Franklin Richards

Franklin Richards
Franklin Richards. Art by Barry Kitson.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fantastic Four Annual #6 (November 1968)
Created by	Stan Lee (Writer) Jack Kirby (Artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Franklin Benjamin Richards
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Future Foundation Fantastic Four Fantastic Force Power Pack Generation X Daydreamers
Notable aliases	Psi-Lord, Ego-Spawn, Avatar, Tattletale, Franklin Benjamin, Richard Franklin
Abilities	Reality warping and manipulation Molecular alteration Psionic powers Telekinesis Telepathy Precognition

Franklin Benjamin Richards is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in Fantastic Four. He's generally portrayed as a child and as a budding super-hero, albeit inexperienced.

Franklin is a mutant beyond Omega-Level with vast reality-manipulating and psionic powers. He is the young son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, the older brother of Valeria Richards, and the nephew of Invisible Woman's younger brother, the Human Torch. His parents named him Franklin Benjamin Richards; his middle name is taken from his godfather Benjamin Jacob Grimm, the Thing. Franklin's first name comes from Franklin Storm, his maternal grandfather.

Franklin first appears in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (November 1968), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, although he didn't receive his name until two years later in Fantastic Four #94 (January 1970). Lee recounted:

In trying to be realistic, as we always did ... Sue Storm and Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four had been married for quite a while, and I figured the most natural thing in the world would be for them to have a baby. Then it occurred to me we could have a lot of fun with that, because we would assume that if two people with super powers have a baby, the baby might have a super power. But what super power would he have? And we could keep the readers guessing for years until the baby grew up. ... Of course, Sue's pregnancy took about a year and a half or two years, because comic book time is somewhat different than real-world time. And we wanted to stretch that out a long as we could while we tried to figure out whether she'd have a boy or a girl and what to name it. We finally decided on a boy named Franklin Richards.