Galactus

Origin

Galactus is the only survivor of the universe that existed before the Big Bang. He was born billions of years ago on the planet Taa. Taa was a paradise world, the most technologically advanced in all the universe. Galan (Galactus) was born during the last years of his universe, just as the Big Bang, which created the current universe, was approaching. As a scientist, Galan was able to inform his people of the impending doom to not only Taa but the universe itself. The very atoms of the universe were changing, and they watched as civilizations died.

Soon, residents of Taa began dying of radiation poisoning, and even their advanced skills could not stop it. He persuaded some crewmen to fly along with himself in a space vessel into the terminal point of the universe as a last act of heroism for his people. Everyone on the ship died but himself, and a cosmic being calling itself the Sentience of the Universe appeared, telling Galan they both must die. The being combined with Galan and became part of the new universe as a cosmic egg.

Galactus was created, along with his starship and the embodiments of Death and Eternity. He stayed within his starship, dormant, for billions of years. A Watcher found the ship and thought it to be interesting. He then brought it down out of a planet’s orbit, thus breaking his oath of non-interference. He awoke the incredibly powerful entity on-board. Having one chance to destroy it but not wishing to interfere further, the Watcher allowed the entity to live.

Upon awakening, Galactus learned to control his power, creating a unique bodysuit to help regulate his formidable energies. His ship became an incubation chamber, and Galactus stayed there for several hundred years longer. The ship eventually fell into orbit over Archeopia, and the residents dared not tamper with it. During a space war, his ship was fired upon, and Galactus was awakened again, his incubation complete. This was the first time Galactus fed upon the energy of a planet. The survivors of this planet who escaped became known as the Wanderers.

Galactus gazed upon the ruin he had caused, knowing he had the power of creation as well as annihilation. He began to reconstruct the world, taking millennia to finish it. When completed, it was enormous, so enormous that planets orbited it as though it were a sun. The world-ship became Galactus’s home, and he named it Taa II.

At this time, Galactus could go centuries before needing to feed again. He started by feeding only upon the energies of uninhabited worlds. Soon, his hunger grew more quickly, and the time between feedings became shorter. At first, Galactus felt much guilt for his destruction. Eventually, though, he stopped worrying about feeding only upon uninhabited worlds as he felt he was above other beings.

When he came across Death and Eternity, it was believed that Galactus served as the balance between the two forces.

Creation

Galactus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Galactus made his first comic book appearance in the Fantastic Four #48.

Character Evolution

First Creations of Galactus

Galactus created for himself companionship in the form of Tyrant, a being equal in size and almost equal in strength. But while Galactus took only what he needed to survive, Tyrant had the urge to conquer and dominate. When Galactus learned of this, he reduced Tyrant’s size and power and banished him to the edges of the universe in a battle that destroyed untold galaxies.

Galactus’ first attempt at finding new worlds to devour was a self-replicating program known as the Cosmos Automation Program. This was a data-loop that would travel to distant planets and prepare them for his consumption. The program sought out great minds of a world to create an artificial life form that would absorb cosmic energies and destroy the defenses of the world in preparation for Galactus.

After thirty millennia, several worlds found a way to manipulate the creation and use it in their defense, so he abandoned the program. The Cosmos Automation Program did reach Earth and was compelled by the Mad Thinker to make a cosmic powered robot of the Hulk.

Galactus soon decided it would be more efficient to have others search out the worlds with compatible energies rather than seek them out himself. The first Herald of Galactus, the Fallen One, was created with dark energy. This Herald didn’t work out so well due to its corrupt nature. He was forced to imprison the Fallen One at the edge of the universe. For some time after that, he retired the idea of a herald.

The Silver Surfer

When Galactus was about to feed upon the planet Zenn-La, it was Norrin Radd, a native of the planet, that persuaded Galactus to spare his world in exchange for his service. Galactus empowered Norrin with his own Power Cosmic and surpressed his morals to prevent inhabited planets from being overlooked. Thus the Silver Surfer was born.

Sometime after arriving upon planet Earth, a woman named Alicia Masters was able to unlock the Silver Surfer’s morality and compassion. He then chose to stand up against Galactus along with the Fantastic Four. With the help of Uatu, they were able to obtain a weapon of incredible power known as the Ultimate Nullifier. Standing down in defeat, Galactus decided to bind the Silver Surfer to Earth as punishment for his betrayal. Galactus surrounded the Earth with a Force Field barrier of some kind which prevented the Silver Surfer (only) from leaving the Earth past a certain distance. He could no longer could he surf the vast reaches of space. He spent several years bound to Earth in this way.

Due to Norrin Radd breaking his oath/promise, Galactus returned to Zenn-La, where in a rare moment of kindness offered it’s inhabitants 24 hours to leave the planet. Galactus consumed Zenn-La’s biospheric energies, leaving the planet a dead husk.

Galactus continued to feed upon worlds and created other heralds to assist him. It is Galactus’ belief that he is beyond the scope of being good or evil. He truly believes that he serves a purpose in the universe and will eventually give more back than he has taken.

New Heralds of Galactus

Galactus chose Gabriel Lan as his next herald, thus creating the Air-Walker. When Galactus traveled into Ovoid space they attacked him to protect their world and subsequently killed his new herald. Galactus then transferred Gabriel’s consciousness into an android body and sent it to Earth in an attempt to regain the Silver Surfer as his herald. The Surfer destroyed the android and with the help of the Fantastic Four, turned Galactus away once again.

Having chased his friend Gabriel across the universe, Pyreus Kril then met Galactus. He agreed to be the next herald and was dubbed Firelord. Originally, Firelord blamed the Silver Surfer for what had happened to his friend, claiming that if the Surfer had never disobeyed Galactus that Gabriel would not be dead.

Firelord served as herald for a time but, after an agreement with Thor, offered the Destroyer as his replacement. Galactus accepted. The Destroyer was merely temporary though, as he then chose Tyros to replace it, making him Terrax the Terrible. In exchange for the Fantastic Four securing Tyros for him, Galactus agreed to defeat the Sphinx. In addition as part of the bargain was that Earth would belong to Galactus. After defeating the Sphinx, Mr. Fantastic (with the help of the Watcher) tricked Galactus into believing Reed had made an Ultimate Nullifier. Galactus left Earth, but his original deal to spare the Earth was revoked and he claimed he would one day return and devourer the planet once and for all.

Terrax eventually fled from Galactus. Galactus then found the unique powers of the mutant known as Dazzler useful in obtaining his herald from his hiding place within a black hole. With Terrax back as his herald once more, Galactus attempted to quell his hunger on Galador – the home of the Spaceknights. Rom made a deal to spare Galador in exchange for the energies of the Dark Nebula. Once there, Galactus learned he could not feed on Wraithworld or it’s black sun. Still honoring his bargain, he spared Galador and moved it across the galaxy to spare it from the Dark Nebula’s pull – and to hide it from the Spaceknights as spite for their trickery.

Terrax proved too ambitious and rebelled. Galactus exhausted nearly all of his power following Terrax across the universe. Terrax fled to Earth and rose Manhattan up into space, holding it and its inhabitants hostage, threatening to kill everyone in the city unless the Fantastic Four defeated Galactus for him. Galactus easily returned the island and removed Terrax’s cosmic power from him. But this brought Galactus to unsafe power levels and he needed to feed, choosing the planet he was currently on – Earth. The Fantastic Four along with the Avengers and Doctor Strange were able to defeat Galactus in his low energy state, causing him to begin shrinking.

Realizing that Galactus was about to die, Reed Richards and Captain America decided that they could not allow that despite his actions. Reed constructed a machine that recycled Galactus’ energy and restored him, but he still did not have the energy to reach the nearest suitable planet. It seemed they were back where they started until a friend of the FF’s, Frankie Raye, appeared and offered to become his newest herald. Although he didn’t have enough energy to make her a powerful herald, he did touch her mind and give her cosmic powers to help her with her new duties. She would come to be known as Nova.

Nova was then captured by the Skrulls, who tried to use her as a bargaining chip to make Galactus destroy enemy Kree worlds for them. Galactus could have easily rescued her, but my have destroyed her in the process. At the same time, the Silver Surfer had managed to escape the barrier of Earth and made a deal with Galactus. In exchange for saving Nova, Galactus allowed the Surfer to remain free of Earth and pardoned him for his rebellion.

Assassination Plot

The Elders of the Universe had formulated a plan to kill Galactus and restart the universe, making themselves Galactus-like beings. They gathered together the Infinity Gems and used them against Galactus, nearly draining him of his life force. He was saved by the Silver Surfer and Nova. Nova created a black hole into another dimension and many of the elders were trapped in it. Galactus absorbed the energies of the supernova and consumed the remaining elders as punishment. But due to the elders deal with Death, they remained alive and attacked Galactus from the inside again bringing him close to death’s door.

He called for the Silver Surfer to help him once again. He told the Surfer that the only ones who could help him were Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. The Surfer retrieved them and they traveled through the black hole to obtain the Infinity Gems. But the plot thickened, the Elders residing within the black hole had formed an alliance with the In-Betweener. The Elders and the In-Betweener escaped the black hole and attacked Galactus. The In-Betweener did not come through on his end of the bargain though and instead sent Galactus into his dimension so that the In-Betweener could rule in this one.

The Silver Surfer pleaded to the rulers of this dimension, Lord Chaos and Master Order and they removed the elders from Galactus and restored his strength. Mr. Fantastic arranged their escape. Back in their dimension, Galactus defeated the In-Betweener with the assistance of the Elders, the Surfer, Nova, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.

Infinity Gauntlet

During the Infinity Gauntlet event, the evil Thanos collected the Infinity Gems and became a threat to Galactus and the universe itself.

Thanos‘ anger and frustration was awesome in force. The psychic wave of power rose from the stellar monument of love and washed out into the ether. The first heavenly body that encountered the wave was a 20,000,000 year old red giant star. Every law of nature revolted against this Jewel’s continued existence. Its end was breathtaking. Yet it was but one of many that will fall before the wrath of Thanos, who with the Infinity Gauntlet, was the supreme being of the universe and reality.

A planet Galactus was about to consume crumbled beneath the Titan’s rage. This was the second banquet of which Thanos had cheated Galactus. Galactus realized that even his staggering might was nothing compared to the near infinite power that Thanos now wielded. But Galactus harbored no plans to turn tail and run.

Galactus is a being of power and intellect. Plans must be conceived and alliances formed. Only then may he savor the cold feast of vengeance.

The readings on Thanos’ destructive psychic emanations were astounding. The wave devastated nearly a quarter of the galaxy. It was at only 2% of its peak strength when it hit the Earth.

Galactus then met with the other cosmic abstract beings and joined forces with Adam Warlock against Thanos. At first Galactus had objections to allowing a mortal to lead them but when the other cosmic beings agreed, he did as well. This contingent of cosmic entities challenged Thanos’ might. The conflict was more than this fragile reality could bear. However, this attack failed and Thanos destroyed the cosmic defenders and usurped Eternity, becoming reality itself.

Thanos lost the gauntlet to Nebula who also made quick work of the cosmic entities, but she was much less experienced with the gauntlet and Adam Warlock managed to take it from her grasp.

Infinity War

Galactus had sensed the next cosmic event known as the Infinity War under the despotic Magus. Galactus required a mage to assist him and sought out Doctor Strange, dispatching Nova ahead of him. Upon his arrival, Galactus blocked himself from the view of the citizens of New York City. When Strange refused to assist him because Galactus would not answer his questions, Galactus began destroying the city to show that he was not asking. With the continuing destruction and no hope of victory, Strange reluctantly agreed, but requested that the Silver Surfer assist as well. Together they determined the source of the energy fluctuations Galactus had sensed and tracked down their origin.

With Doctor Strange attached to his ship, they were able to navigate through dimensions and follow the source. Believing they would arrive before his plan was complete, the Magus destroyed the ship, but Galactus was able to reform it with his incredible power. They arrived a few dimensions short of Magus, precisely where he had intended. They came upon Earth’s heroes battling Thanos and the Infinity Watch. Galactus stopped the battle and Adam Warlock brought the Infinity Gems together to use as a weapon against the Magus, but they didn’t work; this was the doing of the Living Tribunal. Galactus took Gamora to meet with the Tribunal and persuade it to restore the gems power.

The Tribunal could not re-power the gems without the consent of Eternity, who was in a catatonic state. Galactus uses Gamora as a tool to awaken Eternity who then restores the gems powers. Unfortunately, by that time the Magus had obtained the gauntlet and shortly after Galactus realizes his error. Galactus then destroys all of the evil doppelgangers of Earth’s heroes.

Fortunately, Thanos and Warlock tricked Magus, the gauntlet only containing a copy of the Reality Gem. Without all the gems, Magus was defeated.

The Herald Ordeal

Nova and her sudden lack of loyalty had become bothersome to Galactus. She had begun lying in order to save innocent lives, which matters not to Galactus. To teach her a lesson, he takes her to a planet to witness it’s destruction. He then comes across an executioner that has the qualities he desires – ruthlessness, fearlessness and obedience. He frees Nova of his service and creates a new herald, to rival even to the Silver Surfer’s power – Morg. Morg’s first duty is to rid Galactus of an unwanted guest, the Silver Surfer.

The Surfer vowed to stop Morg at all costs. He was too bloodthirsty and unworthy of becoming a herald. He recruited Firelord and Nova to assist him. Together they resurrected Air-Walker, who was able to locate Galactus. Before they went into battle they sought one more – Terrax. After battling him they agreed to free him from his imprisonment if he assisted. They retrieved his axe from where the Surfer left it and headed to face Morg.

When they arrived, Morg proved too powerful for all of them. Terrax suggests that the only one who can stop Morg is Galactus, so it’s left to the Silver Surfer to attempt to convince him. He pleaded with Galactus, telling him Morg was too evil and even if they are all destroyed others will follow for eternity. Galactus agreed that he must be undisturbed in order to survive. By the time they arrived at the battle, Air-Walker was severely damaged, Firelord and Terrax wounded; Morg then killed Nova. This angered Galactus who removed his cosmic power from him. Firelord and Air-Walker agreed to be Galactus’ temporary heralds afterward.

Return of Tyrant

For More Information: Silver Surfer

Galactus hid the fact from his new Heralds, Firelord and Air-Walker, that he was secretly resurrecting Morg. He had plans for Morg and sent him after Terrax to retake his axe, which was a part of him. In the process, he and Terrax were captured by Galactus’ former servant, Tyrant. When Morg did not return, Galactus sought him out and traced him to Tyrant’s Fortress. Galactus demands the release of his herald, instead they recreate their age old battle and cause massive amounts of damage to the universe. Galactus gives in to the demands of Tyrant, and allows him to keep Morg. He states that he will deal with Tyrant when the time is right.

When Morg escapes from Tyrant, he immediately returns to Galactus, killing his herald Air Walker and severely injuring Firelord. Galactus tells Morg to finish Firelord but he is stopped by the Silver Surfer. The Surfer defeats Morg and offers a deal to Galactus. Although Galactus need not make deals with any being, he agrees so he does not have to deal with the annoyance of the Surfer. He revives Air Walker and Firelord. Air Walker is downloaded to essentially become Galactus’ ship while Firelord is released from his position.

Tyrant had known that he eventually he had to meet with Galactus again. He now knew that the time had come for a final battle between the two of them. Every time Galactus fed on the biospheric energies of a planet, Tyrant grew weaker. Galactus too always knew this time would come. Tyrant arrived on Galactus’ ship and they began their final confrontation. Galactus attempted to integrate Tyrant into his ship, but Tyrant had control over technology and escaped. Tyrant then used the ship to drain Galactus of his biospheric energy, leaving him extremely weakened.

Tyrant had the upper hand, but soon Morg emerged to save his master with the Ultimate Nullifier. Galactus and Tyrant both feared the Nullifier and it’s power soon began to consume Morg. The Silver Surfer arrived, having sensed his former master’s peril, Galactus had him try to stop Morg. The power of the Nullifier built up past the point where anything or anyone could stop it. Galactus told the Surfer to escape while he stayed behind in an attempt to contain the energy of the explosion, for the Nullifier was under his protection. The ship exploded, killing everyone on board, presumably Galactus included.

Rebirth & Redemption

For More Information: Silver Surfer

Galactus eventually resurfaced and took his place in the universe once again. His next herald was Red Shift. Upon his return, Galactus began to consume planets with intelligent life purposefully. This nearly lead Galactus to Earth once again, but Red Shift was stopped by the Silver Surfer and trapped in a black hole. Galactus though was still crazed and not in his right mind, forcing the Silver Surfer to turn against him.

The Surfer took control of Galactus’ ship and opened a warp, which turned Galactus into pure energy. Taken into the warp, Galactus calms and tells the Surfer that he had felt his madness coming for eons. He had chosen the noble Surfer as his herald so that when the madness consumed him, the Surfer would do what needed to be done. Before his death, Galactus warned of a greater horror to come.

This horror came in the form of Abraxas, an extremely powerful entity that was kept in check by the existence of Galactus. After merging and nearly destroying all realities, Franklin Richards and Valeria found their purpose and used their powers together to resurrect Galactus, whose essence was located in the heart of Eternity.

When Galactus arrived, he revealed his ability to call the Ultimate Nullifier to himself at will, claiming that it is a part of him. Galactus gave the Nullifier to Reed Richards who then used it on Abraxas and set the multiverse back to it’s normal state.

Galactus soon stumbled upon a way to sustain his appetite indefinitely with the Infinity Gems, for Galactus had long wished to be released from his hunger which had caused the deaths of billions. He was, in fact, coerced by an extra-dimensional being known as the Hunger. The Hunger led Galactus to believe the Gems had the same energy Galactus required in order to build a device known as the Crux. In reality, The Crux, when completed, would help the Hunger enter Galactus’ reality.

Thanos attempted to stop Galactus, but Galactus would not believe him because of his deceitful past. When Galactus powered up the Crux, the Hunger was released. Only with Thanos’ help could Galactus defeat the Hunger. Galactus had been tricked and would still have to continue to consume planets and destroy lives, despite what he wanted. Thanos told him if he continued on this path, eventually, those in the universe would destroy him, Thanos included.

More Heralds

An alien being named Zius set out to save any other planets from Galactus’ destruction. He developed a device capable of making planets invisible to the world devourer, which he quickly distributed across the universe. But Zius soon learned of the Invisible Woman, and that she had the power to see through the shields. He set out to kill her. Reed learned of this, and to protect her, swapped her powers with Johnny’s. But Galactus figured this out himself, killed Zius and took Johnny as his new herald, giving him the Power Cosmic.

Unlike other heralds, Galactus left Johnny’s mind untouched. Johnny did not wish to kill billions in order to feed Galactus, so he stalled for as much time as he could. Eventually, the remainder of the Fantastic Four arrived with the help of Quasar, and Johnny devised a plan to stop Galactus, who had now found a world with Johnny’s help.

Building a device similar to the one Reed used to swap Sue and Johnny’s powers, Johnny focused his Power Cosmic into it and the result was as he had hoped: the essence of Galactus had been separated from Galen. They took Galen back to Earth in an attempt to restore some of his humanity before the essence of Galactus returned to him. But everywhere on Earth that Galen looked, he only focused on their primitive culture and shortcomings as a race.

Reed constructed a dimensional portal in the hopes of finding an energy realm capable of sustaining Galactus’ hunger, but then realized it was too dangerous and would be a threat to the Earth. Galan slowly realized something during his talks with Reed, that intelligent species deserve the chance to become better over time, and who was he to destroy that possibility? Galen locked himself in the device and initiated it to send him to the other dimension. Eventually, the essence of Galactus would find him wherever he went, but for now Earth and as many other possible species would be spared from the hunger of Galactus.

Galactus next servant was the creature known as Stardust. A being of pure energy, it was faithful to Galactus. The first planet it led Galactus to was New Korbin, which Galactus consumed. This would eventually lead to later events with the Korbinite Beta Ray Bill. When Stardust faced Beta Ray Bill, they accidentally released a being of pure evil known as Asteroth into the universe. Galactus revived Alpha Ray and gave him some Power Cosmic in order to assist against the threat.

Annihilation

For More Information: Annihilation

During Annihilation, the positive zone was growing and began crossing over into the Negative Zone, where Annihilus ruled. The first attack was on the Kyln, a prison at the edge of the universe. This is where Galactus’ first herald the Fallen One was imprisoned. As expected, the Fallen One went immediately towards Galactus to exact his revenge. Galactus defeated him, but once again did not kill him.

Annihilus crossed over into the positive zone with the rest of the Annihilation Wave. They began taking over the positive zone to get the planets they had conquered back into the Negative Zone. This conquering frenzy was disturbing the balance that the mighty Galactus had fought so hard to maintain.

The ex-heralds of Galactus ( Firelord and Red Shift) were followed by Stardust on their mission to find and inform Galactus’ favored herald, the Silver Surfer, that he was summoned. The world devourer imbued his herald with more cosmic power and demanded him to fight off their attackers, which were beings known as Hunters. These Hunters were as powerful as the original Silver Surfer.

Galactus and the Silver Surfer fought off the Hunters, however, Thanos, Aegis and Tenebrous, who were imprisoned by Galactus, attacked the Ravager of Worlds and his herald. Galactus was defeated and given to Thanos, along with the Silver Surfer, and were converted into energy sources for the Wave.

Galactus not only powered the Annihilation Wave but became a planet destroying weapon in their hands. They could use Galactus to destroy a planet and take it’s energies for themselves, giving Galactus only enough energy to continue to hold the Silver Surfer captive and enough to keep Galactus from starving to death. But Annihilus planned to use Galactus to destroy all life in the Positive and Negative Zones. Once Thanos learned this, he set off to free Galactus, since he was the only one capable of doing so.

Drax The Destroyer, after slaying Thanos, freed the two Cosmic entities and unleashed an enraged, hungering Galactus on the universe. A weakened Galactus revived Silver Surfer by giving him more cosmic power. In a fit of rage, the mighty Galactus single-handedly (in a weakened state) destroyed the Annihilation Wave. The event was known as the “Galactus Event”.

Shortly afterwards, the Ravager of Worlds began his search for Aegis and Tenebrous by sending the Silver Surfer to find them. The Surfer single handedly defeated Galactus’ foes by tapping into the power source of the universe known as the Crunch and thus, Galactus’ vengeance was fulfilled. Due to the amount of time of his imprisonment, the world devourer’s insatiable hunger doubled, causing Galactus to have need of two heralds, the Silver Surfer and Stardust.

Malnourished and Hungry

Galactus’ hunger had doubled since the events of Annihilation and he sought out new sources of energy very fast. When Stardust found a good energy source, the Heralds summoned Galactus. The Devourer of Worlds, Galactus, prepared to consume the energy of the cosmic being Epoch.

Epoch was temporarily saved from Galactus by the Fantastic Four (with Black Panther and Storm acting as members), both of Galactus’ heralds were defeated. But Galactus had already set his device upon Epoch to absorb her energies and there was little the Fantastic Four could do to stop him. Then Gravity, whom Epoch had just resurrected as Protector of the Universe, decided to step in and save the one who had brought him back to life.

With his new power, Gravity was able to harm Galactus, but chose a different route. He exhausted all of the energy bestowed by Epoch, to feed Galactus. In gratitude, Galactus spared Epoch and left in search for more nourishment.

Galactus continued to feed and eventually came upon a planet known as Orbucen. The planet contacted the Nova Corps and the Centurion Richard Rider was sent to help them evacuate. On the planet he encountered a psionic being known as Harrow that was possessing people and feeding off of their fear and death . Nova also learned that Galactus’ gravitational fields were disrupting the engines of the inhabitants evacuation ships.

Nova went to Galactus to try to get him to stall his meal so the ships could be repaired, but the Silver Surfer removed him from Galactus’ presence. With the blink of an eye, the Surfer repaired the ships and told Nova to leave the planet. But Nova went after Harrow again and in the process became stranded on a planet about to be destroyed to fulfill Galactus’ hunger.

Nova escaped to Galactus’ ship, the nearest safe place he could reach. He soon learned that Harrow was also on the ship, having stowed away on the ship after the Trial of Galactus and feeding on the suffering of those in Galactus’ path. When Nova began to battle Harrow, the Surfer intervened and removed the barrier that kept Harrow hidden from him and Galactus for so long. Once Galactus learned what Harrow had been doing, Galactus instantly vaporized him. Galactus spared Nova and the Surfer warned him to never cross Galactus again.

Godhunter

For More Information: Godhunter

After Galactus consumed New Korbin, he acquired a new enemy by the name of Beta Ray Bill. Unable to allow Galactus to continue to destroy other races as he had done to the Korbinites, Bill set out on a mission to destroy Galactus once and for all. Bill was able to get Galactus’ location from SWORD agent Abigail Brand.

Unable to defeat Galactus one-on-one, Bill planned to starve Galactus to death. He caught up to Galactus at the planet I’Than IX, which the I’Than were evacuating at the time. Stardust was unable to stop Bill from destroying the world before Galactus could feed on it’s energies. Stardust then led Galactus to I’Than Prime. Bill again destroyed the planet with the use of Voidian’s arsenal.

Lacking sustenance and extremely weak, Galactus was led to yet another planet. He knew though that he had to contend with the massive armada of the I’Than as well as of Beta Ray Bill. Both of Galactus’ heralds attempted to buy time for Galactus, but it wasn’t enough. Bill realized that the legacy of his race should not be remembered with the death of Galactus and helped fight the armada, giving Galactus the time he needed to consume to world. Galactus then destroyed the armada with a wave of his hand.

Galactus used some of his power to help revive a Korbinite named Ti Asha Ra for Bill to continue his race and left to feed on more planets, not yet fully sustained by the energies.

The Old Power

Galactus then sets his sights on the planet Sakaar, which contains an energy known as the Old Power that will satisfy his hunger for a hundred thousand years. He sends the Silver Surfer in advance, but Skaar does not wish to evacuate his home. He plans on giving Galactus more of the Old Power than he can handle, making him hungrier than ever.

Caiera learns of this and opens a portal to Earth which she then pushes Skaar through. Galactus consumes Sakaar, and having filled his hunger, falls into a deep sleep. But as his last act before falling through the wormhole, Skaar fulfills his promise and wakes Galactus with his Old Power. This causes Galactus to crave the energy and hunger as never before.

The Silver Surfer attempts to stop this from happening, but with a gesture Galactus sends him light years away, dismissing him as herald. A slave of Sakaar known as Hiro Kala soon finds himself filled with the remnants of Sakaar’s Old Power, he is the true Sakaarson. He approaches Galactus, and warns him that he will make him pay for what he has done.

Galactus then travels to Doarj’n, another planet filled with the Old Power and consumes it. Meanwhile, Hiro Kala travels to Giausaur, a planet originally given the Old Power by the Shadow. Hiro makes himself into a god here but then offers the planet to Galactus and himself to become his new herald.

But this is all a deception. Hiro never believed himself a god. He just finally understood the Old Power. By becoming a god on the world, Hiro had in turn poisoned Galactus with the Old Power. After consuming the planet, Galactus felt the screams, fear and pain of a hundred billion souls. Screaming in pain, Galactus expels the spirits of those binded by the Old Power.

Although Galactus still craves the energy, Hiro informs him that if he consumes it ever again he will die. This is the punishment Hiro leaves with Galactus, that what he craves most he shall never taste again. Galactus’ body became poisoned by the Old Power, turning him into a slave to the energy. The Old Power concentrated inside him, Hiro Kala planned to use him to help obliterate the Old Power of the universe. He planned to destroy countless planets in the Microverse when Galactus released this energy, but Arcturus Rann used the Enigma Force Nullifier to prevent the Microverse’s destruction by altering history.

The Thanos Imperative

For More Information: Thanos Imperative

After releasing the Old Power, Galactus regained his composure and reunited with the Silver Surfer. Another threat was looming and the fate of the universe was at stake. After the War of Kings, a massive fissure in space-time known as the Fault opened, connecting the universe to another corrupted universe known as the Cancerverse. In this universe, there was no death and its inhabitants planned on removing death from Galactus’ universe as well. Realizing the danger to his universe and all other universes, Galactus, the Celestials and many other abstract powers formed an alliance to stop the invasion of the attackers.

But the Cancerverse had an answer to their alliance – a massive version of the Galactus Engine, an extremely powerful weapon of destruction created out of the Galactus of that universe. Galactus was able to hold the line but was slowly failing. The Silver Surfer claimed that if Galactus could not stop the Engine then it would not be stopped.

When Death returned to the Cancerverse, she killed it’s inhabitants and her return made the universe collapse on itself, thus destroying all it’s inhabitants and closing the Fault.

Chaos War

For More Information: Chaos War

During the Chaos War event, Galactus and the Silver Surfer were summoned against their will by the now immensely powerful Hercules, using his new sky-father powers. They became members of the second incarnation of his team, the God Squad. Galactus aided in the battle against the evil Mikaboshi and his forces. Mikaboshi used Zeus, the dead Olympian All-Father to fight Galactus. Galactus underestimated the power of Zeus and was dispatched by the Olympian with surprising speed and ease.

Later, when all seemed lost and the death of the multiverse appeared inevitable, Galactus constructed a device to transport the survivors to a pocket universe known as “Continuum” to ensure his own survival. Fortunately, Hercules, whose power had been increased even more, engaged Mikaboshi and fought him to a standstill until he was able to actually trap Mikaboshi himself in the “Continuum Universe.” The resulting effort left Galactus in a severely weakened state once again. In order to replenish his master’s energy, the Silver Surfer placed him in Earth’s Sun to absorb it’s energy and regain his strength. This was stated to shorten the life span of the star by a billion years.

The Galactus Seed

Galactus has recently returned to Earth with his Herald, The Silver Surfer, to retrieve a unique seed known as the Worldheart. Created by The All-God and discovered by the Asgardians, Galactus claims it would forever end his hunger. Odin refused to hand over the seed, setting the stage for an all-out war between the Asgardians, The Devourer of Worlds and his herald the Silver Surfer. The clash between the two powerful beings damaged them both and put Odin into Odin sleep. Galactus survived the attack from Odin and kept looking for the seed. The battle ended quickly after Loki took the seed back to the roots of Yggdrasil.

To watch the seed, Galactus left the Silver Surfer behind, with the Asgardians, tethering him to Earth. He created a new herald that would become known as the Praeter to assist in his unending search for new worlds to devour.

Forever

Due to both the War of the Four Cities and Mr. Sinister tampering with the Dreaming Celestial, Galactus has returned to Earth to protect it from being destroyed. Destroying Earth would awaken The Seed which would replace Galactus and bring doom to the Universe.

Hunger (Age of Ultron Aftermath)

In the wake of Ultron’s destruction, the time-space continuum was permanently broken, tearing open rifts in the fabric of time and space all across the Multiverse.

One of these tears somehow managed to pull Galactus into it and deposited him in the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610) where he was instantly accosted by his counterpart: the Gah Lak Tus swarm.

Instead of consuming him as they had originally planned, the swarm merged with its counterpart and became his new Herald. After declaring his need to feed, Galactus dispatched a Gah Lak Tus swarm to seek out and consume a planet for him and then return the energy it collected back to him.

He was later seen by The Silver Searcher surrounded by Gah Lak Tus drones. After realizing just how truly dangerous Galactus now was, the Searcher soared off ahead of him to warn the rest of Creation about Galactus. The Devourer of Worlds eventually reached Planet 3.14 in the Raela system where he unleashed billions of tiny Gah Lak Tus drones upon Rick Jones and had them attempt to eat the young Protector of the Universe alive.

The Silver Searcher’s timely intervention prevented the tiny swarm from doing just that and helped Rick destroy many of the tiny devourers. Galactus approached the two shortly afterward, telling them of how many delights the Ultimate Universe was filled with and that he knew the Searchers “annoying” Earth-616 counterpart. Galactus used the tiny drones to hold the Searcher captive while Rick, under the Searcher’s orders, left to help the Kree and Chitauri forces evacuate.

The Silver Searcher, who did not understand Galactus’ reasons for devouring worlds, tried to reason with Galactus. He told him that what Galactus considered natural did not apply to their universe, but Galactus refused to listen.

When Rick returned, he grabbed the Surfer and unknowingly transported several of the tiny Gah Lak Tus drones to Earth with the two of them while a Kree doomsday weapon ignited inside the Raelan sun which caused it to go supernova.

Not surprisingly, Galactus survived the supernova and consumed all of the energy released by the dying star along with the billions of lives that were ended by the supernova.

Back on Earth, in the Bahamas, the tiny Gah Lak Tus drones assimilated a giant crab and countless beach-goers into new types of drones as part of their plan to consume Earth for their new master.

With the help of Captain Mahr-Vehl, Rick Jones and the Surfer repelled Galactus from both Earth and Hala, but at the cost of Mahr-Vehl’s life. He bestowed his power to Rick Jones, along with a weapon designed to kill the Gah Lak Tus swarm. Unleashing the weapon, Jones was able to destroy the swarm and severly injure Galactus. But this would not be the end of Galactus.

Cataclysm

Injured from his battle with Rick Jones, Galactus sought the most energy-rich planet in the universe – Earth. On his way to Earth, he was met by Vision as she attempted to return Galactus to his own universe. She failed in doing so and was destroyed. Upon his arrival at Earth, Galactus immediately began his preparations to consume the planet. The Ultimates arrived to stop Galactus, but even their most devastating attacks proved to be only a nuisance to the Devourer of Worlds.

Upon landing on Earth, Galactus touched down in New Jersey immediately destroying it. Galactus then began to assemble his Consuming Device in the heart of New York City. The Ultimates, lead by Captain America, attacked Galactus from every angel and with everything they had but it only delayed his attack. Eventually, Reed Richards and Tony Stark enacted on a plan to trap Galactus in the Negative Zone where he would be cut off from their universe and eventually starve. Using Pym Particals, Kitty Pryde grew to Galactus’s size and with her phasing powers destroyed his machine which also left the cosmic being off balance. Thor then used his hammer along with the Negative Zone portal to trap Galactus within it and then closed the portal, trapping them both.

In the aftermath, with much of the world damaged from Galactus’ attack, and with Captain America and most of the Ultimates dead, the world was a different place. Galactus still hungered though, now trapped in The Negative Zone with that universe’s Thor.

Life Bringer

Galactus was approached by the Ultimates who made a proposal to help him evolve, although Galactus refused the Ultimates went ahead with their plan anyway. They had managed to retrieve the chamber in which Galactus incubated himself, however there were still residual energies within it that had yet to be consumed. The Ultimates managed to get Galactus into the chamber which he soon emerged from as Galactus the Lifebringer. His first act was to give life to the first world he devoured, and his new imperative was to restore life to every planet the Devourer of Worlds had previously destroyed.

Galactus was contacted by Eternity who bestowed upon him a mission to find out why Eternity, the personification of every universe, had been chained and by whom. Eternity also alerted Galactus to the whereabouts of the Ultimates when they were trying to view the timestream from outside the Omniverse. Galactus saved them from death as repayment for evolving him into Lifebringer, he also shared his view of time with them. However he did not reveal all as he kept Eternity’s secret, and even he himself did not view the true nature of time, admitting to Eternity that he may not be able to bear it.

Galactus’s new form did not please everyone in the universe as he was confronted by Lord Chaos and Master Order who wished him to return to the Devourer of Worlds to restore balance to the Universe. Galactus however, refused to revert to his old form thus leading to a battle between the cosmic entities. Galactus however, now more powerful than in his previous form, was able confront the two cosmic entities head to head fighting within the Superflow and ultimately defeating them.

After their battle in the Superflow, Master Order and Lord Chaos summoned the Living Tribunal to judge Galactus and order him to return back to being the Devourer of Worlds. However, the Living Tribunal did not see it as necessary, stating that the cosmic heirachy of the new cosmos has been reborn and was still forming. This lead to the Living Tribunal being murdered by Master Order and Lord Chaos, who then attacked Galactus again leaving him weakened. Order and Chaos later returned now having merged themselves using the In-Betweener and becoming the new entity Logos. With their newfound power they go about the process of reverting Galactus back to being the Devourer of Worlds. Galactus was saved from this fate by his new herald Anti-Man who sacrificed his life and power to restore Lifebringer. Galactus, still in a weakened state, left so as to restore his power for the war to come as he now knows the name of the one who chained Eternity, The First Firmament.

Return to Devourer

Sometime after helping the Ultimates with their mutual problems, Galactus was approached by the Silver Surfer, who urgently asked him to destroy the cyberformed planet Ultron had converted. Galactus initially refused, as he was against taking life and knew the consequences of doing so. When Surfer reiterated his plea, this time with the offer of permanently returning to being his herald, Galactus accepted the request and destroyed the planet, to Ultron’s outrage. In the process, his Life Bringer persona was scrapped and his old Devourer persona returned. To the horror of Adam Warlock, Silver Surfer announced that he was returning to Galactus as his herald.

Herald of Doom

In an attempt to revolutionize Latveria, Doctor Doom somehow imbued his disciple Victorious with the power cosmic in the hope that Galactus would be drawn to the country so. The plan worked, even with the Fantastic Four’s interference, as they were captured along with the Devourer. Unfortunately, this idea backfired when the Four escaped, giving Galactus time to break from his constraints and simultaneously destroy the very mountain named after Doom’s father.

Herald Supreme

When Galactus went to the Zaraxians’ homeworld in order to consume it, the magically-powered race had captured Silver Surfer and after seeing through his memories they sent their most powerful magician, Zoloz, to Earth in order to find a way and defeat Galactus. After returning to Galactus, along with the astral projection of Doctor Strange, Zoloz banished the Cosmic Being to the Mystic Realms. He then began consuming the worlds of the dimension, at first poisoning him, but then became empowered by the magical energies, even defeating the Beast of Pain without effort. Strange then convinced Galactus to lead him to a safe planet to consume, and not be affected. However, the planet had been secretly tampered by Dormammu, and got transformed. This caused the technology and magic to merge, causing imbalance throughout the universe, which lead Strange to gather various cosmic heroes to try and reason with Galactus, but to no avail. The universe eventually collapsed which prompted Doctor Strange to rebuild it, but this time convinced Zoloz to become his herald and spare his homeworld.

The Return of the Black Winter

When the Black Winter, the anomaly which destroyed Galactus’ universe, returned, an injured Galactus went to Asgard, crashing on it, while Thor attacked him. Upon awakening, Galactus revealed that when he looked at the Black Winter the second time he saw Thor, meaning that the God of Thunder was to be his death. He turned the Asgardian into his new herald and begun consuming the five planets needing to empower Galactus enough to defeat the Black Winter. Following the fight between Thor and Beta Ray Bill, Galactus was successful in devouring the remaining planets, just in time to face the Black Winter.

Publication History

Galactus first makes his arrival on comic book pages of Fantastic Four in 1966 during in a story called The Calling of Galactus with the intention of devouring the earth.

Galactus briefly appears during Don’t Look Now, But It’s Doom story-arc (Daredevil # 36 – 38) to strip Dr. Doom of the powers he had stolen from the Silver Surfer.

Powers & Abilities

The Power Cosmic

Galactus is empowered by the virtually limitless power of the Power Cosmic. As such, Galactus manifests a range of powers and abilities depending on his need and desire. Galactus also possesses technology that works with his biology, which is of a degree of complexity that even the greatest minds may not be capable of understanding.

However, Galactus is not entirely omnipotent. The true form of Galactus is not known. He is perceived as the species of whoever is looking at him. To a human, he appears human. To another species, he would appear the same as they are. Galactus’s true form is a golden glowing humanoid body of energy with energy surrounding him, he wears his armored suit to sustain his immense power.

The Power Cosmic allows him to manipulate creation, matter, energy, and universal sources. Galactus can erect nearly impenetrable fields, project devastating energies powerful enough to blow up planets and split them apart, shoot laser beams or give off radiation, open wormholes or portals to other dimensions and time, transport beings across the universe and again even time, teleport, read minds across the universe, levitate matter via telekinesis, reconstruct matter or transmute it into other forms, turn matter into energy or vice versa, manipulate elements and elements of the Periodic Table, blast meteors or comets, erase memories through manipulating souls, bestow power, repair or heal living tissue, and even resurrect the dead.

The Hunger of Galactus

Galactus possesses an insatiable hunger for energy that is satisfied by energies derived from life rich planets. Galactus’ great hunger is the greatest motivating force in his life, consuming his complete attention and motivating his every action. He uses energy from the core of planets and universal sources to sustain the energy and biology of his body.

Galactus often uses advanced technology from his ship to harness the biospheric energies he requires. Sometimes, he does not use any technology but simply devourers the world with his touch. The technology he uses is a more complete and efficient way to process the energy, as Galactus has to use energy to consume a planet without it. The main device Galactus uses is a massive energy converter, which changes the biospheric energies of the planet into energy that is then consumed by Galactus.

The energy Galactus consumes not only powers him but nourishes him as well. Galactus can starve to death if he does not continue to consume planets. If Galactus were to perish by starvation, it is stated that he would explode and completely destroy anything and everything within a 50 light year radius of him.

After merging with his Earth-1610 counterpart, Galactus no longer needs to depend on his old machinery to consume worlds as he can now summon a Gah Lak Tus swarm at will to seek out and consume planets for him. They then return to Galactus and feed him the energy they have collected by merging with him once more. He can also summon tiny versions of the standard city-sized Gah Lak Tus drones which can eat anything alive. They can also assimilate organic lifeforms such as a human being or a gigantic crab into new types of drones.

Characteristics

• Height: 28’9″ (varies)
• Weight: 18 tons (varies)
• Eyes: Black (varies)
• Hair: Black (varies)

Alternate Universes

Earth-552 – Galactus the Healer

In one of the universes that the Exiles had visited, there was a plight that ravaged planets, destroying all life on them. In this universe, Galactus did not destroy worlds by consuming them, but instead healed broken worlds, nurturing them back to health. In this universe Norin Radd had destroyed his home planet. He then became Galactus’ herald the Silver Surfer in hopes that he could convince Galactus to heal his home world Zenn-La. Since Zenn-La’s destruction was artificial, Galactus refused to heal the planet. This sent the Surfer into a rage against his master, destroying anything that came in his way. With the help of the Exiles, the Imperial Guard was able to defeat the Silver Surfer, and Galactus was able to continue healing worlds (this time including Zenn-La).

Earth-691 – War of the Worlds

In this reality, Nova never died and continued to be Galactus’ herald for centuries. Eventually, his hunger led him once again to Earth. He was challenged by the Silver Surfer (now Protector of the Universe), Firelord and Dargo. Together they launched a singular attack meant to bring Galactus down, but Nova sacrificed herself to save her master. This gave Galactus pause and he absorbed her into himself to be with her forever. One herald dead and two former heralds having turned against him, Galactus vowed to never commission another.

After failing to save an exploding Zenn-La because of his battle with Galactus, the Silver Surfer vowed vengeance on Galactus, blaming every bad thing that had happened in his life on the World Devourer. He attacked Galactus, but even with the Quantum Bands he now possessed, proved no match. The anguish Galactus carried due to Nova’s death surfaced and he destroyed the Surfer’s board and stripped him of the Power Cosmic, leaving him for dead.

Soon, Galactus was purposefully starved by a being known only as the Keeper. Whoever this Keeper was, he was always one step ahead of Galactus, removing any life and energy from the planets Galactus targeted. Galactus grew weaker than at any other time in his existence. He fooled the Keeper in to thinking he would target Earth, but instead targeted Arima, a planet surrounding the Alpha Centauri star.

He was challenged by Firelord, interim Protector of the Universe, and soon the Guardians of the Galaxy. But soon the Keeper would reveal himself as his former herald the Silver Surfer! Having greatly increased his power with the Quantum Bands and due to the weakened state of Galactus due to near starvation, he defeated Galactus, but Eon stayed the Surfer’s hand. Eon revealed that he gave power to the Silver Surfer so as to be Galactus’ equal and to help him get the energy he required.

The Surfer helped Galactus to his feet and they showed a mutual respect for one another. The Surfer took his place beside Galactus once again. Galactus would grow angry over the lack of nourishment he received from the lifeless worlds the Surfer chose for him, as well as his insubordinate and controlling attitude. Enraged, Galactus struck out at the Surfer, nearly killing him. Galactus then left to feed on worlds of his own choosing.

Earth-829

In this universe, Galactus has an alien Silver Surfer as herald. Galactus found a strange solar system with an extreme amount of energy in the Andromeda Galaxy, but his feeding started a chain reaction, forcing him to consume even more energy than he could take in. This caused Galactus to increase in mass and become a black hole.

The citizens of Andromeda developed a white hole bomb in an attempt to reverse the process. Hercules delivered the bomb and succeeded in detonating it, freeing Galactus at the cost of his own life. In the process, part of Galactus separated and joined with the essence of Hercules, creating the Bringer of Worlds – Cosmos. Galactus also accepted Hercules’ granddaughter Juno as his new herald, giving her the appearance of the Silver Surfer as well.

Earth-982 – MC2 Universe

In the MC2 reality the Silver Surfer merged with Galactus to create a new being.

Earth-1298

In the Mutant X reality, Galactus was to be imprisoned by the Celestials, but was killed by the Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor.

Earth-1610 – Ultimate Universe

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Gah Lak Tus came into existence at the very beginning of creation itself in the form of a fleet of sentient city-sized starships capable of collective thought, which it used to coordinate its actions. From the very beginning, it possessed a profound hatred of all biological forms of life and traveled from one world to the next, devouring the cores of those worlds while exterminating its populace using a flesh-eating plague. (Later, it was stated by Captain Mahr-Vehl that the Gah Lak Tus swarm was created by the Kree Empire to cleanse the universe and destroy their enemies, but they lost control of their creation.)

At some point in time, the swarm came into contact with the Silver Searcher, who became the template for an army of Heralds called the Silver Wings. These Silver Wings would be sent to planets disguised as beings from that planets religious texts. who then found a planet-wide suicide cult who would not try to resist when the time came for Gah Lak Tus to feed. Millennia later, a species about to be destroyed by Gah Lak Tus created a couple of synthetic, shape-shifting artificial lifeforms with built-in universal translators.

The Visions were sent out into the universe to find and warn alien races of the coming storm but every species they helped were unable to stop Gah Lak Tus. When the swarm set a course of Earth, one of the Visions fled for Earth to warn Humanity, but was heavily injured by Gah Lak Tus before it managed to escape. Gah Lak Tus arrived in Earth’s Solar System in the early 21st century, where it attempted to destroy Earth.

Professor Xavier of the X-Men attempted to make contact with Gah Lak Tus and was nearly killed when it unleashed a massive surge of telepathic feedback into the Professor’s mind in order to break the link between its collective mind and the Professor’s “filthy, impure organic mind”. Later, with help from Jean Grey, Professor Xavier managed to distract Gah Lak Tus long enough for Reed Richards to unleash the full power of a Big Bang at the swarm.

With 20% of its fleet destroyed and its mind polluted by the thoughts of organics, Gah Lak Tus had a major disruption and then fled quickly out of the Solar System. Years later, Gah Lak Tus appeared in Sector 2310 within Chitauri space where it was devouring a very large planet. It’s presence along with a massive temporal anomaly were detected by the science officers aboard the flagship of the Kree armada that was fighting the Chitauri for control of the sector at the time.

The Admiral of the Kree armada tried to negotiate a temporary ceasefire with the Chitauri Admiral to combat the Gah Lak Tus threat. The Chitauri Admiral refused to ally himself with the people who killed his parents and millions of innocent Chitauri civilians when he was a small child, so he instead ordered his forces to pull back when Gah Lak Tus began devouring the Kree armada.

Rick Jones, a young teenage boy from Earth who had been declared the Protector of the Universe by the Watchers, entered the fray and destroyed several of the Gah Lak Tus vessels. He was stopped by the Watcher who had made him Protector of the Universe just before the time/space continuum collapsed. The Gah Lak Tus swarm broke off its assault on the Kree Armada after detecting the presence of a massive energy source pouring out of a tear in the fabric of time and space.

As the swarm approached the tear, gigantic fingers emerged and began to open the tear wider and wider until finally the Galactus of Earth-616 emerged from the rift. Galactus was “attacked” by the considerably weaker Gah Lak Tus swarm whose original intention was to consume its counterpart and become all powerful. The swarm quickly changed its mind however, and decided to merge with its counterpart instead, becoming Galactus’ new Herald in the process.

After the merger, Galactus announced that he hungered and dispatched the Gah Lak Tus swarm to “seek and consume”. However, thanks to the efforts of Rick Jones and the Kree Empire, the swarm was defeated. This allowed Galactus to see the Earth of this universe and without warning landed in New Jersey, destroying it instantly. Galactus began to assemble his consuming device in the heart of New York City. The Ultimates lead by Captain America attacked Galactus with all they could bring to bear but it only delayed his attack. Eventually, Reed Richards and Tony Stark enacted on a plan to trap Galactus in the Negative Zone where he would be cut off from their universe and eventually starve to death. Using Pym Particles, Kitty Pryde grew to Galactus’s size and with her phasing powers destroyed his machine which also left the cosmic being off balance. Thor then used his hammer along with the Negative Zone portal to trap Galactus within it, trapping them both.

In the aftermath with much of the world damaged from Galactus’ attack, and with Captain America and most of the Ultimates dead, the world was a different place. Galactus still hungered though, now trapped in The Negative Zone with that universe’s Thor.

Earth-2012

In this reality, Galactus has several incarnations of the Silver Surfer as heralds. Galactus is killed by the Council, a large group that is assembled from many versions of Reed Richards, all from different realities.

Earth-2149 – Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombie universe, every super human, heroes and villains alike, become zombies after an infection brought by the Sentry. After the infection has taken place, Galactus comes to Earth to feed on it. He travels to the surface to attempt to communicate with the zombie heroes. Galactus asks them if they knew the whereabouts of the Silver Surfer, they replied by saying that they ATE the Silver Surfer. Galactus is shocked by this information and then, of course, the zombies attack as they wanted to eat more food. They attack Galactus, but Galactus simply fends them off with the Power Cosmic.

The zombie heroes retreat to think of a plan to defeat Galactus. Iron Man, the Hulk as Bruce Banner, and Spider-Man work together to build a machine that would defeat Galactus while the others attack Galactus to buy them some time. While the zombies attack Galactus the three zombie heroes Iron Man, Hulk, and Spider-Man finish the machine and all the heroes that had obtained Silver Surfer’s power combined their powers into the machine which then shoots beams of the Power Cosmic at Galactus. Galactus is weakened by this and they shoot a few more beams of the Power Cosmic at him, ultimately subduing Galactus who falls to the ground.

The heroes then battle the villains to determine who would eat Galactus. After the fight, the heroes are victorious because of the Power Cosmic, but soon Galactus awakens and slowly struggles to get up. The zombie heroes subdue Galactus once again and they feed on Galactus while still alive, and they all ultimately receive Galactus’s power after Galactus is completely consumed. The zombie heroes then keep devouring the rest of the universe with the Power Cosmic until there is nothing left.

Earth-2301 – Marvel Mangaverse

In the Marvel Mangaverse, Galactus is a planet-size octopus-like life form with a single eye. Its tentacles are used for eating the planet. It has lifeforms within the tentacles called “Galactus Spores” that aid the creature in feeding.

Earth-7888 (Earth-M)

In the Earth-M reality, an Earth with no super-powered beings is approached by Galactus, his intention is to consume it, but he is stopped by his herald the Silver Surfer. After banishing the Surfer to Earth, Galactus created a new herald named Ardina. Galactus though would eventually reabsorb her when she fell in love with the Surfer. In order to spare the Earth the Surfer became the Herald of Galactus once more.

At some point the Silver Surfer was no longer in his masters service and Galactus found a substitute he named Dark Angel. Both Galactus and Dark Angel were pulled through a wormhole which brought them to the Earth-691 reality. The hungering Galactus chose to consume the energies of the worldship Sol III, but was stopped by the Keeper. While the crew of Sol III found a way to send Galactus back, his herald was trapped and lost to him.

Earth-8436

Reality 100 million years from now. Galactus battles Ecce the Watcher for thousands of years until the universe dies, after which only Galactus and Nova ( Frankie Raye) remain. Galactus releases his energies, creating a new Big Bang and Nova becomes the Galactus of the newly formed universe.

Earth-9997 – Earth X

In this universe Mr. Fantastic‘s son, Franklin Richards became Galactus. He had been transformed into Galactus by his father after he realized who and what Galactus really was. The previous Galactus had been destroyed.

Earth-91126 (Earth Z)

In the reality from which the Zombie Virus spread to Earth-2149, Galactus was eaten by the Marvel Zombies like his counterpart but his power was not transferred to any of the zombies.

Heroes Reborn

In the Heroes Reborn world, Galactus is still the Devourer of Worlds and refers to consuming a planets energy as ‘harvesting.’ Throughout the universe, Galactus plants machines on barren planets that give life to them for future harvesting. This version of Galactus has five heralds, the Silver Surfer, Firelord, Terrax, Air-Walker and Plasma. He had set up the Earth for future consumtion, his life giving device the source of the Terrigen Mists. On Earth he is worshiped along with his heralds by the Inhumans.

When Earth was ready for harvesting, Galactus sent his heralds and approached. Despite the interference of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, SHIELD and Doctor Doom, he was successful in consuming Earth. Doom traveled back in time 24 hours to try again and failed with Earth’s heroes on two more occasions.

On Doom’s final attempt, the Silver Surfer agreed to help stop his master. With Mr. Fantastics Nullifying device, Doom’s power siphoning armor and Captain America’s shield, the Surfer was able to destroy Galactus, but at the cost of his own life.

Other Media

Television

Fantastic Four

Galactus appeared on the animated Fantastic 4, created by Hannah-Barbera in 1967. Galactus was voiced by Ted Cassidy. For some strange reason, he had green skin and a blue costume instead of his usual color scheme from the comics.

Fantastic Four: The Animated Series

Galactus appeared in the 1994 animated series of the Fantastic Four in the first and second season. Galactus was voiced by Tony Jay.

Silver Surfer: The Animated Series

Galactus made several appearances on the short-lived Silver Surfer Animated Series which began in 1998. Galactus was entirely CGI in the series which was a breakthrough for the time. Galactus was voiced by James Blendick.

Super Hero Squad Show

Galactus made his first appearance on the Super Hero Squad series in the episode ‘Last Exit Before Doomsday,’ when he came to consume the Earth with his heralds Stardust, Terrax and Firelord. Galactus was voiced by George Takei of Star Trek fame.

In the continuing episode and season finale, ‘This Al Dente Earth!,’ the Super Hero Squad realized they were no match for Galactus even with his heralds who had betrayed him. Galactus made a machine to consume the insides of the Earth first and they attacked it to stall for time. Iron Man gathered all the Infinity Fractals and rebuilt the Infinity Sword, but it too had no effect on Galactus.

Galactus only spared the Earth when the Silver Surfer agreed to become his herald once again. In the series, Galactus claimed to be a fan of sports, ate planets as though they were cookies, and his helmet concealed his strange ears (which were the same shape as the side pieces of his helmet).

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Galactus makes a short appearance in the episode “Prisoner of War” where he eats Skrullos, the home world of the Skrulls. Galactus makes a full appearance in the episode “Avengers Assemble” when he arrives at earth to consume it. He sends out his four heralds (Terrax, Firelord, Air-Walker, Stardust, which are each energy constructs) to four locations, but they are all defeated by Earth’s Heroes. It ends with Galactus being sent to the Negative Zone where he will feed endlessly upon the Anti-Matter which comprises that universe.

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Galactus appears in the episode “Galactus Goes Green,” voiced by John DiMaggio. DiMaggio reprised his role in the Avengers Assemble episode “Guardians and Spaceknights,” set in the same universe.

Movies

Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer

Galactus made a live appearance in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

The sequel to the Fantastic Four movie, introduced Galactus (Gah Lak Tus in the movie). Gah Lak Tus sent the Silver Surfer to Earth so that he may consume it. The Fantastic Four eventually convince the Surfer to help stop Gah Lak Tus. The Silver Surfer then sacrifices himself to destroy Gah Lak Tus and to save the Earth.

Video Games

• Galactus appears in the 1990 Silver Surfer NES game.
• Galactus appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Gregg Berger.
• Galactus appears in the PSP and PS2 versions of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. He appears as an assist character who will step on enemies.
• Galactus appears in the 2009 game Marvel Super Hero Squad as an unvoiced minor character in a Silver Surfer cutscene.
• Galactus appears in the Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet video game, voiced by George Takei.
• He makes a minor appearance in LittleBigPlanet’s Marvel level pack, in the first level.
• He serves as the final boss in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, voiced by Jonathan Adams. His abilities include creating Silver Surfer style copies of villains from the game (such as Dormammu and Akuma) that the player must fight while a timer counts down as Galactus destroys Earth.
• He appears as the final boss in the game Lego Marvel Super Heroes. He is also a playable character in the game voiced by John DiMaggio.
• In 2020, Galactus was added to the Fortnite battle royale game as the antagonist of the Nexus War crossover event. He was voiced by Geno Segers.

Merchandise

• ToyBiz produced a 14 inch Galactus toy for the Fantastic Four animated series action figure line.
• A 14 inch Galactus was featured in ToyBiz’s Silver Surfer action figure line.
• Galactus was the subject of a Marvel Legends Build-a-Figure wave from ToyBiz. The figure could be assembled by collecting the six figures from the wave (Hulk, War Machine, Bullseye, Professor X, Deathlok, Nightcrawler and Doctor Strange), each of which came with a corresponding piece of the 16 inch tall Galactus.
• A diorama featuring the heroes of the Marvel Universe battling Galactus was released for Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends Masterworks line.
• A 19 inch Galactus diorama based on the cover to Fantastic Four Fantastic Four #243 was made by ToyBiz for the Marvel Masterworks line.
• A large Galactus toy was made for Hasbro’s Super Hero Squad line.
• A 14 and a half inch Galactus was produced for the HeroClix figure game.
• Bowen has made several Galactus statues and busts.
• Sideshow Collectibles released a 33 inch Galactus maquette.
• A 10 inch Galactus was featured in Funko’s Pop! line of bobbleheads.
• In 2021, Hasbro announced a crowdfunding campaign for a 32 inch tall Marvel Legends Galactus figure as part of the HasLab program. The figure was successfully funded, and the heralds Nova, Silver Surfer and Morg were also added to the set as stretch goal bonuses.