The Richards Family: Marvel's First Family, Doom's Greatest Obsession, and the Secret Wars That Tore Them Apart
Reed and Sue Richards built Marvel's greatest family — then Doctor Doom stole it. From Fantastic Four #1 to Secret Wars' Battleworld, here's the complete history with comic proof and Doomsday implications.
Card Market Impact
Fantastic Four family cards from Topps Finest FF (2025) are surging as the Doom/Richards rivalry takes center stage in Avengers: Doomsday marketing materials.
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Before there were Avengers, before there were X-Men, there was a family. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm didn't just become superheroes when they were bombarded by cosmic rays in Fantastic Four #1 (1961). They became Marvel's founding dynasty — a family whose bonds would be tested by cosmic threats, interdimensional wars, and one man's obsessive need to destroy everything they built.
That man is Victor Von Doom. And in Avengers: Doomsday, his obsession with the Richards family is about to become the MCU's central conflict.
"he doesn't just want omnipotence. He wants Reed's family."
The Foundation: How the Richards Family Was Built
The Fantastic Four were revolutionary because they weren't a team — they were a family. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created something unprecedented: superheroes who bickered at the dinner table, who had a brother-in-law who set himself on fire, who had a best friend made of orange rock living in the guest room.
Key Comic: Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961) — The origin. Reed convinces his fiancée Sue, her brother Johnny, and his best friend Ben to steal a rocket. Cosmic rays transform them. They don't form a team. They form a family.
The marriage of Reed and Sue in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965) cemented this. Every villain in Marvel attacked the wedding — but it was Doctor Doom's absence that spoke loudest. He was already planning something worse than disruption.
Franklin Richards: The Most Powerful Being in Marvel
Reed and Sue's firstborn, Franklin Richards, is arguably the most powerful character in all of Marvel Comics. First appearing in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968), Franklin's mutant abilities allow him to warp reality itself.
Key Comic: Fantastic Four #604 (2012) by Jonathan Hickman — Adult Franklin Richards is confirmed as a universal-level threat, capable of creating pocket universes. His power is so vast that Celestials consider him an equal.
Key Comic: Fantastic Four #574 (2010) — Young Franklin creates a universe in his bedroom. Reed realizes his son's power exceeds anything he can measure.
This matters for Doom because Franklin's power is exactly what Doom covets. On Battleworld, Doom didn't just take Sue — he took Franklin's power as his own weapon.
Valeria Richards: The Daughter Doom Delivered
Here's where it gets deeply personal. In Fantastic Four #54 (2002) by Mark Waid, Sue's second pregnancy goes catastrophically wrong. Reed can't save her. The only person with the combined scientific and mystical knowledge to deliver the baby safely is Victor Von Doom.
Doom saves Valeria's life. In exchange, Sue names her daughter after Doom's first love — Valeria, the woman Doom sacrificed to demons for power. This creates a bond between Doom and Valeria that persists across decades of comics. Doom genuinely cares for Valeria in a way he cares for almost no one else.
Key Comic: Fantastic Four #54 (2002) — Doom delivers Valeria. The naming. The debt.
Key Comic: FF #1-5 (2011) — Valeria secretly works with Doom, recognizing his intellect as equal to her father's.
Market Signal
Fantastic Four family cards from Topps Finest FF (2025) are surging as the Doom/Richards rivalry takes center stage in Avengers: Doomsday marketing materials.
The Alternate Reality: Doctor Doom's Marriage to Sue Storm
This is the storyline that will define Avengers: Doomsday. In Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars (2015), the multiverse collapses. Every universe is destroyed. From the wreckage, Doctor Doom — using the power of the Beyonders channeled through Molecule Man — creates Battleworld, a patchwork planet stitched together from fragments of dead realities.
And Doom makes himself God.
But here's what reveals Doom's true nature: he doesn't just want omnipotence. He wants Reed's family.
Key Comic: Secret Wars (2015) #2 — "The big reveal of this issue is of God Emperor Doom himself, with his wife, Susan Von Doom, and their children, Franklin and Valeria. For Doom, it wasn't enough to be omnipotent. He had to claim the wife and children of his greatest enemy as well."
Sue Storm becomes "Susan Von Doom." Franklin and Valeria are raised believing Doom is their father. Reed Richards is erased from history. This isn't a What If scenario — this was Marvel's main continuity for months.
Key Comic: Secret Wars (2015) #6 — Valeria begins to suspect the truth about her "father." Her genius-level intellect — inherited from both Reed and nurtured by Doom — becomes the crack in Doom's perfect world.
Key Comic: Secret Wars (2015) #8 — Franklin, serving as Doom's herald, kills Ben Grimm (The Thing). Ben refuses to fight his former nephew. This is the darkest moment in Fantastic Four history.
Key Comic: Secret Wars (2015) #9 — The final confrontation. Reed Richards faces Doom. In a moment of devastating honesty, Doom admits: "You think you could have done better?" Reed's answer: "Yes." Molecule Man agrees, transfers the cosmic power to Reed, and Doom's world crumbles. Reed reunites with Sue and the children. He even restores Doom's scarred face — offering his enemy a chance at redemption.
Why This Matters for Avengers: Doomsday
Robert Downey Jr. is playing Doctor Doom. Vanessa Kirby is Sue Storm. Pedro Pascal is Reed Richards. The casting alone tells you where this is going.
The Doom/Reed/Sue triangle from Secret Wars is the emotional engine of the next two Avengers films. Doom doesn't want to destroy the world — he wants to replace Reed Richards. He wants the family, the respect, the love. And when he can't earn it, he'll take it by force.
Fan theories suggest RDJ's Doom may come from an alternate universe where he was married to Sue Storm — a Battleworld variant who lost everything and now wants to rebuild his "family" using the MCU's versions. That's pure Hickman.
Collector's Corner
The Richards family is the hottest collecting category heading into Doomsday. Cards showing the family together — not just individual heroes — carry significant premiums.
Hot Cards to Watch:
- Fantastic Four Family Topps Finest FF (2025) Refractor — Full family portrait, limited print run
- Sue Storm Invisible Woman Topps Chrome Marvel (2024) Gold /50 — Key character for Doomsday plot
- Franklin Richards Topps Comic Book Heroes Insert — Omega-level power = Omega-level demand
- Doctor Doom vs Reed Richards Dual Panel Topps Finest FF (2025) — The rivalry card collectors are hunting
Track prices on TCGPlayer for current market values. Use Card Ladder to monitor how each Doomsday trailer moves FF card prices. Check eBay sold listings for real transaction data.
Explore our Fantastic Four character pages for complete collecting guides, or browse the NLF card database for available inventory.
The Richards family built the Marvel Universe. Doom wants to tear it apart. Your collection should reflect both sides of that story.
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