Galactus
Galactus is a comic book character that first appeared in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48
Galactus is the famed "Devourer of Planets" in the Marvel Universe. His powers are nearly omnipotent. He has appointed a number of entities as his Heralds, imbuing them with the Power Cosmic.
Origin of Galactus
Soon, residents of Taa began dying of radiation poisoning and even their advanced skills could not stop it. He persuaded some crewman to fly with himself in a space vessel into the terminal point of the universe as a sort of last act of Heroism to his people. Everyone else on the ship died and that's when a cosmic being calling itself the sentience of the universe told him 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 here, inert, for billions of years. A Watcher found the ship to be interesting and brought it down out of a planet's orbit, thus breaking his oath of non-interference. He awoke the incredibly powerful entity onboard. He had one chance to destroy it but did not interfere, knowing that this entity must live.
Galactus learned to control his power and created a unique body suit to help regulate his awesome energies. His ship became an incubation chamber and Galactus stayed there for several hundreds of years. 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, 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.
He looked upon the ruin he had created. But he knew he had the power of creation as well as annihilation. He began to reconstruct the world, taking millenia to finish it. When completed, it was enormous, so that planets orbited it as though it were a sun. The world-ship became Galactus' home and he named it Taa II.
At this time, he could go centuries before he needed to feed again. He started out feeding upon the energies of uninhabited worlds. Soon, his hunger grew more quickly and the time between feedings grew shorter. He stopped worrying about only feeding 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.
First Heralds of Galactus
Galactus created himself some companionship in the form of Tyrant, a being equal in size and almost equal in strength. But Galactus only took what he needed to survive, while Tyrant had the urge to conquer and dominate. When Galactus learned of this, he reduced Tyrant's size and power and helped to banish him to the edges of the universe after beating him in a battle that destroyed untold galaxies.
Galactus soon decided it would be more efficient to have others search out the worlds with compatible energies rather than seek them out himself. This was the start of his heralds. His first herald, the Fallen One, 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, he retired the idea of a herald.
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 the planet. Galactus claimed he may be able to avoid the destruction of populated planets if he only had a herald to seek planets out for him. Norrin agreed to become his new herald. Galactus empowered Norin with the Power Cosmic and even went so far as to suppress his morals to prevent inhabited planets from being overlooked. Thus the Silver Surfer was born.
Coming upon planet Earth, Alicia Masters was able to reach the Silver Surfer's morality and compassion. He chose to stand up against Galactus along with the Fantastic Four. Standing defeated, Galactus decided to bind the Silver Surfer to Earth as punishment for his betrayal. No longer could he surf the vast reaches of space. He spent several years bound to Earth.
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 Surfer as his herald. The Surfer destroyed the android and with the help of the Fantastic Four, turned Galactus away.
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 never disobeyed Galactus that Gabriel would not be dead.
Firelord served as herald but after an agreement with Thor, Firelord offered the Destroyer as his replacement. Galactus accepted. The Destroyer was merely temporary, as he chose Tyros to replace it, making him Terrax the Terrible. Terrax proved to ambitious and rebelled. Galactus now needed another once again.
Galactus soon found a young girl named Frankie Raye from Earth. She wished for adventure and power and offered herself to be Galactus' next herald, Nova.
Near Death
The Elders of the Universe had formulated a plan to kill Galactus and restart the universe, making themselves Galactus-like beings. They gathered the Infinity Gems and with the power nearly drained him of his life force. He was saved by his former herald, the Silver Surfer, and his current herald, Nova. Nova created a black hole to another dimension by destroying a star and some of the Elders fell into it, be he stopped the rest from falling in when he absorbed the energies of supernova. He then consumed the Elders as punishment but Death would not allow them to die. They attacked him from the inside bringing him again to death's door.He called for the Surfer to help him once again. He told the Surfer the only ones who can help 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, and the Elders residing in the hole had formed an alliance with the In-Betweener. The Elders and the In-Betweener escaped and planned to finish off Galactus. The In-Betweener did not come through on his end of the bargain and instead sent Galactus into his dimension so that the In-Betweener could rule in his.
The Silver Surfer pleaded to the rulers of this dimension, Lord Chaos and Master Order. They removed the Elders from Galactus and restored his strength. Mr. Fantastic arranged their escape. Back in their reality, Galactus defeated the In-Betweener with the assistance of the Elders, the Surfer, Nova, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
Infinity Gauntlet
When Thanos obtained the Infinity Gems he became a threat to the universe, which included Galactus.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. Yet, Galactus kept his anger in check because he had to. For he realized that even his staggering might was nothing compared to the near infinite power that Thanos wielded. But Galactus did not have 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 planet Norrin Radd convinced Galactus out of consuming (Earth).
Galactus then met with Earth's cosmic defenders. He joined forces with Adam Warlock against Thanos. At first he had objections to allowing a mortal to lead them but when the other cosmic beings agreed, Galactus did as well. This contingent of cosmic entities challenged Thanos' might. The very conflict was more than the fragile reality could bear. However, this attack failed and Thanos destroyed the cosmic defenders and usurped Eternity, becoming reality itself.
Thanos was eventually stopped when Nebula attained the Infinity Gauntlet. Although Nebula also made quick work of the cosmic entities as well, she was much less experienced with the gauntlet and Adam Warlock managed to take it from her grasp.
Infinity War
Galactus sensed an upcoming threat which was soon revealed to be the Magus. Galactus sought a mage to assist him, and he found Doctor Strange who agreed to assist him. He also gained the help of the Silver Surfer through Dr. Strange's request. They were able to determine the source of the energy fluctuations Galactus had sensed and went after their origin.With Doctor Strange attached to his ship, they were able to navigate through dimensions to follow the source. Believing they would arrive too early, the Magus destroyed the ship, but Galactus was able to reform it with his 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 used his power to read all of their minds to understand the situation. When Adam Warlock brought the Infinity Gems together into the gauntlet to defeat the Magus, the gems lost their power. This was the doing of the Living Tribunal. Galactus took Gamora to meet with the Tribunal in an attempt to reinstate the gems power.
The Tribunal cannot repower the gems without the consent of Eternity, who is in a catatonic state. He uses Gamora to awaken him, which Gamora is not pleased by. The power is reinstated, but unknown to Galactus is that the Magus now obtains the Infinity Gauntlet. He returns to him ship and realizes the grave error he has done. To help Earth's heroes he destroys all of the doppelgangers. Fortunately, Thanos and Warlock tricked Magus, the gauntllet only containing a copy of the Reality Gem. Warlock was able to defeat him.
The Herald Ordeal
Nova and her sudden lack of loyalty have become bothersome to Galactus. She has begun lying in order to save innocent lives, which matter not to Galactus. To show her a lesson he takes her to a planet to witness it's destruction. He comes across an executioner that has the qualities he desires - ruthlessness, fearless and obidient. He frees Nova of his service and creates a new herald, to rival even 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 found Firelord and Nova to assist him. Together they resurrected Air-Walker, who was able to locate Galactus. Beofre 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 suggested that the only one who can stop him is Galactus, so the Surfer must convince him. He pleaded with Galactus, telling him Morg was too evil and even if they are all destroyed others will follow for eternity. He agreed that he must be undisturbed in order to survive. By the time they reached the battle, Air-Walker was severly damaged, Firelord and Terrax wounded. Before Galactus could arrive, Morg killed Nova. This angered Galactus who removed his cosmic power from him. Firelord and Air-Walker agreed to be his temporary heralds afterward.
Return of Tyrant
In private, Galactus hid the fact that he was resurrecting Morg from his new heralds. 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. He demanded the release of his herald. Rather they recreate the age old battle they once had and create massive amounts of damage to the universe, Galactus fell to the demands of Tyrant, and allowed him to keep Morg. He stated that he will deal with Tyrant when the time was right.When Morg escaped Tyrant, he immediately returned 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 pardoned from his position.
Eventually, Tyrant planned to met with Galactus, who knew the time had come for a final battle between the two of them. Everytime Galactus fed on the biospheric energies of a planet, Tyrant grew weaker. Galactus always knew this time would come. Tyrant arrived on Galactus ship and they began their final confrontation. Galactus attempted to intigrate Tyrant into his ship, but Tyrant had control over technology and escaped. He 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, sensing his former master's peril and Galactus had him try to stop Morg. The power of the Nullifier was finally more than could be handled and 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 onboard, Galactus assumingly included.
Rebirth
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 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
During Annihilation, the positive zone was growing and actually wound up crossing over into the Negative Zone, where Annihilus ruled.
Annihilus went over to the positive zone with the rest of the Annihilation Wave and was taking over the positive zone to get the planets that he conquered back from the positive 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 to go 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 who were as powerful as the original Surfer. Galactus and Surfer fought them off, however in a deal with 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.
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 out the Surfer after them. The Surfer single handedly defeated Galactus' foes by tapping into the power source of the universe known as the crush and thus, Galactus' vengeance, fulfilled. Due to his imprisonment, the world devourer's insatiable hunger doubled, causing Galactus to have two heralds, Silver Surfer and Stardust.
Godhunter
After Galactus consumed New Korbin, he gained himself a new enemy in 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 head on, Bill planned to starve Galactus to death. He caught up to Galactus at the planet I'Than IX, which was being evacuated by the I'Than 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.
Extremely weak and lacking sustenance, Galactus was led to yet another planet. But he know had to contend with the massive armada of the I'Than as well as Bill. Both of Galactus' heralds tried to buy time for Galactus, but this was still not enough. Bill realized that the legacy of his race should not be remembered with the death of Galactus and helped to 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.
Powers and Appearance of Galactus
Galactus is empowered by the virtually limitless power of the Power Cosmic which makes him completely omnipotent. 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.
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 an alien, he would appear the same as them. 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, he is omnipotent and powerful enough with his armor but without his armor he is beyond omnipotent.
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 lasers 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 like turning water into ice, turn matter into energy or vise 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, or even resurrect the dead.
Galactus consumes worldThe Hunger of Galactus
Galactus possesses an insatiable hunger for energy that is satisfied by energies derived from energy and 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 her requires. Sometimes, he does not use any technology he simply devourers the world by his touch. It is assumed that the technology he uses is a more complete or efficient way to take the energy in. The main device Galactus uses is a massive energy converter, which changes the biospheric energies into energy that is they 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 take a 50 light year radius of the galaxy he is in with him.
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, and 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 sending 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 Surfer, and Galactus was able to continue healing worlds (this time including Zenn-La).
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 is a fleet of sentient ships capable of collective thought coordinating their actions. Ultimate Gah LaK Tus has a profound hatred of organic life, and seeks to destroy sentient beings thought the universe. It does so by destroying planets one-by-one, by first eliminating all life on the planet and finally draining all energy from the planet itself. Every known species that has tried to stand up to the threat of Gah Lak Tus has failed with the exception of the inhabitants of Earth, who were willing to repel the attack using a massive psychic attack against the fleet.
Earth-2012
In this reality, Galactus has several incarnations of the Silver Surfer as heralds. He was 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. During this time, Galactus comes to Earth to feed on it. He comes down to see the zombie heroes all together. Galactus asks them where the Silver Surfer was and they reply this question by telling Galactus that they ate the Silver Surfer. Galactus gets shocked by this information and the zombies attack him, for 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 and Iron Man, Hulk as Bruce Banner, and Spider-Man all build on 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 and shoot beams of the Power Cosmic at Galactus. Galactus is weakened by this and they shoot a couple more shots, ultimately subduing Galactus to the ground.
The heroes then fight with the villains to determine who would eat Galactus and they fight continuously. 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 alive, and they all ultimately receive Galactus's power after Galactus is completely consumed.
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, and it also has lifeforms within the tentacle called "Galactus Spores" that aids the creature in feeding.
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) remains. 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.
Heroes Reborn
In the Heroes Reborn world, Galactus is still the devourer of planets 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.
| Super Name: | Galactus |
| Real Name: | Galan |
| Aliases: |
Galan Devourer of Worlds Ravager of Planets Ashta Gah Lak Tus The Uncreator The Anti-God Maker Franklin Richards Daddy The World-Eater |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | God/Eternal |
| 1st Appearance: | Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48 |
| Appears in: | 497 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
a list of 101 items by RYU/BATMAN
a list of 11 items by Ryonslaught
a list of 52 items by kagetaicho
