The Fantastic Four‘s most powerful member just underwent a horrifying transformation, as the godlike Franklin Richards undergoes a transformation likely to prove controversial for some fans of the franchise.
Franklin Richards Unveils His Horrifying Mutant Form
Fantastic Four’s Powerhouse Gets a Whole New Set of Powers
In today’s World of Revelation #1, Ryan North, Adam Szalowski, Cris Peter and Travis Lanham tell the short story ‘Epoch of Revelation.’ Set years in Marvel’s future, the storyline sees Franklin Richards – the reality-warping son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman – contract the X-Virus and transform into a warped, slug-like mutant which appears to be a reference to Harlan Ellison’s short story ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.’
Introduced in 1968, Franklin Richards quickly became Marvel’s most powerful hero, with the later reveal that he will survive beyond the end of the multiverse, becoming the next iteration of Galactus.
However, World of Revelation sees that destiny torn from him, as the X-Virus forces him to transform into a mutant – one who can’t survive outside the unique biome of Revelation’s territory. But despite his transformation, Franklin has a mission…
Our Take on Fantastic Four’s Franklin Richards Becoming a Mutant Monster
Decades of stories have set Franklin up as the defining hero of the Marvel mythos – someone who will act as the seed of the next cycle of existence, and who rebuilt the entire multiverse thanks to his boundless imagination in 2015’s Secret Wars. Sadly, the X-Virus strips him of his powers, leaving him to collect a new ‘Doomsday Book’ of humanity’s achievements so that, after the fall of humanity and mutantkind, whoever comes next can benefit from the world’s achievements before Revelation seized power.
Ultimately, Franklin is successful, with the Fantastic Four’s robot HERBIE surviving 71 million years into the future, sharing art and science with the Earth’s new dominant species. It’s a darkly optimistic ending, suggesting that despite his transformation and the loss of his former powers, Franklin really did end up as the last survivor of the Marvel age, with HERBIE stating, “The great work of Franklin Richards was a success.”
The Age of Revelation is ultimately a dystopian story, and ‘Epoch of Revelation’ nails the feeling of a world beyond help, before turning around and making the best of the situation. It’s characteristic of North’s ongoing run with the Fantastic Four that even in a situation as dire as this, the FF are still defined by human progress. Interestingly, the story defines Franklin as “an artist raised by scientists” – a potential roadmap for who the character may become after the Age of Revelation event concludes.
What Makes This New Transformation Controversial?
For years, Franklin Richards was defined as a mutant – a member of X-Men’s homo superior. Some fans perceived his mutant status – and especially the way Franklin struggled with and then embraced his mutant identity – as an allegory for being transgender, similar to the way that characters like Mystique were coded as gay long before Marvel explicitly acknowledged the same.
However, Franklin was stripped of his mutant status in Dan Slott and R.B. Silva’s Fantastic Four #26, where Professor Xavier revealed that Franklin had used his powers to falsify his X-gene, subconsciously looking for a group to belong to. In the lore of Age of Revelation, the X-Virus transforms its surviving victims into mutants, and it’s noteworthy in the above context that Franklin’s ‘true’ mutant form comes in the form of “cruel mutations that left him monstrous and reeling.”
While it doesn’t in any way seem that ‘Epoch of Revelation’ is deliberately engaging in trans allegory in this story, Franklin’s monstrous transformation is an unfortunate addition to such a sensitive topic, with many conflicting viewpoints already at play. At the least, Franklin having a ‘true’ mutant form triggered by the virus makes it even harder for Marvel to retcon back his former mutant status – something that many Fantastic Four fans have been wishing for since 2020.
‘Epoch of Revelation’ is a fun horror yarn that still manages to embrace the hopeful attitude to the future that defines the Fantastic Four brand – however, the already sensitive issue of Franklin Richard’s mutant status isn’t helped by his mutation stripping him of his godhood and humanity.
World of Revelation #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
- First Film
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The Fantastic Four
- First Episode Air Date
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September 9, 1967
