Fantastic Four #2 Reveals Franklin & Val Richards' Ages, Codenames

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Fantastic Four #2 Reveals Massive Changes for Franklin & Val Richards

By Matt Lune

Published Sep 9, 2018

If Fantastic Four #2 is any indication, a lot has changed since we last saw the Richards family, but Franklin and Val may have changed the most.

It’s been three years since we last saw The Richards family. Reed, Sue and their kids Franklin and Valeria (not to mention the rest of the Future Foundation) have been missing since the end of 2015’s Secret Wars, and -- with the return of the Fantastic Four series well underway -- it’s about time we found out exactly where they’ve been. The preview pages for the upcoming Fantastic Four #2 show that, while only three years have passed for us, far longer has passed for them.

When we last saw the Richards family, Mr. Fantastic had just bested God Emperor Doom and, with the help of his son Franklin and Owen "Molecule Man" Reece, restored the Multiverse to exactly how it was before. Then, in the final pages of Secret Wars #9, the family choose to stay together as Franklin, Reed and Owen went out into the cosmos, creating universes and exploring them at the same time. Fantastic Four #2 will catch up with them as they're still exploring the universes they created.

Now, though, things are a little different, as time has clearly passed for the family. While we’re only told that it’s been “years,” we can see that it’s been a long time by how much Franklin and Valeria have grown. The first image of Val shows her flirting with a boy -- something we wouldn’t have seen when she left, as she was under five years old. When we’re re-introduced to Franklin, he too has grown, from the shy but adventurous pre-teen to a gangly teenager who looks like he’s having growth spurts so fast he can’t keep up.

Like all the best teenage superheroes, Franklin and Val now have their own codenames: Powerhouse and Brainstorm, respectively. Brainstorm is the perfect name for Valeria Richards, as she’s had the intellect and vocabulary to match her father’s ever since she was very little -- and seeing as he’s possibly the smartest man in the universe, that’s saying a lot. Franklin’s nickname, on the other hand, may not seem to suit him at first, but it's worth remembering he can create whole universes with his mind.

When the Fantastic Four left, they had many more members than the name suggests. They were an entire Future Foundation, and it’s good to see them all present here, accompanying the Richards clan on their universe-exploring adventure. “The kids are growing up too fast,” Sue notes in her narrative -- and that applies to all of the kids, not just her own.

Vil and Wu of the undersea Uhari race are accounted for, as are the mutants Onome and Leech, the Moloids Tong, Mik, Kor and Turg and many more. Like Franklin and Val, they’ve all aged up, meaning that Future Foundation's adventure has been a long one indeed. It’s a major step forward for the team, and we’ll have to wait for Fantastic Four #2's release to find out how Powerhouse and Brainstorm are going to readjust to life on Earth.

Dan Slott, Elisabetta D'Amico and Sara Pichelli's Fantastic Four #2 goes on sale September 12.