Fantastic Four 245, VF/NM

st appearance of Avatar (Aspect of Franklin Richards)


"Childhood's End"

Franklin Richards changes himself into an adult body, but maintains his young brain. He no longer recognizes the Fantastic Four and quickly defeats Reed, Johnny, and Ben. Sue Storm also confronts this menace, at first not knowing that it is her child. Eventually, Sue recognizes this man to be her child and Franklin realizes who he is. Franklin restores himself to his child body noting that he does not have the mental maturity to harness his awesome mutant power.


NOTE: In this issue, Franklin Richards reverts Ben Grimm back into his more rock-like appearance (which is the usual way his Cosmic Ray mutation has normally been portrayed). It is also revealed that inherently Grimm does not want to be reverted back to his human state. He fears that if this happened Alicia Masters would no longer care for him.