Avengers: Doomsday is about three months away, but 2027’s immediate follow-up Avengers: Secret Wars is currently filming in England and will feature another big ensemble. While the full cast has yet to be revealed (presumably to avoid spoiling any possible casualties in Doomsday), one newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe jin Secret Wars is Quiet Place actor Noah Jupe, who Deadline reports will play a “key” role in the upcoming film.
Just who Jupe is playing in the movie is under wraps at the moment, and Marvel had no comment for Deadline when it reached out. However, Marvel fans spend their time speculating like it’s a full time job, and many comic book faithful are theorizing the actor may be playing an aged up version of Franklin Richards, the son of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
Franklin debuted in Fantastic Four: First Steps as an infant, and even before he was actually born, villain Galactus wanted the heroes to give him up in exchange for sparing Earth. Comic book fans will know that Galactus had a good reason to offer that trade. At his peak power, Franklin is able to warp reality itself, and we only get the briefest look at his abilities in the movie when he revives his mother after the film’s climactic fight. In the post-credits scene, we see Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr., also taking an interest in the little guy when he’s only four years old.
Given that the Secret Wars comic is about the multiverse being completely reconstructed, it would make sense that Doctor Doom would already be focusing his attention on a hero with powers like Franklin’s. Jupe could believably play the son of Pedro Pascal’s Mister Fantastic, so the theory that he’s playing an aged up Franklin checks out. However, that’s not the only theory fans are running with right now.
The Beyonder, an all-powerful entity and antagonistic force in both the Secret Wars comics, is capable of rewriting the universe to his whims. Since the Secret Wars movie is supposed to build off of Doomsday, I would be surprised if Jupe usurped Downey Jr. as the big bad, but given the Beyonder’s role in Secret Wars’ namesake, it’s entirely possible he shows up as the true threat underneath Doctor Doom’s plot.
If either of those theories are correct, Jupe is about to bring a game-changing character to life on screen. We may have a better sense of who he might be playing when Doomsday premieres on December 18.