FRANKLIN STORM
Real Name: Franklin Storm
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Surgeon
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Mary Storm
Enemies: Morrat, Super-Skrull (Kl'rt), unidentified loan shark
Known Relatives: Mary Storm (wife; deceased), Johnny Storm (son), Susan Storm (daughter), Reed Richards (son-in-law), Franklin Richards (grandson), Valeria Richards (granddaughter)
Aliases: Believed to be Invincible Man
Base of Operations: Formerly Glenville, Long
Island, New York
later State Prison, New York State
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#31 (October, 1964)
Powers/Abilities: Having no paranormal physical powers, Franklin Storm had the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and weight who engaged in moderate exercise.
Highly skilled in medical procedures, Storm was one of America's foremost surgeons.
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 205 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond; later gray
History:
(Fantastic Four I#32 (fb) / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Deluxe#20) - The past of Franklin Storm is largely unrevealed, but he
eventually became one of the greatest surgeons in the United States. At
some point, he wed his wife Mary, and fathered two children -- first,
his daughter Susan, then later, his son Jonathan ("Johnny").
One evening, Dr. Storm and his wife were invited to a Medical Society dinner that was being held in his honor -- both of his children were quite proud of him.
But while driving to the dinner, one of his car's tires suffered a blowout -- Storm lost control and got into a horrible crash, severely injuring Mary. Uninjured himself, Franklin performed drastic surgery on his wife, but there was nothing he could do, for she died on the operating table. Sinking into a deep depression because he blamed himself for Mary's death, Franklin gave up his medical career and began to waste his life away with excessive gambling.
Eventually, Storm's gambling losses took everything from him, and he had to borrow money from an underworld loan shark. When the loan shark came to collect, Franklin was forced to defend himself, and during the struggle, the loan shark inadvertently shot himself; but Franklin ended up being convicted of manslaughter anyway, as he simply wouldn't say anything to defend himself in court. Hoping to spare his children the pain and indignity of having a father in jail, Franklin told Sue to stop visiting him, and to tell Johnny that he had died.
While he served his 20 year prison sentence, Franklin's son and daughter became the super-powered adventurers known as the Human Torch and the Invisible Girl, members of the world-famous Fantastic Four.
(Fantastic Four I#31) - Around the same time as an assault on the city by the Mole Man, Franklin Storm was able to escape his cell. During the ensuing battle between the Mole Man and the Fantastic Four, the Invisible Girl was hit by a piece of flying shrapnel from an explosion that critically injured her. Learning that his daughter lay on her deathbed from the injury, Dr. Storm emerged from hiding and went to the hospital to perform surgery on Sue, saving her life. After Sue recovered from the operation, she and Johnny enjoyed a brief reunion with their father before he was placed under arrest and taken back to prison.
(Fantastic Four I#32) - One night, while he was sitting in his prison cell, Dr. Storm was confronted by the Super-Skrull, who used his shape-shifting ability to disguise himself as the famous doctor; the real Storm was then teleported away to the Skrull throneworld in the Andromeda Galaxy, where he was held captive.
The next morning, when Sue and Johnny went to the prison during visiting hours, they discovered that their "father" was somehow empowered with fantastic abilities. Using these powers, "Dr. Storm" easily escaped from prison again, then took on the identity of the Invincible Man and battled all of the Fantastic Four; the heroic quartet was hampered from aggressively using the full extent of their powers, because they believed their enemy to be the real Franklin Storm, and didn't want to injure him.
But Mr. Fantastic eventually figured out that the Invincible Man was actually the Super-Skrull, then defeated and captured the alien. Using his Ultra-Sonic Radio Transmitter, Mr. Fantastic contacted the Skrull throneworld and arranged for a prisoner swap -- the Super-Skrull for Dr. Storm -- and he even threatened to use his Atomic Space-Displacer against them if they didn't comply.
Forced to cooperate, the aliens teleported the Super-Skrull back home, but Warlord Morrat came up with an idea -- Franklin was returned to Earth, but as a Trojan Horse, for he had a concussive energy beam projector strapped to his chest.
When Franklin appeared on Earth, his two children were overjoyed to see him, and they rushed to his side; but he yelled for them to get away, then fell to the floor and took the full blast of the device himself.
As he died, Franklin Storm told his son
and daughter that he loved them, and that they made him very proud; with
his final words he told Johnny and Sue that he finally wouldn't be
lonely anymore, as he was going to join his beloved Mary.
(Fantastic Four III#510 (fb) - BTS) - Following his death,
Franklin arrived in the afterlife, where he was reunited with his wife.
(Fantastic Four I#94 - BTS) - Susan Storm, now married to Reed Richards, named her son Franklin Richards, in memory of her dead father (see comments).
(Fantastic Four III#509) - Many years later, after the Thing had been slain during a battle with Dr. Doom, Mr. Fantastic searched for some way to revive his friend. As he delved into researching the afterlife, he was reminded of Doom's "Necrophone" and built a new model, correcting the flaw that existed in Doom's version. Contacting the Invisible Woman and Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic told them that he proposed to use the machine to enter the afterlife, find Ben Grimm's spirit, and return to Earth. The two agreed to his plan and joined him on the voyage to Heaven.
(Fantastic Four III#510) - After arriving in Heaven, the trio shared a brief reunion with Franklin and Mary Storm before continuing on with their search for Ben.
Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby, and Chic "Magnet" Stone (inker)
Franklin Storm appeared in the second season of the 1994 Fantastic Four cartoon, on an episode which appeared to be sort of a retelling of Fantastic Four I#32 and #37.
As pointed out by Snood, Franklin Richards' naming took quite a while, as his first appearance was in Fantastic Four Annual I#6, which took place between Fantastic Four I#80-81, and he remained nameless until Fantastic Four I#94! Talk about indecisive.
Profile by Zerostar. Update by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Franklin Storm has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20, p3 (Main
Image - Franklin Storm)
Fantastic Four I#32, p7, pan3 (Headshot - Franklin Storm in prison cell)
Fantastic Four I#32, p8, pan2 (in earlier years, Franklin Storm, Mary
Storm, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm)
Fantastic Four I#32, p19, pan5 (returned Franklin Storm, warning his
children to stay away)
Fantastic Four I#32, p20, pan2 (dying Franklin Storm, after taking full
brunt of explosive device strapped to his chest)
Fantastic Four III#510, p14, pan1 (in Heaven, Franklin and
Mary Storm with Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, and Human Torch)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#31 (October, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack
Kirby (pencils), Chic Stone (inks) Stan Goldberg (colors), Sam Rosen
(letters)
Fantastic Four I#32 (November, 1964) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack
Kirby (pencils), Chic Stone (inks) Stan Goldberg (colors), Sam Rosen
(letters)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#20 (February,
1988) - Tom Morgan (artist), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Fantastic Four III#510 (April,
2004) - Mark Waid (writer), Mike Wieringo (penciler), Karl Kesel
(inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 02/16/2004
Last updated: 08/01/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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