First Steps’ director explains powerful baby

The Fantastic Four is about to become the Fantastic Five.

Multiple trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps have revealed that Marvel’s First Family is going to grow by one, thanks to Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) expecting their first child, Franklin. And comic book fans know that he’s going to be so much more than just a bundle of joy for the new parents.

While none of the previous onscreen adaptations of the Fantastic Four included the super-powered baby, director Matt Shakman tells Entertainment Weekly that it was always his plan to debut Franklin into the MCU.

“I really wanted to bring Franklin into this world,” the director says. “The most fantastic moment of my life was the birth of my daughter. And this movie is about these quiet, small, fantastic moments as well as these big moments — these moments of awe. And I think birth is one of those fantastic miracle moments that we all have, or those of us who are parents have.”

Shakman explains that becoming parents to Franklin “was important” to Reed and Sue’s story — as well as Sue’s brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and their close friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) — in this film.

“It made them unique,” the director says. “They are parents in the comics. [Their daughter] Valeria eventually comes. There’s another member of the Richards-Storm family, and I just wanted to be able to talk about how a child changes a family, how a child changes a couple.”

The stars loved how Shakman incorporated a story about parenthood into the family-focused film.

“All of us [wanted to join this movie] because he wanted to focus on Franklin, the baby,” Kirby tells EW. “That was really unique; that set it aside from anything else. Franklin is a huge star of Marvel’s legacy, so it was awesome that we got to have him in ours.”

But who is Franklin Richards, and why is he so important to the MCU? (Potential spoilers from the comics ahead.)

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In the comics, Franklin is the most powerful mutant…ever. And we’re not exaggerating. Thanks to his exposure to cosmic power while in the womb, he is born an immortal Omega-level mutant who can warp reality, create pocket universes, and wield telekinetic and telepathic powers, among many, many other skills. At one point, his nanny was none other than Agatha Harkness (portrayed in the MCU by Kathryn Hahn).

Operating under the names Powerhouse and Tattletale, Franklin is so powerful that many cosmic beings take an interest in him — including Galactus, the space god who devours worlds (played in the upcoming movie by Ralph Ineson). What’s noteworthy about Franklin’s connection with Galactus is that, at one point in the comics, Franklin is so powerful that he becomes Galactus himself and makes the former Galactus his herald.

Is that going to be baby Franklin’s fate in the MCU? We’ll find out soon when The Fantastic Four: First Steps flies into theaters on July 25. 

—Additional reporting by Mike Miller