Why Galactus Wants Reed And Sue's Baby In The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Contains spoilers for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"

In "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," the planet-devouring superbeing Galactus (Ralph Ineson) agress to spare Earth-828 from destruction on one condition: Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) must hand over their newborn baby, Franklin, to him. But why on Earth does Galactus want Reed and Sue's baby? We here at Looper asked the same question, and that's why we've got a video to answer it that you can watch above.

The first official film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature Marvel's First Family, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" has opened to a much more enthusiastic response than the three previous attempts at this property. At press time, the movie is sporting a very fresh 88% critics score and 92% audience rating at Rotten Tomatoes, while box office predictions have it headed for a $125 million launch in theaters by the time the film's first weekend is over. 

Part of the movie's charm is the way it captures the essence of the Fantastic Four as a family, while also showing Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman adjusting to parenthood. But as Galactus explains, Franklin Richards — the child of two cosmically enhanced humans — has immense powers locked inside him that may allow Galactus to stop roaming the universe looking for worlds to destroy, with Franklin taking his place. While the film touches on what makes Franklin special, it's in the comics where we find the real answer.

In the pages of Marvel Comics, the child of Reed and Sue Richards is born with superpowers, which makes him a mutant. And he develops such awesome abilities that he's labeled an Omega-Level mutant. Indeed, in several comic book storylines, Franklin actually does become Galactus, inheriting the mantle of the Devourer of Worlds. The only inkling we get of Franklin's abilities in "First Steps" is toward the end of the film, when he brings his mother back to life after she is killed in the climactic battle with the gigantic cosmic entity.

The comics version of Franklin has powers so great that he can use them to reshape reality itself. Most notably, he's involved in fixing the multiverse at the end of the 2015 event series "Secret Wars," which is the inspiration for the upcoming "Avengers" movie of the same name. Since the mid-credits scene in "First Steps" finds a now four-year-old Franklin (Ada Scott) visited by a mysterious figure in a green cape and cowl — clearly meant to be Doctor Doom, the key villain of "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Avengers: Secret Wars" — we can only speculate on what possible role Franklin might play in Doom's own plans to meddle with the multiverse. 

Meanwhile, if you want to hear more about Franklin Richards and why Galactus wants him so badly, check out our video above, which goes into much further detail regarding Franklin's powers and his comic book storylines.