While the heroes of mutant-kind are often associated with Professor Xavier’s famous X-Men, there is another team in the Marvel landscape that has birthed, potentially, one of the greatest heroes and most powerful mutants to have ever been born. Though he may still be young, he is, in fact, mighty.
Franklin Benjamin Richards, one of the fourteen confirmed Omega-level mutants in existence after Jonathan Hickman’s powerhouse reintroduction to the iconic team, is perhaps the most devastatingly powerful member of not only the mutant race, but also among any being in the Marvel multiverse.
10 Fantastic Pedigree
When Reed Richards and Susan Storm took flight in Reed’s experimental starship, the Marvel-1, there’s no way that they could have realized that the ship’s maiden voyage through space would change their lives forever. Not only would the voyage’s catastrophe grant them incredible powers, but it would also, eventually, lead to the birth of one of the most powerful mutants to have ever been born throughout the entire multiverse. While Franklin would eventually become one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel multiverse, his birth itself was quite an ordeal for the soon-to-be parents.
9 Difficult Birth/ The Cosmic Control Rod
Though the cosmic rays and solar radiation that breached the cabin of the Marvel-1 had, in fact, granted them some truly awe-inspiring powers, neither Sue nor Reed could have possibly predicted the effect it would have on Sue should she become pregnant. Sue may have been granted the ability to turn invisible and create psionic shields, but the cosmic rays and solar radiation had still caused irrevocable damage to her and her body.
A fact which became no more clear than when she was pregnant with her first child. Not only was the pregnancy terrifyingly hard on her body, but it seemed that neither she nor the baby would survive it. Out of options, Reed decided to visit the negative zone and steal the only thing that could possibly help (the cosmic control rod) from one of its most fearful inhabitants, Annihilus. This action saved both the baby and Sue.
8 Franklin Benjamin Richards
Throughout comics history, there is a longstanding standing tradition of alliterative names. Reed Richards and Sue Storm are both characters that exemplify this standard superhero naming technique. However, when it came to their son, Franklin Benjamin Richards, the new parents found inspiration from a place much closer to home.
Franklin gets his first name from his maternal grandfather, Franklin Storm, a former surgeon with a complicated past. Anyone familiar with the Fantastic Four will notice the Franklin got his middle name from one of Sue and Richard’s greatest friends and allies, Benjamin Grimm, otherwise known as The Thing.
7 Homo Superior/ Early Bloomer
While it is very common for mutants to manifest their abilities somewhere during the time period in which they reach adolescence, often tied to a situation involving strong emotions, Franklin Richards is a very unique case in more ways than one. Not only was Franklin an incredibly early bloomer in terms of manifesting his abilities, but even as a toddler he was using his abilities to help his family defeat supervillains. After the Frightful Four had nearly defeated the Fantastic Four, young Franklin uses his abilities to wake the unconscious Thing and ends up saving the day.
6 Medically-Induced Coma
As most mutants seem to do, had Franklin been permitted to grow into maturity alongside his powers, he likely would have had no real issue eventually learning to control them. However, after Annihilus abducted Franklin and placed him in a machine that would unleash his full psionic capabilities, Franklin grew remarkably out of control.
Not only was Franklin left unable to control the vast powers within him, but Reed feared that if he continued to spiral out of control unchecked, it was likely that Franklin would destroy all life on Earth. So for the safety of the planet and everyone on it, Reed did the only thing that he could do, use a device that would render his young and endlessly powerful son comatose until he could figure out some way to help him.
5 Avatar
A while later, after unconsciously releasing psionic energies that would defeat Ultron-7, Franklin would awaken, apparently having his abilities reverted back to an age-appropriate level. However, just to be sure, Franklin would use his powers to age his own body into that of a fully grown adult. While his body was now capable of handling his immense powers, psychologically he was still a young child. This fact eventually led Franklin to return to his original age and place mental barriers within his own mind in order to use the full force of his abilities until he was ready both physically and psychologically.
4 Tattletale
Sometime after Franklin had put dampeners on his own abilities, however, the young boy began to develop an ability that allowed him to view futures from alternate dimensions. Unbeknownst to his parents, Franklin, much like his parents, would join a team where he could, hopefully, use his abilities to help the world.
After becoming a member of Power Pack, Franklin would take on the alias, Tattletale, referencing his ability to see the future in his dreams. Much like his parents, Franklin would even adventure off-world in some of his journies with Power Pack.
3 Beyond Omega/“The Most Powerful Mutant Ever Born”
Though it hardly needed to be reconfirmed, Hickman’s run on X-Men made a point of stating not only that Franklin remains an Omega-level mutant (one of only fourteen confirmed, officially), but he’s also a very sought after mutant by both humanity and the mutants. It’s not surprising in the least that the son of Reed and Sue has such voracious fans, as Galactus once said himself, Franklin is “the most powerful mutant ever born.” Pretty high praise coming from the eater of worlds.
2 Galactus, Herald Of Franklin Richards
Speaking of the eater of worlds, Galactus. Perhaps the reason that he is so impressed with the young mutant is that as an adult, Franklin was able to turn Galactus into his herald. Oh, how the tables have turned. By combining the powers of his past and future self, Franklin was not only able to gain control over Galactus, but he was able to empower him enough to defeat not one, but two Celestials. During this same battle, Franklin was not only able to withstand attacks from multiple Celestials, but he was even able to destroy one himself. Something that not even the ultimate nullifier was capable of.
1 The Vastness Of His Power Set
At this point, comics fans may be asking themselves: “Just what are Franklin’s powers?” Well, when answering that question it’d likely be simpler to list the powers that Franklin doesn’t have. Franklin is capable of time-travel, creating pocket universes which he controls, energy manipulation, telepathy, telekinesis, mind transferal, fundamental force manipulation, precognitive dreams, and just about anything else that fans may be able to think of. Franklin is what the Celestials call a Universal Shaper. His powers are also not limited to his own universe, which for lack of a better term, makes him a Multiversal Shaper.