Franklin Richards Controls The Marvel Universe 

The concept of a little boy's imagination playing with superheroes hits to the very heart of comics.

This actually makes a ton of sense and really the only reason for Franklin to be so powerful.

Where’s the hype when he talks about when Franklin said “TO ME MY GALACTUS!” 😂😭

Franklin Richards might be too powerful for the MCU but I would love to see him and Galactus show up together eventually

Correction for something that was said. Johnny wasn;'t "unconscious" after facing off against the annihilation wave, he was dead. He was continually being killed and brought back by annihilus over and over again, which traumatised him if I remember correctly

New Franklin Richards video on a rainy day what a treat

Once again, we can thank Spider-Man. Thanks, Spider-Man. And I guess that also means Franklin just...does not want to see his uncle Pete happy. "He made me go to bedtime early when I didn't want to. And now he will pay for it."

"No one before Ben Parker and Gwen Stacey has stayed dead." What about Mar-Vel?

Franklin Richards is a powerful character. I can imagine someone doing a Marvel comic miniseries that centers around Franklin fighting against some of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, like Molecule Man, the Sentry, and one of the most powerful omega level mutants, Matthew Malloy. I still need to collect and read Hickman's Fantastic Four.

Wait a minute...wait one minute...the fantastic four were struck by cosmic rays so their power is basically cosmic, the control rod was used on Franklin so maybe the two types of powers mixed giving him that amazing level of power. they should have a story where Doom or someone else figures this out and tries to basically get similar powers to Franklin Richards...or even better they decide to combine even more power sources to see what they can create.

That actually sounds like a really dope explanation for things. We ARE ALL Franklin at heart. We're all that little kid that want our heroes to continue. I'm a grown man and I'm STILL imagining a different universe.

I like the idea of this in Meta narrative sense. The idea that all the superheroes and villains are basically 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon toys (like Ninja Turtles or GI Joe) and just acting out his imagination is a very cool concept. Though I do wish character death meant something in comics again.

4:39 Mar-Vell, died from super cancer in the 80’s and never came back

There was a tv show called something like St. Elsewhere about a hospital and in the final episode its shown that the whole show took place in the mind of a child who was fantasising about a snow globe with said hospital inside. It's not one to one, but it seems somewhat similar to the Franklin theory.

Sooo... The reader is Franklin Richards?

I like the idea of Franklin altering the Marvel Universe. Characters age slower even though their universe is seemingly current to our own. It's a fun storytelling device. Plot Armor Incarnate: Franklin Richards.

Thought experiment- would this mean at some point Franklin would take an aspect of himself, an avatar if you will, to fulfill the “prophecy” of him and Galactus merging at the birth of the next universe but the true Franklin has evolved to the point of becoming The One Above All? Seeing everything play out like a kid watching ants nudging his avatar to nudge events the way he wants. It sounds convoluted but if that was the case and Franklin is TOAA and has seen everything play out in every universe it would make sense. Thoughts?

He's a mutant because he was born w/his powers. They used the CCR[cosmic control rod] to ease Susan's birth. The radiation energies got into Susan's womb, allowing those energies to get into Franklin. He's a beyond Omega Level reality warper. Dude is SUPER OP bro

Franklin in his bed making galaxy is epic but my God the art is atrocious. Never gets better every time I see it

What if the reason why so many bad things happen to Spider-Man is because there has to be some sort of balance to Franklin always shifting things in favor of the heroes and that he knows Spider-Man can shoulder the burden and take it? Peter is one of Franklin's favorites (as well as his uncle) and, though it's not something he'd want anyone to have to suffer, he knows Peter can keep moving forward. Can only imagine what would happen to Peter if he learned such information if true.

This entire theory makes absolute sense

You make a compelling case. It's not impossible that he could do that. Makes me think of Dr Manhattan controlling the DC universe.

A theory I've had about Franklin for years now is that Franklin willed himself to remain at a young age for "decades". He seemed to be the only child that never seemed to age (yes I know it's the writers that don't want a universal reality warper to age because then they have to figure out how to neuter him). I remember when Scott Lang was apart of the FF when they thought Reed was dead, his daughter Cassie and Franklin were about the same age, but then she aged and became a full on teenager, but Franklin was still around the age of 8 or something. Same thing with Kristoff, that "heir of Doom" kid, he aged, Franklin didn't. Would have been a good twist seeing as how no one in the marvel universe seem to have noticed.

I very much doubt it was ever the original intention. _But_ that doesn't mean they couldn't have adopted it over the decades that theory has been around - completely or in part. It's definitely somewhere in their drawers, as a plausible enough explanation to fall back on when they need it. Heck, it's a great excuse to keep him hovering at the sidelines - the narrator always wanting to have a good view of the action, but subconsciously being scared of standing in the line of fire himself. Fits well enough with his X-Gene "dilemma" too: As Xavier said, he saw the X-Men as the coolest people back in the day, so he retconned himself to be a mutant in order to associate with them. But when they became so isolationist during their Krakoa phase, he became unsure if he wanted to be part of that, and - in his mind - potentially having to leave his family. So he subconsciously retconned his powers again. With the mutants' approach like that, he was bound to anticipate the pot boiling over, with them in a moral gray area and having to re-find themselves to not fall to their extremist elements - as we've since seen across their _several_ global, interdimensional and interplanetary wars that directly resulted from their isolation...

Man... The panel you used as a thumbnail is so cursed 😂 like a tattoo fail kind of cursed.

That would greatly explain why the Xavier Mansion keeps getting rebuilt after being destroyed so quickly

I'd love to see them continue the story that he continues to the next universe after merging with galactus and the spirit of the universe and create a new one and make a new line of comics

So Deadpool is actually teen age Franklin out having a good that's why he knows he's in a comic book and can heal from anything and why things always work out for him

Next video should be of Rick Jones is the One Above All. One regular guy being with that many heros and receiving so many powers over the years, it's plausible

This would explain the sliding time scale, i think galaicus talked about this in the ultimates, where past stories that get referenced gets updated visuals as real time goes on.

After 2015's secret wars he recreated the multiverse one universe at a time with a little direction from his father

Crazy. 1:40 I just read fantastic four 604 yesterday.

So basically, Franklin Richards is The One Above All injected into the story and nerfed to allow stories to still happen until they need to reset the verse.

It reminds me of Superboy-Prime going into the comic and playing with the characters and coming out with NEO level abilities, even if he doesn’t know everything about each of the universes he affects. He still has writer level abilities when he acts.

I like it, there is a certain logic to it, him subconsciously controlling the main one, the 616-reality universe at least,.. Fascinating if he met other versions of himself, at various ages & they collectively shared their knowledge, like Reed did in all of his Council of Reeds, or Kang did in his massive council of Kangs from across the multiverse.

"Hey, that's a good theory, we should do that." - Marvel Comics

Did any of us NOT read the end of the last Secret Wars? My dawg Franklin rebuilt the 616 universe. Nuff said.

Wow excellent theroy sir this is easily one of your best vids.

I’m blown away Rob. I was a kid when the onslaught series came out. I will have the comics. Anyways, what you’ve laid out makes so much sense.

Well..I guess I'm watch the Jonathan Hickman Fantastic 4 Playlist again.

This is high quality rob corps material

I honestly agree that this is probably the best depiction of what the Marvel universe is

I like the theory. It’s a No-Prize answer that fits in-universe and continues to allow the publisher to do as they please. All because “Franklin” wanted it. Speaking of which. Franklin is the greatest kid ever! (please don’t delete me) I mean he’s just awesome. (please don’t delete me)

Unironically, I want deadpool to comment on this theory. I think he's the only one where we can get an actual piece of lore on this theory

The Fantastic 4 has so many dope moments I need to see in the MCU.

I could picture Spock say "This is a accurate logical theory."

Let me say this bro I love comics, I have been reading Marvel and DC since I was 3 back in the 70s and I have loved Image and other independents as well. I love reading, thinking about and talking about comics. This is why I subscribe to your channel. What is going to now make me patreon you, is the fact that you are a philosopher, a thinker, and I respect the hell out of that. I hope to interview you one day for my small channel. I have heard you take on many existential questions about real life using comics as a analogy to have those discussions, it's simply quite fascinating.

I would love to see Doom realize this and try to basically groom Franklin to his advantage. Kinda like how Red Skull did with the Cosmic Cube to produce Stevil. It would also be very Marvel as it could show a story where if the future generations who hold all the power listen to the soft words of a tyrant things can do horribly wrong.

Whoever put these pieces together was brilliant. I have never spent any time with characters as powerful as Franklin because they always seemed to be "never lose" stories. I'm 100% with this theory. It fit so PERFECTLY with the different writers creative ides and changes. For the first time I'm a Franklin Richards fan!

Great now idk if I should blame the writers or Franklin for Peter’s struggles

If only Franklin was there before Peter's uncle and girlfriend Gwen Stacy were killed.

Franklin truly is the universe’s secret Avenger. Or Pre-venger?

@0:15 Does anyone else think in the panel where Franklin yells "RISE!" to Galactus that his mouth looks like it was put there by Robot Chicken?

Thanks for the video, man

I used to have the issue where he was conceived. However, it also explains the way the mutants fight die rebirth just to fight all over again through Moira because it guarantees that Franklin will be reborn everytime.

If marvel is ever financially in a position where they have to drastically cut back the amount of books they are releasing come or completely change the manner in which they release... Then this is the story where they can reboot the entire universe into the 8th existence I believe, not sure on the number, and rebuild everything from square One.

Franklin Richards is my favorite marvel comic book character ever.

I think it would be pretty cool if they wrote the comic book based on that concept. And habit playing toward the way of Franklin unconsciously bringing people back to life during his dreams

Dude we need Franklin in the MCU to FIX EVERYTHING!

Who is more powerful between Franklin Richard or Scarlett witch?

I swear the fans can have better ideas than the actual writers

The story is a metacommentary on the nature of imagination. Children use imagination to look for the final possibilities of any given situation, and work their way backward from there. They see a desired outcome, and fill in the blanks to find the happiest and most exciting way to get to that destination. That's how comic book writers are able to find a target audience of highly imaginative people. The industry is paid for by those imaginative people, and worked on by imaginative people.

Stan Lee would be proud of this theory. It's a really really cool idea. The only problem is, what would it take to get out of a sticky situation in this scenario... Something horrible happens and Franklin doesn't know what is going to happen. Before the year is up, the end of the universe is about to happen. Would they just bring 'adult franklin back' or adopt a "Franklin was Dreaming the last 60 years of Comics" scenario, and things go back to the way they were.

When I take a look at all the pieces, I see Franklin controlling the universe making sense. Being the true Unseen of the universe

Great video as always! Quick side note: I was super into the video until 11:10 when that comic cover popped up with the cock-eyed Thor which absolutely jolted me so hard my brain almost got whiplash.

Truly Excellent Theory Rob!!!

FRANKLACTUS 😂

The internet has killed that shot of Franklin for me. Bloody sick of seeing it.

I've been a supporter of this theory for a long time..& now it makes even MORE sense..👑 Keep up the good work brother 👑

So this is like St. Elsewhere. All a fever dream in a child's imagination.

You can never have too much Franklin Richards. You know you were going to make this video no matter what we said yesterday 🤣 Please do a DC top 20 characters power hierarchy!

Spider-Man is always mistaken for being a mutant, Franklin looks up to spider-man, Franklin makes himself into a mutant

Imagine, if Franklin Richard was secretly the one above all, and he was infinitely more powerful than anybody in the Marvel universe, like he could make the marquee of death cease to exist with the snap of his fingers, or if he was to grow into the one above all like right now as a child, he’s not that powerful. He’s not the one above all yet, but eventually he becomes the one above all.

Thanks. Put together really well. Makes a whole lot of sense the way you explained it, too.

You might be a better detective than Batman. Love the theory.

It sounds very accurate. No one seems to age, everyone keeps finding some way to come back and the only reason why it's not obvious could only be because he's fixing everything unconsciously, no different than not needing to think about our heart beating for it to continuously do so. What writer would destroy a reality that they get to create and live in. I've written stories like that myself, no way am I killing off characters that I created.

This makes so much sense. There's always equivalent creators of the comic universe written in and childhood wonder is a great take on that perspective. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are immortalized as adult characters and god-like beings, so why wouldn't a child character? We have references to comic creators all across media and medium, so why not in the thing they helped create?

I love of OP Franklin Richards and David Haller are, best characters imo

somethings just can't be adapted, the hit to the feels would be pure emotions

Certainly explains all the issue #1 and retelling of hero origins.

No wonder why Sinister is obsessed with Franklin from the Onslaught Saga

We need a giant company wide crossover where Franklin is a villain.

Standing ovation with the slow clap for this one, you have outdone yourself!

I like to reframe this idea in the sense that Doctor Doom Knows Franklin is just reseting death all the time and thats the reason for his zainy plans that maybe just someday One will work, it fully explains why doom is fearless and gets frustrated when his plans are foiled cause he now has to personally attempt a Baxter Building raid and make it look like a Doombot explosion.

thank you for this video!!!!

Needs more Black Bolt, Rob.

At this point Marvel has made this boy so damn powerful he might as well be the one running the show behind the scenes.

Fun theory by the fans, for sure. And I appreciate a Rob video on a sunny Sunday.

As a Franklin Richards fan, I agree.

Within this context, it wouldn't be a stretch to believe that Franklin is the human avatar of the One Above All. It would the OAA equivalent of VR goggles. Take that with the Immortal Hulk establishing the direct line of gamma radiation to the OAA, making the versions of the Hulks throughout history the avatars of his rage. That being said, whoever writes that story will have their hands full.

I have a theory.. Franklin Richards is Important to the stories of the black winter,carnage, Thanos and the black infinity gauntlet but just a theory I'm speculating. I do hope I am correct.

I believe that it said that Johnny Storm actually did die in the Negative Zone against Annihilus's army. Annihilus just revived him or something like that. Or am I wrong? Can someone explain that to me?

Franklin Richards get's one shotted by Black Bolt.

I know I have seen a video on YT where there was a young girl who was doing what Franklin was doing, resetting the Marvel Universe. Wish I could remember her name.

Gotta admit, it makes him seem like a comic fan. I like that, almost makes him like one of us.

Alright rob another great video!

David Lister lets Franklin do these things so the kid doesn't have to worry about his family.

S/o to Rob for making go buy another comic, I saw FF #18 but didn’t know what to expect. Now I’m absolutely buying it

Then did Franklin create Miles "Spider-Man" , to have a Black Uncle?

Wow! I would love for the MCU eventually build up to that.