How Will The MCU Prevent Franklin Richards From Becoming Overpowered?

Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally hit theatres. The film has been receiving mostly positive reviews, with fans and critics praising the visuals, and the chemistry between the four leads. Aside from bypassing the team's origin story, one of the biggest diversions First Steps makes from previous Fantastic Four adaptations is the introduction of Franklin Richards, the firstborn child of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, aka Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.

While the film only briefly touches on Franklin's powers and future potential, in the Marvel Comics universe, Franklin is confirmed as a cosmic-level being of immense power. How will the MCU handle Franklin's powers moving forward without him becoming a world-breaker?

For the answer, we can probably look to the comics.

Reed 'switches off' Franklin's Brain

In one memorable classic storyline, little Franklin's powers manifest early as a result of meddling by the villain Annihilus. As he is just a toddler at the time, Franklin soon begins to lose control of his abilities, almost unleashing a psychic wave with the potential to destroy the Earth. To prevent this, Reed is forced into using a device that shuts down his son's mind, leaving him in a brain-dead state.

It is initially uncertain as to whether this process is reversible, and as Sue and Reed were already having relationship issues at the time, this appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back. The Thing and the Human Torch also temporarily leave the team.

Reed and Sue, and the Fantastic Four as a whole eventually come back together, and shortly after their reunion, the family is completed again when Ultron unleashes a mass amount of psychic energy that inadvertently revives Franklin. Franklin's own energy is depleted enough by the experience that his powers, at least temporarily, are a non-issue.

Some might say that a Father forced to put his own son in a coma to save the world is a little on the dark side for the MCU, but then again, the MCU managed to make Billy Maximoff's transition into William Kaplan even darker than the comics version, so maybe the above scenario isn't entirely implausible.. and at least it would be temporary.

Power Dampeners

Obviously, the Fantastic Four want to avoid an incident like the one above from happening again. The solution is that Reed invents a set of psychic inhibitor devices for Franklin to wear that will block him from his powers until he is old enough to learn how to properly control them. This usually works.. at least when his parents are around.

For a time, while away on missions, Reed and Sue regularly leave Franklin in the care of the Power family: James, Maggie, and their four children Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie. The couple hope Franklin's time with the Powers will give him a chance to be a regular child in a way that was not possible in their then-living situation at the Avengers Mansion. Unbeknownst to them, the Power siblings have superpowers of their own, fighting crime as Power Pack. Franklin often bypasses his inhibitors and accesses some of his minor powers to help the Pack on missions.

It has been left ambiguous as to whether the inhibitors only partially worked, or never actually worked at all, and Franklin was simply choosing not to access his abilities to their full extent. Whatever the case, the inhibitor path could be utilised in the MCU, if only for the illusion that Franklin's powers are not constantly available to him.

Powers come but once a year

Aside from the above scenarios, there have been multiple occasions in the comics where Franklin is de-powered entirely for a period of time, likely to prevent him becoming an eternal easy fix for any problems that arise. Other times, Franklin, who develops a maturity and awareness surrounding the potential dangers of his powers, polices himself in the use of them. And sometimes, well, it's a little bit of both.

In a relatively recent comics storyline, Franklin again appeared to lose his powers. However, it eventually turns out that this is not what actually happened. 'The Secret of Franklin Richards' reveals that prior to the supposed 'loss' of his powers, Franklin feared that having free rein over his abilities as an adolescent would prevent him from developing the emotional maturity to use them wisely as an adult. So, Franklin seals away his memory of his powers, save for a single day every year when he wakes up and remembers he has them. On that day, Franklin uses his abilities to monitor the multiverse for problems, but only intervenes if absolutely necessary.

A number of factors, including which Fantastic Four stories Marvel Studios chooses to adapt, and how fast they choose to age Franklin, will ultimately dictate how the MCU decides to handle Franklin's immense power. It will be interesting to see what path they choose.