Galactus

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About

Galactus is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. A cosmic being that consumes entire planets to sustain his live force, Galactus appoints "heralds" such as Silver Surfer to find suitable worlds to devour. Galactus is speculated to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the next major supervillain after Thanos.

Origin

Galactus first appears in the December 1965 issue of Fantastic Four (#48), in which his herald, Silver Surfer, discovers Earth and, finding it suitable to be consumed by his master, summons him.^[1]^[2]

The backstory of Galactus is explained in the July 1969 issue of Thor (#169).^[3] Galactus was born as human Galan in the previous incarnation of the planet Taa. When the Sixth Cosmos collapsed to form a Cosmic egg to be reborn as the Seventh Cosmos, the Sentience of the Cosmos merged its essence with Galan, which birthed Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds (panel shown below, left).

Galactus played a major role in Marvel continuity and has been a supporting character of Fantastic Four, God Squad and other comic series.

Online History

Fandom

While Galactus hasn't spawned a distinct meme trend, the character itself has appeared in memes and fan art since the late 2000s (examples shown below)

Speculated MCU Appearance

Galactus, a major antagonistic character in Marvel Comics has been speculated to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, possibly as the next major villain after Thanos.

In April 2023, CBR^[4] and other media reported on a rumor that Galactus will appear in the upcoming Marvel film Fantastic Four. On August 3rd, 2023, Culture Crave^[5] reported that Galactus will be the main villain in the film, with the tweet gaining over 3,000 retweets and 39,600 likes in one day (shown below).

The tweet prompted viral discussions about the character making its debut in MCU, with users arguing that unlike Thanos or Kang the Conqueror, Galactus did not need a massive build-up before first appearing.^[6]^[7]