Powerhouse
Franklin Benjamin Richards
- Known Aliases: Franklin Benjamin, Tattletale, Psi-Lord, Ego-Spawn, Avatar
- Identity: Publicly known
- Occupation: Student and Adventurer
- Legal Status: Citizen of the United States of America
- Place of Birth: New York City, New York
- Marital Status: Single
- Known Relatives: Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic, father), Susan Storm Richards (Invisible Woman, mother), Jonathan Storm (Human Torch (II), uncle), Nathaniel Richards (grandfather), Franklin Storm (grandfather, deceased), Evelyn Richards, Mary Storm (grandmothers, deceased), Benjamin J. Grimm (godfather), Alicia Masters (godmother)
- Group Affiliation: New Fantastic Four, formerly Future Foundation, Power Pack, Generation X and Daydreamers
- Base of Operation: (former) Four Freedoms Plaza, New York City; the Baxter Building, New York City.
- Education:
- Species: Human (Mutant)
- Gender: Male
- Height: 4 ft. 8 in.
- Weight: 100 lbs.
- Eyes: Blue
- Hair: Black, originally blond
- Other Distinguishing Features: None
Franklin Richards is the son of Reed Richards and Susan Storm—better known as Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, the first modern team of super-human adventurers. Reed, Susan, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm gained their extraordinary abilities after exposure to cosmic radiation during an experimental space flight. That same cosmic event would profoundly shape the destiny of Reed and Susan’s firstborn child.
During Susan’s pregnancy, dangerous and unstable cosmic energies manifested within her body, threatening both her life and that of her unborn son. Her blood cells carried a strange energy signature—likely a residual effect of the cosmic radiation that had altered her physiology. With conventional medicine unable to stabilize the condition, Reed determined that only the Cosmic Control Rod wielded by the tyrant Annihilus in the antimatter realm known as the Negative Zone contained the necessary power to save them. Reed, accompanied by the Human Torch and the Thing, journeyed into that hostile dimension, secured the Rod, and siphoned off controlled amounts of its energy. Using that power, Reed neutralized the dangerous forces within Susan’s body, and she safely gave birth to a healthy son. The child was named Franklin Benjamin Richards, honoring Susan’s late father, Franklin Storm, and Reed’s closest friend, Benjamin J. Grimm.
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From infancy, it became clear that Franklin was no ordinary child. The cosmic radiation that had altered his parents had affected him at a genetic level. For years he was believed to be a mutant, and during the Krakoan era he was even classified as Omega-level. It was later revealed, however, that Franklin is not a mutant in the traditional sense; rather, he subconsciously altered his own biology to appear as one. His powers are fundamentally cosmic in origin—vast, reality-altering abilities that manifested at an unusually early age. Recognizing the magnitude of those abilities, the mystic Agatha Harkness became his governess and helped shield his mind from forces that might exploit him.
Franklin’s power first spiraled out of control when Annihilus, during a later conflict with the Fantastic Four, subjected him to a device that prematurely unlocked the full scope of his psionic potential. The child’s mind could not contain the energies unleashed within him, and Reed feared Franklin might inadvertently annihilate all life on Earth. With no other solution available, Reed placed his son into a medically induced coma to prevent catastrophe. Months later, when the android Ultron attacked, the robot’s energies interacted with Franklin’s suppressed mind, triggering a controlled release of power that defeated Ultron and restored Franklin to consciousness. His abilities, however, remained partially dampened.
At one point, Franklin aged himself into adulthood in a matter of moments, calling himself Avatar. Though his emotional maturity remained that of a child, he wielded his nearly limitless power without restraint. Realizing the danger of possessing such abilities without the wisdom to guide them, he reverted himself to childhood and imposed psychic “dampers” to restrict his full potential until he was ready to wield it responsibly.
Franklin later developed precognitive abilities, experiencing vivid dreams of alternate futures. Unknown to his parents for a time, he joined the youthful super-hero team Power Pack under the codename Tattletale, reflecting his ability to foresee coming events. His powers continued to evolve, expanding beyond telepathy and telekinesis into full-scale reality manipulation.
His destiny became entangled with time itself when his grandfather, the time-traveler Nathaniel Richards, abducted him into the distant future, believing Franklin’s presence in the present would one day lead to disaster. Raised for years in that era and trained to master his abilities, Franklin returned to his own time as a teenager calling himself Psi-Lord. Though immensely powerful, even this version of Franklin had not reached his ultimate potential. During this period, Reed was held captive by the villain Hyperstorm—later revealed to be the son of Franklin and Rachel Summers from an alternate future. Ultimately, temporal forces erased the Psi-Lord incarnation, restoring Franklin to his younger self in the primary timeline.
Franklin’s greatest act of power came during the crisis involving the psionic entity Onslaught. When the Fantastic Four and many members of the Avengers sacrificed themselves in battle against Onslaught, the world believed them dead. In truth, Franklin had subconsciously created a fully formed pocket universe and transported the fallen heroes there, preserving their lives. Within this reality—later known as “Heroes Reborn”—the heroes lived altered existences, unaware of their pasts, until they were eventually restored to their native universe.
Over time, Franklin’s power drew the attention of cosmic beings, including the Celestials, who recognized that he possessed the ability to create entire universes complete with self-sustaining laws of physics and life. He has empowered cosmic entities, repaired fractures in the multiverse, and survived the collapse of realities. During one multiversal crisis, he even shared his power with Galactus, reviving him in a new form.
In recent events, Franklin expended tremendous amounts of his energy to help restore the multiverse following large-scale cosmic upheaval, temporarily diminishing his powers. Even so, he remains one of the most powerful beings in existence—an individual whose potential rivals abstract cosmic forces. Though still young, Franklin Richards stands as a singular figure in the Marvel Universe: a child born of cosmic accident, capable of shaping reality itself, and destined to play a role in the fate of creation.
Strength Level: Franklin Richards possesses the normal human strength of a boy of his age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise
Known Superhuman Powers: Franklin Richards is a mutant with vast psionic powers. His abilities are so great that he can create "pocket" universes in alternate realities. (A "pocket" universe is a cosmos that does not equal our own in size.) When Franklin achieves the conscious use of his full powers, he will have telepathic powers, tremendous telekinetic powers, the ability to fire enormously powerful energy blasts, and the ability to rearrange the molecular structure of matter, even up to a cosmic scale.
It has often been speculated that Earth's human race is evolving into a superhuman race with great psionic powers, and Franklin may be an early example of what humanity will someday become.
Franklin Richards has imposed mental blocks within his own mind to prevent him from using most of his psionic potential while he is still such a young child. It is possible that the strength of these blocks has faded over time, or that they cannot prevent him from utilizing his full powers unconsciously, as he did in creating the alternate reality to which he dispatched his parents and others following their clash with Onslaught. The mental blocks also work only when Franklin is in his physical body; his astral form can apparently use all of his psionic potential if it has separated from his physical form.
The mental blocks did not restrict Franklin from using his precognitive abilities, which manifest themselves in his dreams, enabling him to envision possible future events. Although there are countless possible futures, Franklin foresees the most probable future path, and therefore his predictions usually come true. Franklin seemingly cannot foresee events more than roughly a few days in the future. Franklin's precognitive power developed to the point at which he could see images of future events even when conscious.
Later, Franklin developed the ability to place himself in a trance-like state while remaining fully conscious. While he is in this trance, he can project an intangible, ghostlike image of himself to another location, through which he can see and hear what goes on at that location. What Franklin has called the "dreams" he has while in this state are not truly dreams, but his conscious awareness of the environment into which he has projected his "dream-self." It is not yet known how far Franklin can project his "dream-self" away from his physical body, but he has projected it onto a planet while his physical body was in a starship high above the planet's surface.
Franklin has not recently manifested his powers to perceive the future or to project a "dream-self" and it is not clear whether he can still use these abilities or whether they have returned to latency.
Powerhouse does not normally use wweapons or paraphernalia.
- First appearance (Fantastic Four Annual, 1968)
- First appearance as Powerhouse (Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #26, 2020)
