This article contains major spoilers for Dr. Strange 2: The Multiverse of Madness
Given the recent reference to Reed Richards’ family in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, many non-comics fans found themselves confused. After all, most on-screen depictions of Reed Richards only show his wife Sue and his parents. So what’s up with his children?
But Reed’s children, Valeria and Franklin, have lived incredibly interesting lives and each has unique powers and skills that make them interesting enough in their own right.
The Cosmic Energy Affected Both Kids
The same Cosmic Rays that empowered the Fantastic Four played a significant role in the development of the children of Reed and Sue. For their firstborn son, Franklin, it meant developing superhuman abilities that made him a reality warper capable of rivaling Galactus easily. For their secondborn, Valeria, it meant that the Cosmic Rays within Sue put her life in danger during her birth.
It was actually a very nice touch by the Marvel creators to have the Cosmic Rays so profoundly impact both kids. After all, it meant that they too shared significant ties with the origin of the Fantastic Four. It helped to tie them into the team for fans who may have been hesitant about adding kids to the franchise, and it did a great job of explaining their various abilities.
Valeria Lived Two Lives
After a difficult birth, Franklin used his powers to send his sister to another universe to have the chance to live a full life. Something that only Marvel comic book fans know about, Valeria was raised by Dr. Doom and Sue Storm. Eventually, though, she reverted back into an infantile state and was reborn to the mainline comic universe’s Reed and Sue.
It’s a fairly strange origin, but it had a significant impact on Valeria and on the team’s perception of her. It’s hard to determine how much of her superhuman intelligence is related to her father, her relationship with Doom, her alternate life, or her own natural intellect, but it’s likely that her turbulent origin played a role.
Their Close Relationship With Dr. Doom
Though the Fantastic Four has always seen Doom as one of its most powerful enemies, he is also the only reason that their family exists in its current state. Given Valeria’s difficult birth, Reed and Sue sought Doom’s help. Dr. Doom helped to ensure Valeria’s safety during the birth, then secretly made her his familiar.
Even today, Valeria feels a close bond with Doom — to the extent that “Doom” was her first word. Though he continues to attack and manipulate the rest of the family, he feels some form of kinship with Valeria. It helps to paint Doom as a more reasonable character, while also helping to ground Valeria as a character with interests outside of the Baxter Building.
One of Them Was A Mutant
But Valeria isn’t the only Richards child. In fact, her brother is even more powerful. Franklin, the firstborn son of Sue and Reed, was supposedly mutated by the Cosmic Rays and developed an X-gene. This meant that Franklin felt a bond with mutantkind and even spent some time on Krakoa.
Unfortunately, it was recently revealed that Franklin was never truly a mutant. Instead, he used his powers to warp reality so that he could pose as a mutant. Prior to the revelation, Franklin was very proud of his status as a mutant, and it helped to provide him with the same independence that the Doom friendship gave to his sister. Unfortunately now, all he has left is the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation, which can be somewhat isolating for the former mutant.
Val’s Brilliance
While Franklin developed powers that made him powerful enough to take down the Phoenix, Valeria never developed superpowers. Instead, she simply proved to be one of the most intelligent characters in the Marvel Universe.
Smarter than her father and often claiming to be the smartest girl in the world, Valeria tends to resolve many of the Fantastic Four’s problems just through her wit alone. Even without powers, she’s managed to make a significant difference in the world and even helped to save countless lives after a multiversal incursion. It’s incredible enough for one person, but to do it without the superhuman abilities of her family is impressive indeed.
They Created Universes Together
After Incursions that led to the death of the Multiverse, Franklin began attempting to repopulate reality. Using his considerable powers to quite literally create universes, he and the Future Foundation became the gods of entire universes as they set to righting the wrongs of the Incursions.
Unfortunately, after putting so much effort into fixing the world, Franklin drained his powers almost completely. Now just a regular human, Franklin has been left to come to terms with being the only non-enhanced resident of the Baxter Building. It’s a sad fate for a boy who could do anything, and one that will hopefully be reversed.
Mr. Fantastic Tried to De-Mutant His Son
After the development of the mutant nation of Krakoa, Reed was scared that Franklin would be in danger if he tried to pass through the teleportation gates to get to the island. As such, while working to help rejuvenate Franklin’s powers, Reed secretly added technology that would block Krakoa from reading Franklin’s feigned X-Gene.
While it was a severe breach of trust that fractured Franklin’s relationship with his father, it was largely an attempt by Reed to ensure the safety of his son. Still, he should have done it only after asking Franklin and with Franklin’s full and complete agreement. As it was, it simply displayed Reed’s arrogance and inability to fully comprehend how he should really treat his family.
Time Travelling Shenanigans
The Fantastic Four has always been one of Marvel’s most science fiction-inspired teams. But though they’re a team that interacts with aliens on a daily basis, that isn’t all the science fiction the team works on. They also often involve themselves in time travel.
In fact, Franklin and Valeria have actually interacted with their future selves and learned from them. They have also dabbled in relativity themselves, as their travels in space meant that they returned to Earth years older, despite having only been gone a few months.
They Helped Start the Future Foundation
Not alone among the Fantastic Four, the kids also found themselves part of a group of younger heroes who also needed the guidance of their parents. As part of the Future Foundation, the Richards family works to ensure the development of humanity by creating fantastic technology alongside some of the smartest Marvel characters.
Though the Richards family eventually left the Future Foundation, as they continued their work in space, they were essential to founding the team and surely helped to leave their mark. Without them, the Future Foundation would likely have never existed at all and many of its members would have taken very different paths.
Reed Stepped Down from the Council of Reeds For Them
The Illuminati isn’t the only Council that a multiversal version of Reed has participated in. In fact, in the comics, there was an entire Council of Reed variants that helped to solve problems across the Multiverse. Many chose to leave behind their families due to their dedication to the cause.
The mainline Reed, however, found this to be too much of a commitment. His love for his family and his dedication to them kept him from fully agreeing to stand beside the Council of Reeds. It showcased his true nature and the fact that he would do anything for his family, even if it meant the rest of the Multiverse would suffer for it.
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