Did Doctor Strange 2 Just Confirm This Superpowered Duo For The MCU?
The following article contains spoilers for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."
The multiverse is a perilous place. With an infinite number of realities out there, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) spend the bulk of their interdimensional journey in a reality that contains pizza balls as well as the slightly more important Illuminati. Here, Doctor Strange meets alternate versions of Earth's mightiest heroes, including Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch). However, the most intriguing addition to the Illuminati that was bound to make viewers stand up and cheer is the inclusion of Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic (John Krasinski).
Sadly, the Illuminati isn't long for this world, as Wanda dream walks into an alternate version of herself and quickly dispatches these heroes. However, before that happens, she delivers one of the coldest lines in any Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date. When Reed Richards tells Wanda that he knows how she feels because he, too, has children, she asks if their mother is still around. When he responds, "Yes," she tells him that's good because there will be someone to watch them once he's gone.
However, Reed's answer is more than just a throwaway line. He may have just introduced a couple of powerful heroes into this multiverse.
Could Reed Richards' kids be Franklin and Valeria?
It's important to point out that the Reed Richards we meet in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" isn't from the MCU universe we all know and love, namely Universe-616. He's from an alternate reality, so it's highly unlikely we'll meet this version's children unless America and Doctor Strange decide to pay this universe a visit in the future. However, Reed's interaction with Wanda could provide a glimpse into 616-Reed.
It's possible the Reed Richards we'll meet in the "Fantastic Four" movie coming down the pipeline will have kids of his own someday, and audiences should already get familiar with his children from the comics, namely Franklin and Valeria. Both are the children of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman. Franklin possesses reality warping capabilities, and at one point in the comics, he was responsible for restoring the multiverse after its collapse due to an incursion. Meanwhile, Valeria holds a genius-level intellect, and occasionally, it's been mentioned in the comics how she's even more intelligent than Reed, who's supposed to be the smartest person in the world.
Franklin and Valeria adopt the monikers of Powerhouse and Brainstorm, respectively, and become valuable team members alongside their superpowered parents. To be fair, Reed never mentions his kids' names, so we can't say definitively if he was, in fact, referring to Franklin and Valeria. We just know that he has at least a couple of children out there he'll never get to see again. Regardless, it's a fun Easter egg and hopefully gives us a sign of things to come in the 616-Universe.