MCU Fantastic Four could bring in Fantastic Kids | Screen Rant

The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be making it clear that young heroes are going to be a major part of upcoming projects, but Fantastic Four has the potential to open the door for younger characters—and, by extension, younger actors. While the MCU is no stranger to young heroes, thanks to Spider-Man, prominent child characters have never been seen on the big screen in the capacity that the Fantastic Four could allow. Previous inclusions of child characters weren’t allowed to see a large amount of on-screen growth and development. The multiverse trend that the MCU is currently taking even supports the possibility of the Fantastic Kids—or, at least one of them—making their debut.

Franklin and Valeria Richards debuted in 1968 and 1999 respectively, in Fantastic Four Annual #11 and Fantastic Four #15. Ever since his introduction, Franklin had been a child with extremely potent, reality-bending powers. It’s actually with those Celestial-like powers that he was able to influence the fate of his sister who otherwise would never have had the chance to be born. The circumstances around Valeria were complicated, to say the least, and revolved around alternate timelines and cosmic, multiverse-level threats that saw her reborn in Fantastic Four #54 (2002). These two children became a staple of the Fantastic Four and Franklin would even go on to have several much larger roles in stories affecting the greater Marvel Universe.

Related: How The MCU Can Avoid Making Reed Richards A Tony Stark Replacement

The MCU has plenty of young characters and will have plenty more. Marvel hasn’t been making an especially big push to hide that the Young Avengers or some iteration of a team of young heroes are on the way. America Chavez plays a significant role in the upcoming film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There’s also the fact that the entirety of the MCU Spider-Man franchise takes place while the character is still of High School age. However, Franklin and Valeria provide an opportunity to delve into territory so far unventured by the MCU. A number of the major points for both Franklin and Valeria take place before either of them ever reach puberty. These characters can be younger but still play a significant role, letting smaller kids see more characters like themselves on screen alongside their traditional, towering heroes.

Speaking of younger viewers, another major benefit of Franklin and Valeria joining the MCU is the ability for those very viewers to grow up alongside the characters. Movies take time to make. Actors age. Franklin and Valeria therefore wouldn’t remain in their formative years forever. The Ant-Man franchise, of course, has introduced Ant-Man’s daughter, Cassie, and comic book fans know that she goes on to become the young superhero known as Stature. Similarly, WandaVision introduces the children of Wanda Maximoff—also future superheroes. The drawback in both cases is that the growth of those characters was accelerated. Due to time skips and magic, much of their growth isn’t actually seen. Fantastic Four can skirt this problem by having the children do all of their growing before the very eyes of those watching.

It’s no secret that the future of the MCU, or at least the current Phase at the very least, is all about the multiverse. This provides a perfect in for the Fantastic Four to introduce its youngest members. Marvel famously has a habit of testing ideas; like Falcon becoming Captain America in the comics in order to decide on potential movie plots. So it’s worth noting that in relatively recent stories, the Fantastic Four had been traveling across the multiverse. Not only could this be used to introduce the First Family of Marvel and skip over their origin story if the MCU chooses, but it could also give Franklin a massive role in the MCU’s next big phase.

The MCU’s Fantastic Four project is coming and the possibilities are there to take the characters in a direction never before done on screen. After all, Franklin and Valeria have yet to appear in any previous adaptations of the Fantastic Four. Not only that, but their inclusion could give smaller children more characters like them to root for and open the door for more child actors to step into this larger-than-life universe.

Next: Super Skrull Is The Best Villain For Fantastic Four’s MCU Debut (Not Doom)

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