The MCU’s Newest Character Actually Gave Marvel the Worst Avengers Comics Ever

Fantastic Four: First Steps is now in theaters, and audiences around the world are being introduced to Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. Franklin might be new to the MCU, but the character has been an incredibly important part of the Marvel Universe going back several decades. Franklin has played an integral role in several big comic stories, including the excellent Fantastic Four Versus the X-Men. However, Franklin has also been involved in some pretty bad stories, and he actually served as the catalyst for one of the very worst moments in the history of the Avengers franchise.

The year was 1996, and Marvel Comics was not in a great place. While Spider-Man and the X-Men had become household names thanks to the cartoons on Fox, the Avengers and Fantastic Four books were struggling to find new readers, and an overall relevance in popular culture. It doesn’t help that many of the characters had become nigh-unrecognizable, with Tony Stark replaced by a teenage counterpart, and Janet Van Dyne turned into a mutated Wasp. Desperate to do something new and fresh with the books, Marvel decided to farm out the Avengers and Fantastic Four comics to the studios of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. As a result, Captain America, Iron Man, Avengers, and Fantastic Four were all relaunched, with a major new direction.

Several years before the launch of the Ultimate Universe, these reboots were essentially giving the characters fresh starts that reimagined the stories of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and more. This wasn’t just an alternate reality though, as Marvel opted to write the characters out of the 616 universe. As is often the case with major status quo changes in comics, this one came about thanks to a major crossover. In this case, the villain Onslaught threatened the Marvel Universe, in a storyline that spun out from the X-Men books. The story ended with the Avengers and Fantastic Four committing the ultimate sacrifice to save their world. At least, that’s what their fellow heroes thought had happened. Instead, Franklin Richards used his incredible reality controlling powers to save his world’s heroes, sending them over to a “pocket universe,” where they would remain for the next year.

Unfortunately, the Heroes Reborn initiative ended up being a huge flop with fans. Jim Lee’s Fantastic Four featured stunning art, but the relaunched Avengers and Captain America books both left a lot to be desired. Liefeld’s art for his two books became the stuff of memes years before social media even existed, and the stories themselves weren’t any better. Rather than drawing in new audiences like they were meant to, the books actively turned people away, especially Captain America readers that had been enjoying the acclaimed run by Mark Waid and Ron Garney. Marvel even decided to end Liefeld’s contract early following low sales.

While Heroes Reborn was nothing short of a disaster, the initiative did lead to some very big positives for the Avengers franchise, and Marvel in general. Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley used the absence of the Avengers as a motivation for the Masters of Evil to become the original incarnation of the Thunderbolts. The whole premise of that series hinged on the Marvel Universe being desperate for publicly adored heroes, unlike the ones that were left behind after Onslaught, like Spider-Man and the X-Men. Out of all the things to come out of the Heroes Reborn era, the existence of the Thunderbolts might have been the best.

Eventually, Heroes Reborn came to an end, with Franklin Richards helping the Fantastic Four and the Avengers return to their rightful reality. Heroes Reborn might have been a mess, but the writers of the Heroes Return initiative used the opportunity to fix many of the problems that necessitated the reboot in the first place. When the heroes returned from their time in a different reality, the original version of Tony Stark was back (rather than the teen version), Janet was no longer a mutated Wasp, and the writers of each book looked to bring back the core elements that had been missing for so long. Mark Waid got a chance to come back to Captain America, along with Garney and Andy Kubert. As for the team itself, Busiek relaunched Avengers with a new #1, alongside beloved artist George Perez. The result was an award-winning run on the book that still stands as an all-time classic.

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Though Heroes Reborn stands best left forgotten, it will be interesting to see if the MCU makes an attempt to tell that same storyline but with the benefit of hindsight. Franklin’s incredible powers seem to be making him a big target for villains in the MCU, and with Avengers: Doomsday clearly building to something big spanning multiple universes, it’s possible Franklin might need to use his powers to save a whole bunch of heroes once again. It wouldn’t be the first time the MCU has handled a largely reviled storyline (Spider-Man: No Way Home loosely adapted One More Day), and hopefully the end result once more proves better than the source material.

Did you ever get a chance to read any of the Heroes Reborn comics? Do you think we’ll see elements of that tale adapted in Avengers: Doomsday? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!