25 of Marvel’s best spacefaring characters

Galactus (Image via Marvel)

What’s going on beyond our planet in the Marvel universe? Things get really mind-blowing with twenty of Marvel’s cosmic spacefaring characters

We all know and love our Earth-based superheroes. Some of the most famous good guys in the Marvel canon are generally bound to Earth, like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, the Hulk, Black Widow, and so on.

Of course, that’s starting to change in the popular imagination. With the wild success of Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, more and more people are becoming aware of the cosmic side of the Marvel universe. As it turns out, there are way, way more superheroes, villains, and everyone in between beyond our planet’s system.

Some of these space-faring heroes are pretty relatable. You’ve got Star-Lord (a.k.a. Peter Quill), a plain old human (more or less) with some pretty cool skills and very helpful friendships. However, move beyond our species and things start to get a little more strange. Even within the Guardians of the Galaxy team, you’re bound to find a talking raccoon, a sentient tree, a green-skinned assassin raised by an immortal villain, and a human soul that’s been upgraded to an alien berserker body.

Dig just a little deeper into the Marvel canon, and you’ll find that it gets even better. Not only are there alien races and alternate dimensions, but also incredibly ancient beings and massive cosmic forces to deal with. I don’t know about you, but if I were an actual superhero, this would all be a little much.

Luckily, though, we’re regular humans who can enjoy the craziness from the relatively safe comfort of our own homes. For once, I’m glad I don’t have superpowers. It seems like a lot of work just within our gravitational field.

Again, a standard warning. There are some spoilers in the following slides. Given the crazy cosmic nature of these characters, not to mention the uber-complicated nature of comics in general, spoilers are fairly tame. Even if you read on, you should be able to enjoy these characters in many, many comics.