Galactus is a necessary evil.
Or rather, an essential cosmic force that balances out the Marvel universe, yet occasionally
ends up threatening all of the characters we know and love.
But y’all know that already – so let’s talk about some of the things you might not
know about the fellow who devourers planets because his hunger dictates it so, coming
at you with a part 2 of our list, the top 10 galactus shocking facts.
Also, be sure to stick around to the end of the video and let us know which of these facts
surprised you the most.
Let’s get to it friends.
10 His Heralds In the Marvel universe, Galactus has had 17
heralds, most of which are dead.
These heralds either died on duty, or were released from their ‘herald-ship’, so
to speak.
And yes, we’re just talking main 616 continuity here – there’s even more heralds if you
venture out into the rest of the multiverse.
But more on that later.
Let’s talk about the lucky individuals who have had the opportunity to be Galactus’
bitch.
Tyrant, the Fallen One, Air-Walker, Morg the Executioner, Red Shift, and Anti-Man were
all his heralds, and all died in the process.
Then there’s the folks who were released from his service, Firelord, Destroyer, Rom
the Spaceknight, Nova, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Stardust, Praeter, Dazzler, and our
pal Doctor Strange.
Then there’s Terrax the Tamer, who was depowered.
And of course, there’s the Silver Surfer, who is his the most well-known herald of his,
the one who was introduced alongside of Galactus, practically designed to complement the devourer
of worlds, and is an ongoing ally of his even when not heralding.
Speaking of heralds though, that brings us to our next number-
9 Superman was his herald In 1999, this little crossover occurred between
the Fantastic Four and Superman, titled Superman Fantastic Four, in a story called the infinite
destruction.
It saw the man of steel finding a mysterious object in metropolis that turned out to be
a nuclear bomb, and long story short, he needs the help of the Fantastic Four.
But throughout the story, things take an interesting turn, Henry Henshaw aka Cyborg Superman becomes
involved, and Superman is imbued with Galactus’ Power Cosmic.
Superman is into the new gig it seems, to the point where Reed Richards needs to figure
out a way to snap him out of it, but seeing the Galactus obliterate a planet really turns
him off, and he starts to plead with the massive antagonist to not consume planets bubbling
with life forms.
There’s more to it than that, and Henry Henshaw gets a really crappy ending in this
one where he’s turned into what Galactus deems as perfection (a piece of condensed
alloy without thought or consciousness lol), but let’s move on.
8 Planet’s He’s Ended Sure, Earth is always at threat when it comes
to Galactus in the comics it seems.
But what about other planets he’s actually managed to devour?
There’s a handful that we’ve witnessed over the years in the 616 universe, including
Sakaar, Poppup (the home of Impossible Man) Tarnax IV which was the throne world of the
Skrull empire, and a handful more.
We’ve only witnessed roughly 9 planets being destroyed by him in the comics before, which
is a little odd when you consider what his whole schtick is.
No wonder dude is so hungry, he barely eats!
I’m sure he’s destroyed plenty of planets off panel though.
7 Squirrel Girl This number is something a lot of you probably
know about thanks to how AMAZING it is.
Once upon a time, in a 2014 story arc of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, specifically between issues
1 and 4, Squirrel Girl ‘defeated’ Galactus, via friendship and understanding.
Actually.
So as the story goes, Galactus is on his way to Earth when he’s approached by Squirrel
Girl, who has ‘borrowed’ some of Iron Man’s equipment thanks to her army of fuzzy
adorable creatures snatching it without his knowledge.
She heads to the moon with the intention of preventing Galactus from destroying the Earth,
and the two get to talking.
And what’s her overall solution?
She gives Galactus a planet full of nuts for him
to devourer instead.
And it works!
It ends with him not obliterating our planet, and he gives the young hero his card in case
she ever decides she wants to be his herald.
Aww.
In the process, she also mentions that she defeated Thanos that one time, to which Galactus
responds, “he’s a tool.”
Speaking of-
6 Thanos While Galactus might not be a villain in the
traditional sense, he often finds himself coming head to head with another famous Marvel
antagonist – we’re talking the mad titan, Thanos.
And when you think about how colossal Thanos’ threats to the universe have been, it makes
sense that their paths would cross from time to time.
But it’s happening multiple times, with Galactus actually being defeated by the mad
titan in the process.
This first occurred in the Infinity Gauntlet, the comic book crafted by Jim Starlin and
George Perez from the early 90s that inspired the MCU Infinity War story arc.
After Thanos acquires all of the infinity gems, Galactus is part of the cosmic forces
that attack the mad titan, only to face defeat against the all powerful big bad.
He also didn’t consume a planet he had set his hungry sights on because of Thanos, which
is the reason why he teamed up with Adam Warlock and co.
There’s been plenty of other instances too, including in the recent Cosmic Ghost Rider
story arc, in which Frank Castle’s Punisher becomes the ghost rider and then makes an
alliance with Galactus, becoming his herald, with the two teaming up to eventually take
on Thanos.
No spoilers on that one though – it’s still fairly recent.
5 Galactiac Let’s venture into an alternate reality
for a hot sec, and take a look at a version of Galactus called Galactiac.
What’s so interesting about this fellow from Earth 9602?
It’s that he’s from the Amalgam universe – a universe in which characters from both
Marvel and DC comics are amalgamated together to create some really neat alternate versions
of themselves.
Galactiac is the combination of Galactus and Brainiac.
He even starred in his own comic, called Challengers of the Fantastic issue 1.
He’s capable of manipulating energies on a cosmic scale, and rather than devouring
planets, he must replenish his energy cells by siphoning off the lifeblood of entire planets.
So still bad and kind of the same but different and mildly creepier.
4 Ultimates There was a time where Galactus almost lost
his powers for good, in the Ultimates Vol 2.
We’re not talking the 1610 universe, friends, but rather, the Ultimates series that follows
the Ultimates team on 616, when the team was Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Carol Danvers
as Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau’s Spectrum, and America Chavez.
When writer Al Ewing was plotting the end of his run on this series, he intended to
have Galactus sacrifice being the Lifebringer as a means of saving Eternity.
The whole plan was to make Galactus’ story a tragedy.
But in the process of writing it, Galactus was just too damn likeable, and Ewing changed
his mind, scrapping that whole plot entirely.
3 Monsters Myths and Marvels Apparently Galactus is even endearing to the
people of Earth 616, too.
So Marvel has this fun series in 2009 called Marvel TV that features the fictional Marvel
Channel, where you can get all the 411 on the 616.
This comic serves as an episode of a show called Monsters Myths and Marvels, and specifically
takes a closer look at Galactus.
As the description goes, “Is he really the planet-eating celestial being we’ve come
to fear with every fiber of our being?
Or is he the construct of a super hero team desperate for headlines?
Join host Gordon Allsowrth as he exposes the truth behind Galactus and the greatest hoax
ever pulled on humankind.”
Aka, a giant money scam courteous of Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four.
Galactus’ likeness is used to market a slew of products, including toys, burgers, amusement
parks, and my personal favourite – LAXATIVES.
Yes, the people of earth 616 like to use Galactus as a symbol for helping out with bowel movements.
For when you really, really, REALLY have to go.
What’s not to love?
https://imgur.com/kQ8chnx
2 His Daughter Galactus is a daddy!
Not that kind of daddy, people.
2009 not only brought us Galactus laxatives in Marvel’s panels, but also, his daughter,
Galacta, who first appeared in Marvel Assistant Sized Spectacular issue 2.
She possesses similar powers as her papa, including the use of the Power Cosmic, and
cosmic awareness, although her abilities aren’t as strong as daddy dearest’s.
Unlike her dad, Galacta isn’t consumed with the desire to consume planets, or rather,
she controls her hunger better.
She prefers to chill on Earth in her human form where she uses the alias of Gali.
She’s a hero, who uses her powers to protect earth from extraterrestrial threats.
Eventually though, she realizes her hunger can’t be satisfied, all thanks to a cosmic
tapeworm living inside of her.
Actually.
They call it Tapeworm Cosmic, of course.
As one does.
She then tried to use Wolverine’s genetic code to create a living planet with his mutant
healing factor to serve as an infinite food source, but as you can imagine, Logan wasn’t
real down with that.
Turns out the Tapeworm Cosmic is actually a cosmic being much like themselves – something
her father discovers when analyzing her – and, in other words, Gali is pregnant.
But here’s the kicker – according to Marvel’s executive editor Tom Brevoort, Galacta is
not considered to be part of the official Marvel continuity.
1 The Colour Purple Speaking of Galacta, the devourer’s daughter
and her daddy dearest actually wear the colour purple for a reason.
In our last list, we mentioned how Galactus is perceived by races across the universe;
he doesn’t have a true form, and isn’t a being in a physical sense, with each mind
seeing him as an image it can comprehend.
It comes from an effect called neurocensoring FX that causes the brain to see something
called Kirby crackles (odd black circles), which comes from the mortal brain’s inability
to directly perceive the power cosmic.
But with that in mind, there’s a reason why we see the colour purple when we see Galactus
and his daughter.
According to Galacta, it’s because, I quote, “that’s merely what your crude little
cortexes perceive” due to the colours royalty symbolism which she calls “ancient mythopoetic
cultural sludge encrusting your merely mortal minds.”
So I wonder what other kinds of colours others in the 616 universe perceive when they look
at them.
There we have it friends!
What’s your favourite Galactus fact so far?
What other stuff about the character should we have mentioned?
Give us a shout in those comments below and let us know!
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