Warning: This article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
We all knew that the Illuminati were going to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a fact that left fans with a pretty decent idea of which heroes were going to cameo in the film as part of the team. Now that the movie is here, theorists have been proven right on a number of counts, as one iconic Marvel hero that we’ve been waiting years to see in the MCU finally made their debut.
Spoilers incoming!
Yes, alongside Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, the Illuminati also includes Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, as a member, played to thunderous applause by John Krasinski, which proves that sometimes Twitter fan campaigns can really pay off. To be clear, Krasinski was only introduced as Earth-838’s Mr. Fantastic, but his cameo definitely leaves the door open for his return as the mainstream version of the stretchy scientist.
What’s more, the movie also teases that we might be about to meet Reed’s kids, too. But who are Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman’s children in the comics and how might they fit into the MCU?
How Mr. Fantastic’s children factor into Doctor Strange 2
While Reed Richard’s children do not appear in Doctor Strange 2, they are mentioned in one intriguing line that will cause any comic book reader’s ears to prick up.
When attempting to reason with the crazed Scarlet Witch, who has stormed the Illuminati base, Reed mentions that he has kids of his own. Wanda asks him if they have a mother, to which he replies that they do (a clear reference to Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman). Wanda says that she’s glad, as it means that there will be someone to care for them after she kills their father.
It’s possibly Wanda’s most villainous moment in the entire film, and yet its biggest contribution to the MCU might be the fact that it establishes the existence of Franklin and Valeria Richards.
Franklin and Valeria Richards, explained
Reed mentions that he has kids, plural, so this must mean that both Reed and Sue’s son and daughter, Franklin and Valeria, exist on Earth-838. But who are these two scions of Marvel’s First Family?
Created in 1968, Franklin Richards is the first-born child of the Richardses. Despite his parents only having mid-level superhuman abilities, Franklin is known as one of the most OP individuals in the whole Marvel canon. From a very young age, he displayed colossal reality-warping powers that perhaps go beyond even Scarlet Witch’s in the MCU. For instance, he once created his own pocket universe. Although believed to be an Omega-level mutant for decades, this was recently revealed to not be the case after he lost his powers.
Valeria, meanwhile, was introduced in the comics in 1999 and has an even more convoluted history than her brother. Initially, she was thought to be the child of Sue Storm and a heroic Doctor Doom from an alternate future who had returned to the present. However, it was later revealed that she was Reed and Sue’s second unborn child that Franklin saved with his powers and sent to be raised by the alternate Sue and Doom. Unlike her brother, Valeria has no powers, although she possesses a genius-level intellect.
Will we see Reed and Sue’s kids in the Fantastic Four movie?
The big question we have now is: will we ever see Franklin and Valeria in the movies? Obviously, the nod to them in Doctor Strange 2 is no promise that they will appear in the future, as we only know they exist on Earth-838, not Earth-616. And yet it definitely feels like Marvel could be sowing the seeds for something here.
For one, it’s possible that Earth-838’s Franklin and Valeria could travel over to the prime MCU universe, looking to get revenge for the death of their father. This would somewhat mirror Valeria’s alternate timeline origins in the comics.
Otherwise, their name-drop may be a hint that the Fantastic Four movie will skip the team’s familiar origin story and jump straight to Reed and Sue already being married and raising two kids together. This would be a neat way of ensuring this fourth FF film isn’t just retreading what Fox has already done before. It’s especially possible if the Fantastic Four have been around since the 1960s, which was hinted at in Doctor Strange 2.
