25 of Marvel’s best spacefaring characters

Galactus (Image via Marvel)

23. Galactus

Given that I’ve spent so much time talking about Galactus, it’s only fair that we give him his own little feature here. Also, given that he’s a gigantic, planet-devouring individual who has existed since before our very universe, it’s only polite. We don’t want to make enemies like this, after all.

Turns out, Galactus wasn’t always the cosmic-level terror that he is today. He was originally Galan, a brave explorer from the planet Taa. Where’s Taa? Oh, it was in the universe, before the events of the Big Bang. Yes, I’m referring to the Big Bang which scientists commonly accept as the origin of our current universe.

When the scientists of Taa discover that life is slowly but inexorably dying off throughout the universe, a group of survivors leave their planet on a spacecraft. However, they nearly all die in the Big Crunch, the end point of a collapsing universe.

Galan somehow survives this and merges with the Sentience of the Universe. When he emerges from his cocoon, he is spotted by a Watcher, who predictably does nothing to stop this new and incredibly destructive being. Maybe that Watcher should have done something, at least, because it turns out that Galactus is really, really hungry.

There is a lot more about Galactus, but it is crazy enough that you should attempt to discover it on your own. Plus, I’ve got only so much space here to talk about a character that turns out to be well and truly cosmic in scale.