Avengers: Doomsday Confirmed to Feature 2 of the MCU's Most Powerful Children

Avengers: Doomsday arrives on December 18 with a roster of heavy hitters, legacy heroes, and multiversal stakes that dwarf anything the MCU has attempted since Endgame. Aside from the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four, two of the film's most important characters haven't even hit puberty. They are children, one a newborn with the power to make and unmake reality, the other a young girl whose safety becomes the God of Thunder's entire reason to fight.

Franklin Richards, the infant son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, was introduced in The Fantastic Four: First Steps as a figure of terrifying cosmic importance. Before he could walk or speak, he possessed immense power that caught the attention of Doctor Doom, who appeared in the film's mid-credits scene, kneeling before the child in shadow, mask in hand. Love, meanwhile, is Thor's adopted daughter, introduced in Thor: Love and Thunder and now confirmed to play a central role in Doomsday. But just how much of a direct impact will these two kids have on the film's plot? 

Avengers: Doomsday Will Feature Two Powerful Kids

Franklin Richards 

Franklin Richards is, potentially, the most dangerous being the MCU has ever introduced, and he is still a toddler. During The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Galactus confirmed that Franklin carries the Power Cosmic, the same cosmic force that gives the world-devourer his godlike abilities. While Reed and Sue were overwhelmed in the film's climax, Franklin instinctively placed his hands on his dying mother and brought her back to life. No character in the MCU's history casually demonstrated that level of power at that age.

The mid-credits scene, set four years after those events, crystallizes exactly why Doom cannot leave that power untouched. Sue steps away from her son for a moment, and when she returns, a figure in a green hood is already kneeling before the boy. It is Doctor Doom, mask removed, face hidden in shadow, with Franklin reaching out to touch him.

According to a report from insider MyTimeToShineHello, Doom's fixation on Franklin goes beyond the obvious appeal of his power. Franklin apparently reminds Doom of his own son, a detail that suggests a tale of tragedy and loss for the villain. In the comics, Doctor Doom's closest equivalent to a son is Kristoff Vernard, a Latverian orphan he adopts and eventually sends on a mission that ends with the boy's death.

In terms of what Franklin's power could mean for Doom's plan, the possibilities are staggering. In the comics, Franklin Richards is the character who helps rebuild the entire multiverse after Doctor Doom, wielding the stolen power of the Beyonders, destroys it during Secret Wars. He is capable of creating pocket universes from pure imagination and, across decades of Marvel history, served as the ultimate cosmic reset button. If the MCU's Doomsday is building toward a similar endgame, Franklin is the key to whatever Doom is actually trying to construct.

Love

Love entered the MCU at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder as one of its most quietly affecting moments. She is the biological daughter of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a man whose grief over her death turned him into a universe-spanning killer. Gorr's final act, after Thor and Jane Foster stopped his rampage, was to use the power of Eternity to resurrect his daughter, then die moments later, leaving the girl in Thor's care. It was a small scene, but it reframed everything that came before it. Gorr's evil was born from love for his child. That love ultimately outlasted his hatred.

Played by Chris Hemsworth's real-life daughter, India Rose Hemsworth, Love will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, and the film's second teaser makes clear she is at the center of Thor's emotional journey. The clip shows Hemsworth's God of Thunder in a forest, kneeling and praying to Odin for the power of the Allfathers, not for just victory, but for the strength to survive and return to his daughter. 

The tonal change from Thor: Love and Thunder could not be more deliberate. That film was widely criticized for undercutting its own emotional stakes with comedy, leaving fans frustrated that even its most serious moments, Gorr's tragedy, Jane Foster's death, never fully landed. In Doomsday, the same character who was dancing and joking through an alien world is now on his knees in the dirt, begging to see his daughter again. That is a fundamentally different Thor, and Love is the reason why.

What makes this version of Thor especially potent is the specificity of his motivation. Previous Avengers films gave Thor tragedy: the death of his mother, his father, his brother, and the destruction of Asgard. All of it was enormous, and all of it, ironically, made it harder to feel. 

However, Love came along and gave the God of Thunder his biggest motivation yet, which makes her impact on the film's plot monumental. The best version of Thor the MCU ever saw may come when he is at his most afraid of losing something he cannot replace.