FRANKLIN RICHARDS (Earth-811)

Real Name: Franklin Benjamin Richards

Identity/Class: Extratemporal (Earth-Days of Future Past/Earth-811) human mutant

Occupation: Adventurer

Group Membership: New Mutants of Earth-Days of Future Past

Affiliations:
    (Earth-Days of Future Past): Anti-Sentinel Resistance, Rachel Summers (Phoenix)
    Earth-616: Fantastic Four, X-Factor, New Mutants

Enemies:  (Earth-Days of Future Past): Ahab, Sentinels, the Hounds

Known Relatives: Reed Richards (father, deceased), Susan Richards (mother, deceased), Jonathan Storm (uncle, deceased), Nathaniel Richards (grandfather), Franklin Storm (grandfather, deceased), Evelyn Richards, Mary Storm (grandmothers, deceased), Benjamin J. Grimm (godfather), Alicia Masters (godmother)
    All Earth-Days of Future Past (Assuming the same relationships as Earth-616, which may not be the case)

Aliases:  Frank, Scrapper (nicknamed by Rachel Summers)

Base of Operations: Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State; Earth-Days of Future Past

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men I#141 (January, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: Franklin Richards possesses vast psionic powers. This version of Franklin has displayed telepathy, immensely powerful telekinesis, psionic blasts of great destructive power, the ability to travel through time, and the ability to call on his past and future selves to manifest themselves. He can also presumably teleport over great distances, as he did to Madripoor. He can essentially reconfigure reality to match his desires, to a virtually unlimited degree.
    Actually most of the powers he demonstrated were after his body died and he was drawing power from the Franklin Richards of Earth-616 and his own Rachel Summers/Phoenix. His own abilities were undefined as he died before demonstrating them. He apparently had a dreamself power similar to the one his younger Earth-616 counterpart demonstrated as Tattletale.

 

 

 

History: This version of Franklin Richards comes from an alternate future known as Earth-Days of Future Past, where the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly caused the Mutant Registration Act to be instituted. This led to a future where the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots controlled the world. (This was later proven not to be the point of divergence from the normal timeline, but this was widely believed to be the case--the point of divergence would be Phoenix actually being Jean Grey (@ Uncanny X-Men#101), surviving the battle against the Imperial Guard (@ Uncanny X-Men I#137), and mothering Rachel Summers).

(Uncanny X-Men I#141) - Franklin Richards is a mutant, his mutation resulting from the irradiation of his parents, which also gave them their powers (see comments).

(New Mutants Annual#6 (fb) - BTS) - As mutants became increasingly hounded by the authorities, Franklin joined the New Mutants, studying at Xavier's School during his teenage years. Among his fellow students was Rachel Summers, around five years his junior.

(Uncanny X-Men I#141 (fb)) (future timeline)- Sentinels took over North America and superhumans, whether mutant or not, were slaughtered or captured and imprisoned in Concentration Camps. One of the survivors, Franklin was held in the South Bronx Mutant Concentration Camp, alongside other surviving X-Men. He and Rachel, who was now in her late teens, became lovers.

(Uncanny X-Men I#141) (future timeline)- Franklin, Rachel, Magneto, Colossus, Sprite and Storm together formed part of the anti-Sentinel Resistance. He was present when the decision was made to send Kate Pryde’s spirit back through time into her younger self, then a trainee X-Man, using Rachel’s psionic powers. Franklin was given responsibility over deactivating the inhibitor collars, which would allow each of the mutants to use their mutant powers. After Kate’s spirit had been transported through time, the others made their way to the heart of Manhattan, in hopes of reaching the Sentinel base. While traveling through a New York subway tunnel, Franklin heard Sentinels approaching; one of them incinerated him with its chest blaster, killing him instantly. His death was not in vain, as it galvanized a vengeful Rachel into attacking one of the Sentinels with her telekinetic abilities while Storm, Colossus and Wolverine took down the other.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#14 (fb) - BTS) - At the moment of his death, Franklin released his dream self, sending it into the past, to a happier time period (in the Earth-616 timeline, presumably drawn by Rachel Summers' presence).

(Fantastic Four Annual#23)- The Fantastic Four, upon returning from a picnic, were startled to find their base Four Freedoms Plaza replaced by their former headquarters, the Baxter Building. Inside they came across past versions of themselves and a fight ensued, which the past FF won with the aid of the building security systems. The past Reed examined the present versions, and learned that (save Ms. Marvel) they were the same as his team. The present Sue claimed that this must be the present since she was holding her son, Franklin. The past Sue revealed her son too, except that to the present team he appeared as an adult. This Franklin tried to convince the present Reed and Sue that he was their son, but they didn’t believe him. The argument angered Franklin, and he realized this was not how things should be. He disappeared and Four Freedoms Plaza returned to normal. On the New York streets outside, Forge and Banshee continued to search for the missing X-Men. The adult Franklin appeared and greeted them as his former teachers, but they of course didn’t know what he meant. Confused and angry, Franklin disappeared. They then realized who he was, and decided to visit the Fantastic Four. Inside the building, the Fantastic Four were attacked by hundreds of mechanical drones which had entered through a time warp; they sought Franklin and Sue Richards. When Banshee and Forge arrived, they found a force field blocking the entrance.

(X-Factor Annual#5)- Franklin appeared in New York City and upon spotting X-Factor’s Ship decided it shouldn’t be there; he erased it from existence. The Fantastic Four called on X-Factor for help, explaining that Franklin had attacked them. Rachel turned up and tried to apprehend Franklin, but was repelled. Sentinels attacked Franklin above the Chrysler building, but X-Factor and the Fantastic Four destroyed them. Ahab and his hounds did battle with the teams, as well as the New Mutants, near the Statue of Liberty. The Human Torch and Iceman destroyed his gateway, revealing his machinery, which Cyclops obliterated- this returned Ahab and the hounds to their own time. Franklin reappeared and, claiming that Christopher Summers will be a powerful mutant but should not have been born, took him away.

(New Mutants Annual#6)- Franklin arrived at the demolished X-Mansion; he was horrified at its state. Remembering his happy times there, he used his long-dormant reality-altering powers to recreate the mansion as it was in his future (Earth-Days of Future Past)- this alerted Ahab to his presence, and he ordered a hound to retrieve him. Meanwhile, the New Mutants of the normal timeline were training with Cable in the Danger Room, far below the mansion. Suddenly Franklin and his era’s New Mutants, recreated with the mansion, confronted them. A fight ensued since the future team believed the New Mutants to be shapeshifters, assuming their predecessors’ likenesses. Despite the efforts of the future Banshee to calm things down, the future New Mutants insisted on continuing, with Franklin summoning temporal duplicates to subdue the ‘invaders’.
    With some peace restored, Cable’s team were amazed to find reality changed; Franklin, however, maintained that they were not meant to be there; his friends, on the other hand, were real. Wolfsbane realized Franklin was the source of the illusions; with his confidence shattered, Franklin’s recreated team faded away. Enraged, Franklin vanished in a burst of explosive energy, just as his parents and the real Banshee, along with the young Franklin of Earth-616, arrived after tracking him to this location. While Cable and Reed Richards discussed the situation, Sue detected the approach of hundreds of mechanical drones. The hound sent to apprehend Franklin was drawn into battle with the superheroes, and in the confusion grabbed the younger Franklin. After dispatching Wolfsbane, he himself was thwarted by Rictor. Their questioning was cut short when Ahab himself appeared, incinerating the hound with a harpoon to prevent him from revealing any of his plans, before vanishing as swiftly as he came. After repairing their craft, the group located Ahab’s base and set off.
    The adult Franklin, meanwhile, had arrived at the American Museum of Natural History, where he again warped reality to reflect his youth- Rachel Summers, in her 8-year-old incarnation, appeared. Franklin represented himself as he used to be, a 13-year-old boy. When Ahab’s Sentinel tore the roof off, Franklin was so absorbed in his recreation that he failed to notice its presence; it blasted at the pair, but it passed harmlessly through them and burned the floor below. The two hounds decided Franklin was the only one to concern them. At that moment, the Richards family and the New Mutants arrived, having tracked Franklin’s power signature, and battled the Sentinels and hounds. Franklin was alerted when a hound was thrown right through his body; his attention diverted, Rachel faded from existence. Infuriated by the interruption, the adult Franklin obliterated the Sentinels and hounds; this horrified the younger Franklin, who understood the destruction his powers could potentially cause. The adult Franklin surveyed the destruction and considered the loss of his younger self’s innocence. When he approached, the boy was afraid; the adult Franklin told him his powers were dangerous and together they sealed them away. Reed asked him to return his son’s powers so they could stop the Sentinels of the future; the adult Franklin told him this was impossible, since both versions of himself locked the power away.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#14) - Franklin appeared to Rachel Summers, who had just foiled a robbery at a fast food joint. She asked why he was avoiding her; he explained that he had wanted to avoid more fighting. Rachel had difficulty believing him to be the real Franklin; he told her to scan his thoughts, but she said he could be hiding anything. They kissed, with the Phoenix’s flames lighting the sky. A short time later, Franklin apologized to the assembled X-Factor and Fantastic Four for getting ‘a little scrambled’ by the time travel. Cyclops, understandably, demanded his son back; Franklin altered his parents’ thoughts so they told him how happy and proud they were of him. The rest of the Fantastic Four noticed this, but Ben Grimm told them to let the scene play out. Franklin had seemingly affected Jean and Scott Summers as well, since they had forgotten all about Chris, and were more interested in Rachel. Franklin and Rachel departed in a sheath of flames, leaving Ben Grimm to wonder how the adult Franklin could travel through time and change reality, since he had just helped to seal his younger self’s powers away.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#14/ 2) - Wolverine, Psylocke and Jubilee were in Madripoor, with the youngster performing shows with her fireworks for a crowd. The adult Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers appeared, addressing him familiarly. Psylocke tried to telepathically scan them, but they were shielded. At this Rachel remembered when Wolverine had  stabbed her when she was going to kill the Black Queen. Wolverine told her that the more powerful you are, the more necessary limits become. She became angry, saying that those who use their powers for evil have no such restraint. Jubilee and Psylocke tried to calm her down, but Franklin removed them from reality since he didn’t recognize them. Wolverine took exception to this, but Franklin told him that he could make everyone happy with his powers. Wolverine tried to impress upon him the importance of human life, and how important it is to follow noble motives with such great power. Franklin asked what would happen if he made the wrong choice; Wolverine admitted that he wouldn’t be able to stop him anyway. Rachel begged him to return the two women, and he did so, as Rachel’s ‘brother’ appeared in her arms. The two left, with Franklin promising to think about what he learned.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual#14) - At the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, Cable gave a briefing on their run-in with Franklin, but Storm realized that this Franklin must be an impostor, since he was killed in the future. Meanwhile, Ahab captured Cyclops and the Invisible Woman on the roof. At his base, he transformed them into hounds, and attacked Franklin, Rachel and Chris at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. They were apprehended, and Ahab taunted Rachel, but the New Mutants, X-Factor, and Fantastic Four burst into the base and began to battle the hounds. Cable was defeated with the others when Ahab activated a field to incapacitate them. Franklin was the only one unharmed, and using his powers he destroyed the machine. Ahab then teleported away, leaving the heroes to wonder how to reverse the hound process and return Cyclops and the Invisible Woman to normal. Rachel and the young Franklin were unconscious, and the group returned to Four Freedoms Plaza to try and reverse the hound procedure.
    Storm confronted the adult Franklin- through Kitty Pryde and Rachel, she remembered his death at the hands of the Sentinels. However, to exist he was using energies from both his younger self and Rachel; eventually they would be totally depleted. Franklin agreed to sacrifice his happiness for the greater good, and the combination of his energies and those of Rachel altered reality so that Cyclops, Sue Richards and the young Franklin were fully restored. The discorporation of the adult Franklin transferred the energy back to his younger self. Rachel appeared in her hound outfit; she wondered if this meant that nothing has changed, and all their sacrifice had been for nothing. She flew off, leaving the others to contemplate the future.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin.

Anything occurring before the point of divergence of Earth-Days of Future Past is beyond the scope of this profile.

The New Mutants of the DoFP timeline are referred to as ‘2013’ because they are shown an unspecified time before the Sentinels truly gain control of the mutant situation in 2013 AD; this explains why the Xavier School has students (see NM Ann.#6). The narration in New Mutants Annual#6 states ‘He remembers his adolescence…when mutants were hounded…but not yet hunted to near extinction (no, those bad times came later…)’ These ‘bad times’ are seen in Uncanny X-Men#141, with mutants in concentration camps, and the year is given as 2013. Therefore the New Mutant team of Franklin’s youth cannot be of ‘2017’ as some other sources state. All of them, except Franklin and Rachel are presumably deceased or incarcerated in another camp before the events of Uncanny X-Men#141.
   
The dates are probably moot/topical, as the story was originally meant to occur some 32 years after the assassination of Kelly, which was written in 1981, but slides forward so that it was maybe 3-4 years in the past. Alternatively, it may be that in Earth-Days of Future Past, the assassination of Kelly actually did occur @ 1981, meaning that that reality does not have a sliding time scale, like Earth-616.
--Snood.

    The second story in Uncanny X-Men Annual#14 is somewhat vague in terms of when it actually takes place; since Franklin and Rachel appeared, and Chris Summers was with them, it is safe to assume that at some point prior to their capture in Prospect Park (in the first story) they traveled across the world to visit Wolverine. At the end, Rachel mentioned going to find Scott and the others to tell them that his son is okay; presumably, then, this must be after Franklin takes him away at the end of X-Factor Annual#5. Possibly the story could take place between X-Factor Annual#5 and the first story in Uncanny X-Men Annual#14.
    I put it in mid-story of UXM Annual#14, but that may not be right--Snood.

Before anyone asks how we know that Rachel and Franklin weren't a couple prior to being in the camps, we don't for sure - however, since we have a flashback showing when Rachel fell into Ahab's hands and that depicts her as very young teens, and since Franklin is depicted as being 13 when Rachel is 8 in New Mutants Annual #6, I'd have to hope that Franklin didn't try to emulate Colossus and Kitty's dubious school romance, and that nothing developed between them until she was a bit older.
--Loki

In at least one alternate future, Earth-967, Franklin survived the Sentinel Mutant Concentration Camp; in that reality, he and Rachel went on to father Jonathon Reed Richards...Hyperstorm.

Profile by Cypher

Clarifications:

Franklin Richards (Earth-Days of Future Past) is not to be confused with:

-          His Earth-616 counterpart, or of any other alternate Earths


New Mutants (Earth-Days of Future Past)

These mutants are recreated along with Xavier’s Mansion in New Mutants Annual#6 by Franklin Richards. They are also seen in Uncanny X-Men Annual#14 during Cable’s briefing (page 17, panel 2). The group numbered 6 (including Franklin) in total; all except one were named.

Rachel Summers: with not a trace of the Phoenix Force in sight, Rachel was still powerful enough to telekinetically throw and hold the entire New Mutant team against the Danger Room wall, although it was allegedly difficult for her to do so.

Magus:  Doug Ramsey, infected by the Transmode Virus and quite insane. Possesses all of Warlock’s technomorphic capabilities.

Blue: obviously intended to be Nightcrawler’s daughter; she possesses a similar, but more powerful, teleportation ability.

Blaze: carries a sword that separates into a bow to launch energy arrows. He rides on a hovercraft of some kind.

?: this unnamed mutant would most likely possess the standard powers of someone of his stature: super-strength, resistance to injury, etc. He also carries a huge cudgel.

 

 

 



images
New Mutants Annual#6, Cover (main image)
New Mutants Annual#6, p5, pan3 (headshot)
New Mutants Annual#6, p10, pan1 (bodyshot)
New Mutants Annual#6, p16, pan5 (replication power)
Uncanny X-Men I#141, p15, pan4-5 (death)
New Mutants Annual#6, p15, pan5 (New Mutants DoFP)


Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men I#141 (Jan, 1980) - Chris Claremont (plot/writer), John Byrne (plot/pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
Fantastic Four Annual#23 (1990) - Walter Simonson & Bob Harras (writers), Jackson Guice (pencils), Geof Isherwood (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
X-Factor Annual#5 (1990) - Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
New Mutants Annual#6 (1990) - Louise Simonson (writer), Terry Shoemaker & Chris Wozniak (pencils), Scott Williams, Al Milgrom, Art Thibert & Harry Candelario (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual#14 (1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Art Adams (pencils), Dan Green, Bob Wiacek, Al Milgrom, Art Thibert & Steve Moncuse (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual#14/2 (1990) - Chris Claremont (writer), Mark Heike (pencils), Geof Isherwood (inks), Bob Harras (editor)


First Posted: 09/30/2004
Last updated: 12/08/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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