Move over, Thanos — there's a new cosmic baddie in town. But what makes the Devourer of Worlds so much scarier than the Mad Titan?
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00:00Move over, Thanos!
00:01There's a new cosmic baddie in town, but what makes the devourer of worlds so much scarier
00:06than the Mad Titan?
00:07Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe.
00:10Not anymore.
00:11Thanos' cosmic nature is part of what makes him so terrifying.
00:15I am inevitable.
00:18The Mad Titan has spent much of his existence traveling the stars, and so there's always
00:23a pretty good chance he'll call on some new, unexpected threat to bring down Earth's mightiest
00:27heroes.
00:28Unlike Galactus, though, Thanos might as well be a basement dweller.
00:31When Galactus was first born, he was a denizen of the planet Tar, named Galen.
00:36Unfortunately for Galen and his people, the multiverse in which Tar existed was coming
00:40to an end.
00:41Galen tried to save his people, but they, and everything else, succumbed to the plague
00:45known as the Black Winter.
00:47Before Galen's entire reality ceased to exist, however, the sentients of the sixth cosmos
00:52merged with Galen's body, uniting their two beings to become Galactus.
00:55Basically, this means that Galactus both survived the fall of his own multiverse and
00:59existed throughout the one inhabited by most Marvel superheroes.
01:03Thanos' own life story is chump change in comparison.
01:06If Galactus were an ordinary mortal, then his prolonged lifespan and millennia of experience
01:11wouldn't be quite so scary.
01:12After all, there's only so much a person can remember at any given time, so who cares if
01:17the guy came from an older multiverse?
01:19Thing is, Galactus also happens to possess a truly towering intellect.
01:23Before he fused with the sentients of the sixth cosmos, Galen had been a scientist and
01:26explorer with an inquisitive mind and plenty of skills.
01:29After the fusion, he gained access to the Power Cosmic.
01:32The source of unimaginable energy gave him enhanced intelligence and near-total knowledge
01:36of the workings of the universe.
01:38The Power Cosmic also provided Galactus with a bunch of other abilities, but we'll get
01:42to them later.
01:43Patience
01:44Obviously, the Marvel Universe is home to many geniuses, or genii, or whatever.
01:48Generally, though, Reed Richards is seen as the benchmark for human superintelligence,
01:53but even Mr. Fantastic has often found himself stumped by Galactus' intellectual prowess.
01:57While exploring Galactus' spaceship, for example, Reed and the other members of the Fantastic
02:01Four discover technology that they can't even begin to comprehend.
02:05This is the kind of stuff that would change the course of any mortal civilization, if
02:08Galactus didn't hoard it all for himself, that is.
02:11Thanos
02:12Here's another reason why Galactus is a much scarier threat than Thanos.
02:15See this guy?
02:16He's pretty big, right?
02:17But this guy?
02:18Yeah, you see where we're going with this.
02:20He's perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
02:23Setting aside all their powers, minions, and special equipment, Galactus has a clear physical
02:28advantage over Thanos.
02:29In the comics, Galactus is absolutely massive.
02:32He tends to stand at almost 30 feet and weighs more than 16 tons.
02:36Though he actually has the power to change his size at will, he once grew so big that
02:40he was able to wrestle with the literal sun.
02:42As such, Galactus doesn't technically need to use any of his powers to crush the insects
02:46that cross his path.
02:48While there's been plenty of chatter about Galactus' relatively small size in the first
02:51trailer for the Fantastic Four first steps, it's worth remembering that there's a good
02:55chance he's simply shrinking so as to better move around on Earth.
02:58And even if this is Galactus at maximum size, well, he's still about a hundred times larger
03:03than old Purple Chins.
03:05Galactus is perfectly capable of traversing open space on his own, but he prefers to conserve
03:09his energy, so he usually jets around in a mile-wide spherical starship that's capable
03:14of interdimensional travel.
03:15The crown jewel of his fleet, however, is a so-called worldship, otherwise named Tartu,
03:20in tribute to Galactus' lost homeworld.
03:22Galactus' worldship is mind-bogglingly big, and even has its own gravitational pull.
03:27It's just about the most intimidating deep space object you could ever lay your eyes
03:30on, in fact, though he didn't just build it to be flashy.
03:33Tartu actually serves as a base of operations for Galactus, allowing him to continue his
03:37scientific research and missions.
03:39To that end, the ship features all kinds of bells and whistles, including an intergalactic
03:44zoo where Galactus keeps animals from the various worlds he's devoured.
03:47In short, the worldship is a sick ride, and it puts Thanos' sanctuary starships to shame.
03:53Like heroes, villains are often defined by their motives.
03:56Thanos isn't just scary because he's a powerful warrior with an Infinity Gauntlet.
03:59He's scary because he's dead-set on destroying half of the universe.
04:03The hardest choices require the strongest wills.
04:07That said, he has his reasons for doing so.
04:08The MCU version of the character believes that he can solve the universe's many problems
04:13by cutting its population in half.
04:15The comic book version wants to cause mass deaths so that he can impress Death herself.
04:19Galactus doesn't operate in the same way, though.
04:21He isn't driven by a moral code or an emotional impulse.
04:24The real reason that Galactus tears through the universe, consuming entire planets, is
04:28because he needs to.
04:30Planets are the only source of fuel for Galactus' massive body and his cosmic powers.
04:34This means that you usually can't reason with Galactus, and there's nothing you can offer
04:38him that will make him stop.
04:39In some ways, Galactus is a victim of his own powers because, even if he wanted to stop
04:44killing, he couldn't.
04:45Essentially, he's more like an unstoppable force of cosmic destruction than a standard
04:49supervillain.
04:50And isn't that much, much scarier?
04:52The true source of Galactus' abilities is the Power Cosmic.
04:55This is the essence of the sixth Cosmos' sentience, which had previously melded with the once-mortal
05:00being called Galan.
05:01Without the Power Cosmic, Galactus would never have existed.
05:04With it, his powers are nearly limitless.
05:06Going back to some of the most impressive feats Thanos carried out during the MCU's
05:09Infinity Saga, he used the power of the Infinity Stones to transform reality around the Guardians
05:14of the Galaxy, for example, and crash an entire moon onto Iron Man.
05:18Pretty cool, right?
05:19Well, Galactus is more than capable of doing all that and more, and he doesn't need rocks
05:23to do them, either.
05:24We actually got a lot of those.
05:25Some of the guys use them as paperweights.
05:28With the Power Cosmic, Galactus can shape reality to his will, teleport himself across
05:32space and time, and even create life itself.
05:35The Power Cosmic also grants Galactus almost complete understanding of everything in the
05:39universe, meaning virtually nothing exists beyond his knowledge.
05:43On top of that, Galactus can grant his heralds access to the Power Cosmic, making his henchmen
05:47stronger than most Marvel heroes.
05:49Infinity Gauntlet?
05:50Who needs it?
05:52Most Marvel villains are destined to spend most of their free time fighting for our entertainment,
05:56and Galactus has taken on some seriously impressive foes over the years.
05:59Of course, ending entire civilizations is basically his day job, so it should come as
06:03no surprise to learn that he can crush entire enemies with ease.
06:07More impressive, perhaps, is the fact that he once held his own in a war with the gods
06:10of Asgard, and in Fantastic Four Number 603, he even killed a Celestial.
06:15Because they have access to the Power Cosmic, Galactus' heralds can be just as strong as
06:19he is.
06:20The Silver Surfer, for example, once fought two Perennial gods at once and managed to
06:23kill them both, albeit narrowly.
06:25The only thing that slows Galactus and his heralds down is energy loss, but even this
06:29can be mitigated.
06:30When he knows there's a big battle coming, Galactus will consume multiple planets to
06:34charge up his resources.
06:35At that point, there's basically no force in the universe that can stand up to him,
06:39Thanos included.
06:40All that you know is at an end
06:43As terrifying as Galactus might be, most of his victims will never see him face-to-face.
06:48Galactus spends much of his time living on Tartu, and so his minions tend to do the dirty
06:52work for him.
06:53Galactus' heralds are his most recognizable servants, and they're almost as terrifying
06:56as the big man himself.
06:58The heralds can channel the same energy that fuels Galactus' own powers, so any of them
07:02can battle Galactus' enemies on their own.
07:04They also tend to have their own set of powers, or extraterrestrial abilities, which set them
07:08apart from most even before they're chosen to serve Galactus.
07:12But the heralds aren't the only helping hands that Galactus has on board Tartu.
07:15The Devourer of Worlds also utilizes a legion of robots called Punishers, which are made
07:19with alien technology from a world long since destroyed.
07:23Thanos has his own team of loyal helpers, of course, a group of formidable aliens known
07:27as the Black Order.
07:28In all the time I have served Thanos, I have never failed him.
07:34Powerful as they may be, though, Thanos' generals are no match for those that serve Galactus.
07:39The Watchers aren't really known for getting involved in fights, but stranger things have
07:42happened in the grand cosmic history of the Marvel Universe.
07:45A long time ago, the Watchers gave a lesser race called the Priscilla-kins a helping hand
07:49by providing them with nuclear technology.
07:51Unfortunately, instead of using this tech for good, the Priscilla-kins used it to wage
07:55war.
07:56First on themselves, and then on other planets.
07:58As a result, the Watcher M.Nu created the Ultimate Nullifier to bring the war to a sudden
08:02end.
08:03With one shot, the Ultimate Nullifier wiped out almost all of the Priscilla-kins, and
08:07destroyed 90 percent of the known universe.
08:09The Fantastic Four first learn about the Ultimate Nullifier when Johnny Storm finds it on Galactus'
08:13ship.
08:14They successfully threaten Galactus with the weapon to prevent him from consuming the Earth,
08:18and after that, it comes in and out of play on multiple occasions.
08:21The Ultimate Nullifier is even more devastating than the Infinity Gauntlet, and could arguably
08:26be called the most dangerous weapon in the entire Marvel Universe.
08:29Galactus keeps it on T'ar, too, partly to protect himself, but also to defend the rest
08:33of the universe against greater threats.
08:35So you now know that Galactus is an even bigger deal than Thanos, but it's also worth knowing
08:39that he'll still be around long after the Mad Titan is gone.
08:43In Fantastic Four number 262, Reed Richards is put on trial by the Galactic Tribunal because
08:48he spared Galactus' life in a previous encounter.
08:51Reed admits to the crime, and he confesses that he's filled with guilt knowing that Galactus
08:55will inevitably consume another world.
08:57However, Reed also reveals he's discovered that Galactus plays an important role in the
09:01universe's ecosystem.
09:02A Watcher speaks up to agree with Reed, and then Galactus himself appears, summoning the
09:07Being Eternity to explain that his role in the universe is greater than anyone can imagine.
09:12Reed's son, Franklin, later develops a unique relationship with Galactus after becoming
09:16immortal himself in FF issue 16.
09:18And adult Franklin Richards and Galactus commiserate over the fact that they'll one day watch the
09:22end of the universe together.
09:24Galactus explains that he always knew he'd outlive the universe, and that he has spent
09:27much of his life fearing he would have to go through it alone.
09:30So, why exactly is Galactus so important to the universe?
09:33Well, let's say you're standing in Times Square, looking up as Galactus looms over the Earth.
09:38The planet is about to be eaten, when who should fly onto the scene but the Fantastic
09:41Four?
09:42Then, during the battle, the heroes actually somehow manage to kill Galactus once and for
09:46all.
09:47Groovy, right?
09:48Okay.
09:49O-kay.
09:51Just as you begin to celebrate, however, a much bigger, scarier being known as Abraxas
09:56rises up and wipes the entire multiverse from existence.
09:59Oh well, better luck next time, reality.
10:01The thing is, as inconvenient as it may be for the planet he's about to munch on, Galactus
10:05needs to be left alive in order to prevent an even worse fate from unfolding.
10:09Abraxas is a twisted cosmic entity driven to destroy all of creation, and it's only
10:13Galactus' immense power that prevents him from being unleashed.
10:17The moment Galactus dies, Abraxas will be freed, bringing death and destruction on an
10:22unimaginable scale.
10:23By which point, you'll probably be wishing Thanos had turned up on Earth instead.