A brand-new sneak peek at a scene from The Fantastic Four: First Steps tells audiences exactly why Galactus has chosen to threaten Earth, and it isn't pretty. Galactus is known throughout the Marvel Universe for his unceasing hunger, which he satiates by siphoning planets of their life force. It's also been long confirmed that First Steps will feature the birth of Reed and Sue's first child, Franklin Richards, and it now seems that their son is connected to the Devourer of Worlds' primary goal.
In the new clip shared on social media, the scene in question shows the Fantastic Four (FF) giving a press conference in the Baxter Building's lobby, where Reed Richards explains the terrible truth to the press. The Four stand before New York City's media and confess that they did not defeat Galactus on their space flight. Reed Richards offers a grim update and confirms Galactus' true motivations: "We attempted to negotiate, but Galactus... he asked too high a price. He asked for our child:"
The reporters begin to panic when one asks Dr. Richards point blank, "Are we safe?" And Reed Richards, smartest man in the world, looks him dead in the eye, his own eyes filled with a deep fear, and replies, "I don't know."
In comics canon, Franklin Richards is born with immense abilities that seem to stretch beyond all knowable limits. This sort of power would likely be of great prize to Galactus, perhaps to better enable the entity to feed his voracious cosmic appetite.
The full clip from First Steps can be seen below:
From Marvel Studios and director Matt Shakman comes The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The feature film will see the legendary First Family step onto the big screen like never before. Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby lead the cast as Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Joining them are Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, both breakout players on Stranger Things and The Bear, respectively. Filling out the rest of the call sheet are Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal, plus Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles, and John Malkovich in yet to be announced roles. First Steps hits theaters on Friday, July 25.
Why Would Galactus Want Franklin Richards?
Although Franklin Richards will be a baby in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it is presumed that his impossible powers are already apparent in him. Galactus could sense this unfathomable strength from elsewhere in the universe, ascertained that the source was but a child, and figured that Baby Franklin would be ripe for the picking.
But what Galactus wishes to wield the Richards' newborn offspring for is unknown. It could be that even a force as potent as Galactus would fail to tap into or harness the reality-violating potential locked within Franklin's genetics.
Galactus has haunted the Marvel Universe since time immemorial as a specter of certain death for any planet to become a blip on his radar. He could become all the more lethal with Franklin Richards on his side.
The Marvel Comics universe has a defined hierarchy of power levels, starting at normal humans, all the way up to the One Above All, an omniscient, omnipotent deity capable of anything and everything. While Franklin Richards is on the fringes of that kind of capacity, the boy packs one seriously powerful punch. Case in point, one comic story saw Franklin warp the fabric of existence so sharply that Galactus answered to him. The MCU often dials down its more overpowered heroes, an act fans call "nerfing." Still, the franchise is not without its heavy hitters.
Thor withstood the full blast of a dying star. Carol Danvers went toe to toe with Thanos and managed to put the Mad Titan against the ropes. And although the status of her existence is presently ambivalent, Wanda Maximoff has been said to possess a "destiny to destroy the world,” with her magical abilities only growing with each MCU appearance.
Going up on the power scale, there's Bob Reynolds. When he lets loose the Sentry or the Void, he is capable of bending his environment to his whims and cannot be stopped under conventional circumstances. Reynolds is only constrained by his lack of stability with his own mental health.
Celestials seed worlds throughout the cosmos in order to procreate. Peter Quill's father, Ego, nearly consumed every planet he ever set foot on all at once. And Gorr was able to restore his deceased daughter to full life by imploring the altar of Eternity.
Franklin Richards may have the might to dwarf most, if not all, of these beings. In other portrayals, can rewrite reality with a thought, will himself through the time stream to travel to the future or the past, and manipulate physical matter into any form he desires.
Such an endless cosmic vigor would be an extremely versatile tool if Franklin were able to be controlled, for either passionate good or unthinkable malevolence. Galactus is often positioned somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. He needs to sustain himself, and his only viable nourishment comes in the form of planets.
If Galactus were to get his gigantic mitts on Sue and Reed's son, even in Franklin's infantile state, the universal implications could be cataclysmically bleak. Hopefully, for the fate of Earth-828 and beyond, the Fantastic Four are able to subdue their greatest adversary yet.
