MCU: Galactus appears in Fantastic Four footage broadcast at the San Diego Comic Con Hall H

 Galactus (/ɡəˈlaektəs/) is a fictional character from American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is now a cosmic entity that consumes planets to sustain its life force and plays an important role in the continuity of the main Marvel universe. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuted in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966).

Lee and Kirby intended to develop a figure
who deviated from the archetype of the typical villain. Galactus was originally envisioned as a god-like creature that fed by draining the energy of live worlds and operated without regard for mortal morals or judgment.
Galactus' original origin was that of a Taa-an space explorer named Galan who gained cosmic abilities by passing near a star,[5], but writer Mark Gruenwald expanded on the character's origins, presenting Taa and Galan as existing in the universe prior to the Big Bang, which set the stage for the current primary universe.
As Galan's cosmos came to an end, he combined with the "Sentience of the Universe" to become Galactus, a monster with so much cosmic power that he needed to devour entire planets to survive. Additional work by John Byrne, Jim Starlin, and Louise Simonson investigated Galactus' function and purpose in the Marvel Universe, as well as the character's activities in light of issues such as genocide, manifest destiny, ethics, and n1atural/necessary existence. Frequently accompanied  By a herald (such as the Silver

Surfer), the character has played both antagonist and protagonist in key and supporting roles. Galactus has appeared in almost five decades of Marvel continuity, dating back to the Silver Age of Comic Books. Galactus was ranked sixth on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Villains" in 2009, with the character's "larger-than-life presence" acknowledged as one of the most influential villains ever created. IGN also observed that "Galactus is one of the few villains on our list to really defy the definition of an evil-doer" because the figure is compelled to destroy worlds out of hunger rather than malevolent intent.

Other Marvel media that has included the character including animated television shows, video games, arcade games, and the 2007 movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Ralph Ineson will play him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).

Origin:

Article focus: The Trilogy of Galactus

Creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby worked together on an enemy in 1966, almost five years after the debut of Marvel Comics' main superhero publication, Fantastic Four. The goal of the antagonist was to defy the stereotype of the supervillain as a tyrant with god-like strength and grandeur.[8] In 1993, Lee recalled,

We loved making supervillains, and Galactus was just another in a long line of them. We thought the only way to surpass ourselves was to create an evildoer with abilities that were nearly divine. So, the obvious choice was a demi-god of sorts, but what would we do with him now? We did not want to resort to the old and stale cliché that he was out to conquer the globe. The Marvel Universe, like with all the other comic book galaxies, has an ample supply of ambitious global conquerors. At that moment, inspiration arrived. Why not make him a less than heinous person? A demi-god ought to transcend good and evil, after all. He would simply be—don't laugh—hungry. And the life itself would be his food. vitality and power from inhabited worlds.

Publication history:

The character made his debut in The Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of three issues that would eventually be referred to as "The Galactus Trilogy," created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby.