Marvel Already Showed Us How to Defeat Galactus (And The Fantastic Four Should Take Note)

Marvel Studios recently released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and it has already whipped fans into a frenzy. Not only does the movie mark the debut of the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but this early glimpse shows that this is looking to be the most faithful version of Marvel’s First Family ever put to screen. The Fantastic Four’s cinematic history has been … well, uneven, to put it mildly. The Roger Corman-produced 1994 film is far too cheesy and low-budget for fans of the comic book (though good luck finding it, as it was never officially released). The Tim Story-helmed 2005 and 2007 films captured elements of the characters, but don’t hold up today. And the less said about Josh Trank’s bleak and confusing Fant4stic, the better.

One of the biggest takeaways from the Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser is the brief yet impactful appearance of the beloved villain Galactus. Audiences were treated to a disappointing version of the character — who appeared in the form of a giant space cloud — in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and fans have been waiting for a comics-accurate version ever since. While this glimpse of Galactus is short, it proves that Marvel Studios may very well have gotten the Devourer of Worlds right this time. And while the visual accuracy of Galactus is certainly important, how the film handles the character’s ginormous presence will be critical to how fans respond to this new take. Funnily enough, Marvel Comics has already given us a perfect — if somewhat ludicrous — way to defeat the massive planet-eater, one that the Fantastic Four may want to keep in mind.

For those not familiar with Galactus, he’s one of the most powerful cosmic beings in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and made his grand appearance in 1966 in Fantastic Four #48 as part of the famous “Galactus Trilogy” storyline. What separates Galactus from other typical villains is that he isn’t necessarily “evil” — while he does consume entire planets, it’s simply to sustain himself and not out of malice. He’s more of a force of nature rather than a straight-up bad guy. Before he appears to eat a planet, his arrival is often announced by his herald, the Silver Surfer (who will appear in First Steps as Shalla-Bal). Throughout his publication history, he’s clashed with almost every major hero, but most of his battles have been with the Fantastic Four.

Galactus is a massive entity and is not easy to take down. Well, there is one comic book that showed us a pretty easy way to defeat him. Marvel Team-Up #137, released in 1983, sees Galactus running low on energy and heading to Earth to ask Reed Richards (aka Mister Fantastic) of the Fantastic Four for help. Unable to find him, he tracks down Reed’s young son Franklin Richards at the circus with Peter Parker’s Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson. Considering how powerful Franklin is, Galactus tries to turn him into his next herald to find sustenance for him, but accidentally transforms Aunt May into his herald, now called Golden Oldie.

[RELATED: Did The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Edit Out Reed’s Stretching Powers?]

Desperate to find a way to satiate Galactus’ hunger, Franklin offers him a Twinkie. That’s right, the Hostess snack. (Well, not really. Probably to avoid legal issues, the snacks in the comic are called Twinkles, but we all know what they really are.) Sure enough, Galactus not only discovers that the, ahem, Twinkle is enough to begin restoring his energy, but he also quite likes the taste. But this is a guy whose nickname is the Devourer of Planets, so one little pack of “Twinkles” isn’t going to cut it. This prompts Golden Oldie, with her newfound powers, to scour the galaxy for more sustenance and stumbles upon a planet-sized snack that he soon consumes. Of course, because he just sucked down a giant pastry, Galactus returns to Earth asking for a glass of milk.

If this premise sounds ridiculous to you, rest assured that it’s all just a dream that Peter Parker had. And if that sounds ridiculous to you, rest assured that Peter waking up from a crazy dream is revealed to be a dream that Marvel Comics editor Danny Fingeroth just had. And if that sounds ridiculous to you, rest assured that Danny waking up from a dream is revealed to be a dream that the Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief just had. And if that sounds ridiculous to you, rest assured that…

Yes, the whole thing is revealed to be a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream, which explains how silly the concept of satisfying Galactus’ hunger with a spongecake filled with whipped cream is. Still, while the comic may not necessarily be canonical, is there any proof that debunks the idea that Twinkie could theoretically keep Galactus at bay? It might be smart of the Fantastic Four to at least keep a few packs on hand just in case.