Franklin Storm was married to Mary Storm and was the father of Susan (The future Invisible Woman)and Johnny Storm (The future Human Torch), who in the future would become world famous explorers and heroes.
Franklin loved his family very much. He was a noted and famous surgeon who lived happily with his family until tragedy struck. While driving with his with wife, Mary, their car was struck and Mary was fatally wounded. Unable to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, Franklin turned to alcohol to dumb his pain. Eventually he became quite a gambler, losing his practice, and living day to day to drink and gamble.
Due to his destructive habit, he eventually came upon a loan shark. He and the loan shark had a few words and eventually had a scuffle which resulted in Franklin murdering the loan shark by accident. He was sentenced to prison and thus was forced to leave Sue and Johnny, who were later taken to their aunt to care for them.
He remained in jail for several years, asking Sue not to visit him and to tell Johnny that he was dead. Eventually, he heard of the exploits of his children. He was proud of them and hoped to redeem himself for his past transgressions. He eventually escaped from prison and performed an emergency surgery to save his daughter’s life, who was teetering between the brink of life and death after a deadly explosion occurred, during one of the Fantastic Four’s battles against the Moleman. He was incarcerated again shortly after that.
Months later he would encounter the Super Skrull, who wished to used Franklin in his plans to destroy the Fantastic Four. So he made it seem that Franklin had escaped yet again and set a trap to finally kill the Fantastic Four. Before the team could be cornered and killed Franklin valiantly stepped in the middle of the trap, thus saving the lives of his son and daughter.
As he lay dying, Franklin was able to pass on with the knowledge that he had helped the Fantastic Four and redeemed himself in the eyes of his children. As a means to always remember her father, when Susan Storm Richards gave birth to her first child with Reed, they decided to name him Franklin Benjamin Richards, as a memorial and honor to both her father who lost his life saving the team, and to Benjamin J. Grimm who was a part of the family and Franklin’s godfather.
In Other Media
Film
The Fantastic Four (2015)
Franklin Storm will appear in The Fantastic Four, portrayed by Reg E. Cathey. This version of Franklin will be African-American.