due to his hormones.

## Appearances

Currently appears in New Warriors and Fantastic 4, with his adult incarnation appearing in West Coast Avengers.

## Trivia

* Franklin learned from his adult self in the far future that he's pansexual, meaning that he's not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.
* In the current M2K timeline, Franklin is only a month away from turning 17.
* Franklin's great grandsons Asa and Kodi will head up an incarnation of the New Warriors in the year 3000.
* In the end of time when the death of the universe comes, it's said only Franklin and Galactus will be there to witness it.