Are Franklin and Valeria Richards mutants or Inhumans?

[Mr_E_88]

I've never cared for the mutant origin for Franklin. It just doesn't fit right.
I'd have preferred his powers came from his parents being mutates, making him a second generation mutate.

At least it gave a reason for his powers, because it made no sense how he can be this powerful when his parents couldn't do any of the things he could.

So I'm much more relaxed that I know he is a mutant, as it provided an reason for his powers.

[Noek]

Have they ever been exposed to Terrigen? It would have no effect on baseline humans and mutates. Consider the new Inhumans like Kamala. Her parents don't have powers, but one of them must have the Inhuman gene - they just didn't get any powers because they haven't been exposed to Terrigen. You can be an Inhuman and not know it.

At one point, Luna Maximoff not having powers would've proved that anyone who has a mutant child (which would include Reed and Sue) can't be an Inhuman - the Inhuman and X genes cancel each other out, making offspring normal baseline humans (a survival mechanism, since we know Terrigen is toxic to mutants). However, then Luna's father Quicksilver was retconned to not be a mutant.

Not true, since Luna went through Terrigenesis before the Quick Silver Mutant retcon. So I guess the retcon allows this to happen

We also have had Inhumans with powers before Terrigensis like Quake through her fathers experimantal body, as Ahura was able to use Telepathy while still in the Womb, and had acess to a number abilities as well.

[CaptCleghorn]

I've never cared for the mutant origin for Franklin. It just doesn't fit right.
I'd have preferred his powers came from his parents being mutates, making him a second generation mutate.

Early stories of the X-Men's (O5) origins had some of their parents affected by radiation and that was the cause of their mutation. The FF affected by cosmic rays certainly could have been similar. I can accept Franklin's mutant abilies as being the result of his parents being affected by cosmic rays, but not the effect the cosmic rays had on them.

[Oberon]

with parents like Reed and Susan can her intellect really be described as natural?

I think Xaviar or other mutants would know if Valeria was a mutant. Franklin is consistently said to be a mutant, for decades even, but as a very Omega or at times, he sort of eclipses the general premise of mutants. He is a mutant, mostly because he must have an X gene, but from a character point of view and given his origins and characterization he sort of plays more to the Fantastic Four kind of view of high powered individuals.

[DrNewGod]

Franklin should be a mutant, but he's never brought up in many scenarios involving mutants. I think his mutant status was only mentioned once recently when Cyclops tried to recruit him.

They definitely can't be inhumans since they never went through terrigenesis.

No. Terrigenesis has no more to do with being Inhuman than circumcision does with being an Israeli Sabra.

The latter is a condition of racial heritage. The former is a matter of parental decision (or more rarely, personal choice).

For example, Karnak never underwent Terrigenesis. He was never presented as anything other than Inhuman.

[JudicatorPrime]

Early stories of the X-Men's (O5) origins had some of their parents affected by radiation and that was the cause of their mutation. The FF affected by cosmic rays certainly could have been similar. I can accept Franklin's mutant abilies as being the result of his parents being affected by cosmic rays, but not the effect the cosmic rays had on them.

The biggest misunderstanding about mutants is that the parents must have superhuman abilities in order for the child to be a mutant. That's simply not how genetics work. Franklin would be a mutant whether Reed and Sue had powers or not. If the Richards never had their biology mutated by cosmic energy, Franklin still would have been born with the X-gene dominant. The key factor here is that both Reed and Sue carried the X-gene. It was simply recessive and not expressed. That said, it is possible that Reed's and Sue's mutations did help determine how powerful a mutant Franklin would eventually become. His powers are exponentially greater as a manifestation of mutant and mutate concomitant factors.

As for Valeria, a mutate coupling more often than not produces mutate offspring. Valeria may not have been a mutant, but she should be a mutate. Something about her, whether its her intellect or her physiology should be superhuman. But she's young enough that perhaps the mutation simply hasn't surfaced yet. Kind of like how a person's genetic potential for baldness or gray hair doesn't express itself until later in life.

[Digifiend]

That alternate version of her I mentioned, should actually be the same character as the one we know. In Fantastic Four vol 3 #49, it's revealed that Franklin had originally saved the miscarried Valeria by sending her to an alternate universe. At the end of that issue reality altered and that version of Val was gone, and Sue was pregnant - Val had been de-aged back to a fetus. She gave birth to her five issues later. Perhaps either Franklin or Doctor Doom, who was involved in delivering the baby, suppressed her non-human genetics? It's definitely not out of Franklin's scope, note how the age gap between him and Val shrunk when they were both aged up at the start of the current run - he's clearly been either de-aging himself or accelerating Val's aging to make her closer to his own age - and the age she should be if she was born when she was originally miscarried.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four_Vol_3_49
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four_Vol_3_54

[Ravin' Ray]

Val obviously has exposure to magic via Doom, Nicholas Scratch, and Diablo. But should she be a spellcaster? Not for me. I don't want her to be the magical counterpart to the psionically-powered Franklin (sidebar: in D&D 3E and 3.5E I strongly favored psionics over magic), but she should at least be magically aware and can sense the use of magic, and have knowledge of the fundamentals. At any rate I do think she is also genetically enhanced, just not as a mutant.

I'd like to see a scene where Agatha Harkness brings together her former ward and pupil, Franklin and Wanda, and then realize that Val is magic sensitive and takes an interest in her too.

[Mike_Murdock]

I've never cared for the mutant origin for Franklin. It just doesn't fit right.
I'd have preferred his powers came from his parents being mutates, making him a second generation mutate.

When Franklin was originally called a mutant, the mutant/mutate distinction wasn't really firm. I suspect he was called a mutant because he was born with the potential of his powers (as opposed to getting it through an accident) and that this potential was likely caused by the exposure of radiation of his parents.

[CaptCleghorn]

The biggest misunderstanding about mutants is that the parents must have superhuman abilities in order for the child to be a mutant. That's simply not how genetics work. Franklin would be a mutant whether Reed and Sue had powers or not. If the Richards never had their biology mutated by cosmic energy, Franklin still would have been born with the X-gene dominant. The key factor here is that both Reed and Sue carried the X-gene. It was simply recessive and not expressed. That said, it is possible that Reed's and Sue's mutations did help determine how powerful a mutant Franklin would eventually become. His powers are exponentially greater as a manifestation of mutant and mutate concomitant factors.

As for Valeria, a mutate coupling more often than not produces mutate offspring. Valeria may not have been a mutant, but she should be a mutate. Something about her, whether its her intellect or her physiology should be superhuman. But she's young enough that perhaps the mutation simply hasn't surfaced yet. Kind of like how a person's genetic potential for baldness or gray hair doesn't express itself until later in life.

My noting the original X-Men stories was about radiation without powers. Now if Marvel has shifted to mutant gene being the sole cause of mutants, then the radiation aspect from the sixties is retconned. Still, when considering Franklin, his having a mutant gene as well as two powered parents, plus the cosmic control rod stuff at his birth may all add to the power levels Franklin is capable of.

[Triniking1234]

I've never cared for the mutant origin for Franklin. It just doesn't fit right.
I'd have preferred his powers came from his parents being mutates, making him a second generation mutate.

That was the original take until Bryne made him an X-gene mutant.

[shooshoomanjoe]

[zinderel]

Oh man...I remember that! Even as a kid, it provoked such a visceral response...

[Celgress]

Franklin is a mutant, I would think. Valeria is simply super smart, so, more or less a "normal" human.

[Oberon]

I don't recall where it was established that one could have an X gene but not be a mutant, the idea that both Reed and Sue carry this X -gene, expressed earlier.

I can't recall anyone saying that both Reed and Sue had this? Anyone?

Mutants are born with an X gene, no matter when it activates.