So....... Franklin's a mutant again?

[Doom'nGloom]

Tom Brevoort : "My memory of this, David, is that it’s something that we came up with together, though it’s quite likely that I was the one who suggested it when the question came up. And that’s likely a reflection of when I started reading the books. You see, for the first decade-plus of his existence as a character, Franklin wasn’t ever referred to as a mutant at all. Rather, his powers were clearly a result of his parents having been altered by cosmic rays (plus the additional factor of the energy from Annihilus’ Cosmic Control Rod that was necessary to ensure a safe birthing process.) Consequently, Franklin’s powers manifested almost immediately, whereas mutants (at least up to that point) typically began to display their powers in puberty. It wasn’t until the “Days of Future Past” storyline in UNCANNY X-MEN where an older Franklin was among the survivors in the dystopian future that people began to consider him a mutant. Thanks to its popularity, X-MEN tends to swallow up a lot of unrelated characters and concepts—Longshot and his cast, Captain Britain and his cast, etc. But especially with the rise of Krakoa and the change in the status of mutants worldwide, that presented some challenges to us on the Fantastic Four front. Specifically, we didn’t think it made sense for Franklin to relocate to Krakoa, nor for him to be exempt from the laws of regular humans in the way the assorted X-Men characters were. So when the opportunity presented itself to separate church and state came up, we took it. I didn’t really view it as anything other that reasserting the original status quo, but clearly some readers of a more recent vintage assigned it greater importance than that. But as I said at the start, that’s kind of the luck of the draw. Somebody’s got to wear the black hat, after all."

I kinda have a headcanon for this. Franklin was originally meant to be a low level matter and/or energy manipulator, not an omega level reality manipulator if his parents weren't blasted by cosmic rays. His reality manipulation doesn't actually come from his x-gene but rather the cosmic energy his body generates and stores over time due to his cells being mutated by cosmic radiation. I think this would neatly explain why he becomes less powerful the more he overexerts himself. Once he is fully depleted he's a regular mutant with matter and/or energy manipulation and from there his powers grow as more time passes. This would also explain why his powers fluctuate so much throughout his publication history. Oh, and it would also explain why older Franklin needed younger Franklin's power to revive Galactus in Hickman's run as Franklin isn't all powerful at any given point in time but grows more powerful with each passing moment. So kinda omega but not really.

[Chris0013]

Tom Brevoort (both the current FF editor and the next X-Men editor) talked about the reasoning behind this controversial change on his newsletter :

https://tombrevoort.substack.com/p/9...es-without-any

Did they ever in the past before DoFP say that Franklin WASN'T a mutant? If so then as soon as they said he was that should have been taken as gospel. And like I have said before if they didn't want Franklin tied to Krakoa give him a reason to not want to go there any more.

Breevoort's comments just come off like "blah blah blah...we just felt like it and screw continuity and your feelings."

Once something is on paper (in story not handbook entries making assumptions) then it should be editorially enforced as cold, hard fact. It is like the nonsense with Toro. He was clearly stated in stories to be a mutant...then they came along with the Inhuman push and just changed it for 'reasons'

I kinda have a headcanon for this. Franklin was originally meant to be a low level matter and/or energy manipulator, not an omega level reality manipulator if his parents weren't blasted by cosmic rays. His reality manipulation doesn't actually come from his x-gene but rather the cosmic energy his body generates and stores over time due to his cells being mutated by cosmic radiation. I think this would neatly explain why he becomes less powerful the more he overexerts himself. Once he is fully depleted he's a regular mutant with matter and/or energy manipulation and from there his powers grow as more time passes. This would also explain why his powers fluctuate so much throughout his publication history.

That is in line with what I think he should be portrayed as. At this point he has lower level energy powers...but when boosted by either building up over time (a long time) or outside influence (absorbing a massive amount of eneregy) he can get up to reality altering capabilities. And how much he can manipulate is based on how much energy he absorbs.

[Chris0013]

deleted/deleted

[Doom'nGloom]

That is in line with what I think he should be portrayed as. At this point he has lower level energy powers...but when boosted by either building up over time (a long time) or outside influence (absorbing a massive amount of eneregy) he can get up to reality altering capabilities. And how much he can manipulate is based on how much energy he absorbs.

Yeah, this change should make him easier to use in stories instead of writers coming up with bs reasons for why he can't use his powers at the moment.

[Ra-El]

I think Brevoort have a point, the X-Men franchise tend to take over characters from other offices, at least as far as the fans are concerned.

Franklin is a FF character, and the writer of that book shouldn't have to follow what the writer of X-Men does just because he was a mutant, and they usually don't have to, unless there's some great status quo change like Decimation or Krakoa. But if the writer of FF don't want or can't adapt to the new mutant status quo fans get upset, so I understand why they would just take that out of the equation.

Same reason why cross-franchise pairings don't work. Like when DC put Superman and Wonder Woman together, the Superman editorial team liked the idea and she would show up on his books all the time, but Azzarello clearly wasn't a fan of the idea, he apparently was building up a WW/Orion relationship that was cut, and SUperman wasn't even mentioned in the Wonder Woman comics.

Hell, just look at Black Panther, the last writers from that book makes it look like T'Challa and Storm are destined to be together and she is the love of his life, cut to the X-Men comics and Storm is completely over him.

Sometimes is better to just cut ties and move on, if turning Franklin into a mutate instead of a mutant is what it takes, then do it.

[charliehustle415]

excuse my ignorance but other than Days of Future Past, when in the 616 continuity was the first time that Franklin was referred to as an Omega Level Mutant?

[LordAllMIghty]

excuse my ignorance but other than Days of Future Past, when in the 616 continuity was the first time that Franklin was referred to as an Omega Level Mutant?

Semi-recently during the start of the Krakoa era.

[charliehustle415]

Semi-recently during the start of the Krakoa era.

what!? that recently? dang I thought it was in the 90's or 2000's

[Doom'nGloom]

what!? that recently? dang I thought it was in the 90's or 2000's

I believe it was HOX #1 in a data page.

[LordAllMIghty]

what!? that recently? dang I thought it was in the 90's or 2000's

Yeah, he was even on Krakoa learning mutant music and chilling with other mutants.

[charliehustle415]

Yeah, he was even on Krakoa learning mutant music and chilling with other mutants.

dang, I honestly thought he has been Omega since at least the early 2000's

I guess that takes a little of the sting out of Slott's selfishness with the character; I still don't like it, but it stings a little less

[Rift]

No, he's been referred to as an Omega much earlier. I know some material from tcalled him a Beyond Omega level threat, and sometime around M-Day he was called an Omega.

EDIT: Had to look on the Wiki for the exact book, but it's that X-Men: 198 catalogue.



Another edit: Hickman backing it up in FF #13

[Chris0013]

excuse my ignorance but other than Days of Future Past, when in the 616 continuity was the first time that Franklin was referred to as an Omega Level Mutant?

There was an issue of X-Factor Vol1 that i believe it was mentioned in.

Edit...it is actually in Power Pack #36 from 1984. I mixed it up with the X-Factor series as they both involve Master Mold. He is not said to be Omega Level...but it is implied...

[Doom'nGloom]

Omega level as a term has been thrown around a lot for a lot of mutants. I believe at one point even Emma Frost was called an omega but it was Hickman's list in HoX #1 that put the whole thing to rest, well.... for the most part. And then we were introduced to the Arakkii which also have a bunch of omegas.

[charliehustle415]

No, he's been referred to as an Omega much earlier. I know some material from tcalled him a Beyond Omega level threat, and sometime around M-Day he was called an Omega.

EDIT: Had to look on the Wiki for the exact book, but it's that X-Men: 198 catalogue.



Another edit: Hickman backing it up in FF #13

ohh way back during Hickman's FF and X-Men: The 198, thanks Rifty!