A new rumor claims that the upcoming Fantastic Four film from director Matt Shakman will feature a female herald of Galactus.
This latest rumor comes from MyTimeToShineHello. The scooper states, “Galactus’ herald in the MCU Fantastic Four reboot will be a woman.”
This rumor is not unheard of. Back in 2019, Mikey Sutton shared with The Cosmic Wonder YouTube channel that the Fantastic Four film would introduce Frankie Raye aka Nova.
The gist of the rumor is that Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch is in love, and he’s in love with Frankie Raye aka Nova, the former Herald of Galactus.
The Cosmic Wonder explained, “According to Mikey Sutton and his sources the man on fire is in love. Johnny Storm has fallen for a new girl. A gorgeous redhead known as Frankie Raye.”
He continued, “According to Mikey, one of the priorities for Marvel Studios when they debut the Fantastic Four into the MCU is to flesh out the characters in the ways that Fox didn’t do.”
To this end The Cosmic Wonder stated, “The scoop goes on to say that there are several decades of comic books that Marvel Studios will pull from. They are thinking of building up Raye as Johnny’s dream girl. His Mary Jane if you will. The Fantastic Four is still in early development, but Raye is on their radar. After the Silver Surfer is introduced as the Herald of Galactus, it is a job that Norrin Radd doesn’t have for long.”
He goes on to detail that Silver Surfer and Galactus will be introduced to the MCU. However, the Silver Surfer won’t remain the Herald of Galactus. In fact, Frankie Raye will replace Norrin Radd as the Herald of Galactus adapting John Byrne’s Fantastic Four comics in the 80s.
The Cosmic Wonder concluded, “Marvel Studios wants to make her soar as a cosmic power, one that could provide a challenge even for Captain Marvel.”
Sutton would also post the full scoop to Facebook.
It reads, “Johnny Storm has fallen for a new girl, a gorgeous redhead named Frankie Raye. One of the priorities for Marvel Studios when they debut the Fantastic Four into the MCU is to flesh out the characters in ways that Fox didn’t do. And there are several decades of comic books that Marvel Studios will pull from. They’re thinking of building up Raye as Johnny’s dream girl; his Mary Jane, if you will.”
“The Fantastic Four is still early in development but Raye is on their radar. After the Silver Surfer is introduced as the herald of Galactus, it is a job that Norrin Radd doesn’t have for long. But who will take his place? And there lies the tragedy of Johnny’s love for Raye as she becomes Galactus’ new herald, just like she did in John Byrne’s classic ’80s FF comics. Raye appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but Marvel Studios wants to make her soar as a cosmic power, one that could provide a challenge for even Captain Marvel,” the scoop concludes.
For those unfamiliar with Frankie Raye, she was created by Roy Thomas and George Perez and first appeared in Fantastic Four #164 back in 1975.
She was originally an interpreter for the United Nations before she became Johnny Storm’s girlfriend despite having a fear of fire.
However, they would quickly break up. The two would reconcile and begin dating again with Raye discovering that her fear of fire was actually a mental block created by her stepfather Phineas Horton, the creator of the original Human Torch. Horton placed the block in order to prevent Frankie from discovering her fire powers.
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After discovering her powers, Raye would aid the Fantastic Four before becoming the herald of Galactus and taking the name Nova.
In fact, Raye would lead Galactus to planets that were known enemies of the Fantastic Four and Earth. She would lead Galactus to the Skrull Throne world, whereupon he consumed it.
Raye would eventually be killed by her successor as the Herald of Galactus, Morg.
What do you make of this latest rumor? Do you think this is further confirmation that they are pursuing Frankie Raye as the herald of Galactus or could this be another gender swap?
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