I Can’t Believe The MCU Is Set To Introduce 2 Of Its Most Powerful Characters In The Same Year & Yet It’s Unlikely We’ll See Either Of Their Full Powers

I can"t believe two of Marvel"s more powerful characters are 2025 additions to the MCU, and that despite this, it"s not looking like the full extent of ether of their respective abilities will be demonstrated until much later. The MCU timeline is no stranger to bringing powerful Marvel characters to the big screen, with the likes of the Hulk and Thor being some of the earliest additions to its hero roster. However, due to the natural complications of introducing some of Marvel"s more powerful characters into a world wherein power balancing is so key, it still seemed possible several figures might never appear.
2025 has already proved concerns about one such immensely powerful Marvel character wrong with their place in the Thunderbolts* cast, and another is set to appear in the MCU movie that releases directly after Thunderbolts* in the MCU"s release schedule. With that said, the setups for both of these figures mean that it doesn"t look like either of them will have gotten to show their full powers by the time the year is done, for better or for worse.
The MCU Has Already Brought One Of Marvel's Most Powerful Comics Characters Into The Franchise & Seems Set To Debut Another Close The MCU"s most powerful recent character acquisition is naturally that of Sentry, who is one of the more notably powerful Marvel heroes in the comics, to the point that much of Sentry"s strife arguably comes from just how immense his abilities are, and the major detriments that come with said powers, mainly in the form of The Void acting as a "balance" of sorts for all the good deeds that Sentry does. Thunderbolts* depicts a version of the character who seems very similar to his comic counterpart, and thus a major addition to the MCU roster as a result.
Similarly, the story of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has set up the arrival of more than just Galactus when it comes to Marvel"s most powerful comic characters. After months of theories, a trailer for the upcoming MCU movie revealed that Sue Storm will be pregnant in the film"s story, with her unborn child seeming to be Franklin Richards if the MCU follows the comics, since Franklin is her firstborn child there.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps debuts on July 25, 2025, just over two months after Thunderbolts*" release in May.
Franklin"s mind-boggling reality-warping powers are responsible for a wide array of staggering feats in Marvel"s comics - including rewriting several aspects of the universe with relative ease - and much like Sentry, his primary issue often comes from working out the "right way" to utilize his abilities, versus facing challenges with them. This makes both characters fascinating for the MCU to explore not just for their striking power levels, but also because they open up interesting new story avenues that subvert the conventional superhero narrative in more than one way.
Sentry's Powers Weren't Fully Shown In Thunderbolts*, & Franklin Richards' Powers Seem Unlikely To Be Shown In The Fantastic Four: First Steps Close Interestingly, though Sentry and Franklin"s respective MCU setups are both exciting for the franchise, neither appears to place their respective characters in a position where they can truly show off the full extent of their powers from the offset. While Sentry"s MCU debut certainly underlines how strong he is in the movie by having him show off a portion of it in his fight with the Thunderbolts, the fact Sentry barely even breaks a sweat seems to suggest he"s only using a small amount of his strength.
After neutralizing the team as a threat, the character seems content to leave things at that, and indeed even turns on Valentina when she tries to get him to show off more of his abilities by having him kill the group where the press can see how powerful the new hero is. Thunderbolts* then focuses on how even this brief show of strength was enough to unleash the Void and trap a chunk of New York in its horrifying alternate dimension, underlining why Sentry"s powers should only be used exceedingly sparingly, and why Bob refuses to use them in the final Thunderbolts* post-credits scene.
Though we can"t know for sure until the movie releases, it also seems like we won"t be able to see the full extent of Franklin"s powers in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as it appears he won"t have even been born yet for at least a portion of the movie"s story. It"s certainly possible that Franklin Richards is born in the story of First Steps, but even then, it seems borderline impossible for the MCU to show a newborn Franklin using the full extent of his powers, meaning it appears that neither of the immensely powerful 2025 characters will have demonstrated their full power levels quite yet.
The MCU's Debut Approaches Do Make The Future Look More Exciting, Even If It Comes At A Cost Close Though the fact that it doesn"t appear that either Sentry or Franklin Richards will be shown at full capacity in the MCU"s 2025 releases may seem like an initial shame, it"s not necessarily a bad thing when looking at the bigger picture for the franchise. Thunderbolts* does a solid job of building hype for Bob"s confirmed appearance in Avengers: Doomsday, since the prospect of seeing Doctor Doom and Sentry face off against one another is all the more of a tense scenario when we haven"t yet seen just how far Sentry"s powers can in fact go.
Similarly, since it"s likely the Fantastic Four will get a long-term focal story in the MCU following their introductions in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Franklin Richards" seeming debut doesn"t need to provide his entire character arc and journey with his powers at once. Indeed, with the characters" powers being so larger-than-life, setting them up steadily may be for the best for the franchise - or at least making a story that allows some time for the mystery of Franklin"s powers to be teased and built up before fully unveiling them.
With the Multiverse Saga set to end in two years" time, establishing plotlines that the MCU could continue to expand on after this chapter of its story comes to a conclusion makes a lot of sense - as even if the theory that Avengers: Secret Wars brings a soft reboot to the franchise comes true, some narrative threads will no doubt remain consistent. With this in mind, setting these two characters up while teasing that the full extent of their abilities hasn"t been seen yet may be the wisest approach for the MCU and its long-term plans.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Created by Kevin Feige First Film Iron Man Upcoming Films Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Blade (2025), The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avengers: Doomsday (2026), Avengers: Secret Wars First TV Show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Upcoming TV Shows Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Ironheart, Daredevil: Born Again, Wakanda, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Marvel Zombies, Wonder Man, Vision Quest Cast Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton, Paul Rudd, Tom Holland, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Brie Larson, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Simu Liu, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Ma Dong-seok, Brian Tyree Henry, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Lia McHugh, Jonathan Majors
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