This is really answered by the second Rashi in the parsha: אין המקרא הזה אומר אלא דרשני - the the purpose of this verse is the Drasha. Yes, it has a way to read it in plain meaning, but its phrasing is awkwardly constructed and superfluous precisely because its primary purpose is not the plain meaning.
Even at the simple level, it is understood that there are deeper levels to the Torah. It is just not something that is explained at the plain level. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe elaborates on this concept in the Sicha referenced here, where drash is even more prominent).
That is to satisfy Rashi. If you want a different approach in Pshat in these pesukim, you can look at the Rashbam. The Rashbam says that the purpose of the creation story is to justify what it says in the Ten Commandments - that Heaven and Earth were created in 7 days. What he says is that the existence of the earth preceded these 7 days by an indeterminate amount of time, but the purpose is to describe that aspect of creation about which it can be said "כִּי שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהֹוָה אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ אֶת הַיָּם וְאֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי". So here the verse has to orient that this represents the beginning of creation vis-a-vis these seven days, so the heavens and the earth have to be specifically called out.
Really, you can't pass by (even in the plain meaning) the fact that without this verse, the implication would be that the heavens and earth were not created, rather G-d came along and formed from existing materials ח"ו.