The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrived with a version of Galactus (Ralph Ineson) that is terrifyingly faithful to his comic book origins, a being of immense cosmic power whose very existence is a threat to all life. The film portrays him as a force of nature, born before the universe itself and cursed with a relentless hunger that drives him into a never-ending quest for sustenance through the destruction of inhabited worlds. This Devourer of Worlds is not merely a villain to be punched, and the movie brilliantly captures the scale of this threat. As a result, the narrative of The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows the desperate struggle of the First Family as they try to prevent Earth from becoming Galactus’s next meal, a monumental task that pushes the heroes to their absolute limits and requires every ounce of their combined strength and intellect to overcome.
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in the separate timeline of Earth-828, a universe where the Fantastic Four are the only known superheroes. This narrative choice brilliantly isolates the team and heightens the stakes, making their hard-won victory all the more impressive and meaningful. However, had Galactus’s hunger led him to the Sacred Timeline of Earth-616, he would have faced an overwhelming reception. That’s because the main Marvel Cinematic Universe is populated by a host of god-like beings and reality-warping powerhouses who have faced down apocalyptic threats before. As such, many of these established MCU characters are uniquely equipped to repel the cosmic giant, potentially with far greater ease than the Four. Here’s our pick for seven characters from the MCU who could have taken out Galactus.
1) The Sentry
Introduced in Thunderbolts*, Robert “Bob” Reynolds (Lewis Pullman) is the sole survivor of devious experiments conducted under the watch of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The film establishes his incredible power from the outset, showing him to be invulnerable to bullets and completely unfazed by punches from super-soldiers. His strength is on a level that seemingly rivals the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and his super-human speed is so extreme that he appears to teleport from one spot to another in an instant.
The Sentry’s mighty telekinetic abilities, however, are what make him a true cosmic-level threat. The Sentry can stop bullets with a thought and bend the environment to his will, turning his surroundings into a weapon. Against Galactus, this power could be used to dismantle the Devourer’s complex technology from the inside out. Furthermore, his Void persona can trap enemies in a shadow dimension filled with their worst memories, a psychological prison that could potentially neutralize a being as ancient as Galactus. This combination of raw power and psychic warfare makes him one of the few individuals who could face the world-eater head-on and win.
2) The Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) tragic journey through the MCU transformed her from a telekinetic Avenger into the Scarlet Witch, a prophesied being of almost limitless power. Her innate ability to channel Chaos Magic allows her to rewrite the very fabric of reality to suit her will. This was most dramatically demonstrated in WandaVision, where her overwhelming grief manifested as the Hex, an elaborate alternate reality that controlled an entire town and its inhabitants. She accomplished this incredible feat subconsciously, a display of power that far exceeds conventional magic.
Against a physical cosmic force like Galactus, the Scarlet Witch’s reality-warping abilities make her a uniquely devastating threat. She would not need to engage in a battle of energy blasts or physical force. Instead, she could simply decide that Galactus no longer exists or alter the fundamental nature of his being to erase his hunger. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, she proved her lethality by effortlessly dismantling the defenses of Kamar-Taj and slaughtering the powerful heroes of the Illuminati, while under the mind-warping effects of the Darkhold. A focused Scarlet Witch could have simply unmade the threat of Galactus with a whisper.
3) Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is one of the MCU’s premier cosmic powerhouses, with abilities derived directly from the energy of an Infinity Stone. Her powers include projecting and manipulating vast amounts of cosmic energy, superhuman strength, and the ability to fly at faster-than-light speeds. While she demonstrated her power by single-handedly destroying the warship of Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame, her most awe-inspiring feat came in The Marvels, where she reignited a dying sun.
Re-starting a star requires an output of energy on a truly celestial scale, placing her on a level comparable to Galactus himself. This feat proves she could potentially disrupt the very energy that Galactus feeds on. Her ability to absorb and redirect energy would be a critical advantage, as she could theoretically drain power from his world-devouring technology and turn it back on him. In short, Captain Marvel’s proven capacity to manipulate stellar energy makes her a direct counter to a being whose existence is based on planetary consumption.
4) Thor
As the Asgardian God of Thunder, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has spent over a thousand years battling cosmic threats across the Nine Realms. Still, his already formidable god-like strength and control over lightning were amplified to an entirely new level when he forged the axe Stormbreaker. This Uru weapon, created in the heart of a dying star, not only channels his power but also grants him the ability to summon the Bifrost, allowing instantaneous travel across the universe.
Thor’s most defining moment of power came in Avengers: Infinity War. After surviving the full force of a neutron star to create his weapon, he arrived in Wakanda and single-handedly turned the tide of the battle. More importantly, he hurled Stormbreaker with enough force to overpower a blast from the fully assembled Infinity Gauntlet, driving the axe deep into Thanos’ chest. This act demonstrated that Thor can wield power capable of challenging the fundamental forces of the universe. Against a physical titan like Galactus, Thor is one of the few heroes with the combat experience and a weapon proven to be capable of injuring such a cosmic-level entity.
5) Thanos
The ultimate villain of the Infinity Saga, Thanos, became the most powerful being in the universe the moment he placed the final stone into the Infinity Gauntlet. With all six Infinity Stones, he gained absolute mastery over the essential aspects of existence: space, mind, reality, power, time, and soul. In Avengers: Infinity War, he demonstrated this horrifying power by turning his enemies’ attacks into bubbles, shattering a moon to use as a meteor shower, and, ultimately, erasing half of all life with a snap of his fingers.
Faced with a threat like Galactus, a fully powered Thanos would not need to bother with a physical confrontation. The Gauntlet’s capabilities are limited only by the wielder’s will. So, Thanos could use the Reality Stone to transform Galactus’s ship into dust, use the Soul Stone to snuff out his life force, or simply use all six stones to wish him out of existence entirely. As Thanos himself boasted, he could “shred this universe down to its last atom” with the Infinity Gauntlet. A being who consumes planets is no match for a being who can unmake reality itself.
6) Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has consistently saved the world through superior intellect and a masterful command of the mystic arts. As the former Sorcerer Supreme, his greatest weapon is his mind, allowing him to bend reality, traverse dimensions, and conjure spells that can restrain even the most powerful of foes. While his fight against Thanos on Titan showcased his impressive combat magic, his most significant victory was won through sheer cleverness and endurance.
At the end of Doctor Strange, Stephen faced the extra-dimensional conqueror Dormammu (voiced by Cumberbatch), a being of pure power who existed beyond time. Knowing he could not win a direct fight, Strange used the Time Stone to create an infinite time loop, trapping both himself and the cosmic entity in a moment of his own death, repeated endlessly. He forced Dormammu into a stalemate through sheer psychological attrition, saving Earth without throwing a single punch. Against Galactus, he could employ a similar mind-bending strategy, trapping the Devourer in the Mirror Dimension or using a spell to force him into an unwinnable loop until he surrendered.
7) Loki
Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) long and chaotic journey through the MCU culminated in a truly astonishing transformation. Evolving from the God of Mischief to the God of Stories, he has become arguably the most powerful and important being in the entire multiverse. At the end of his titular series, Loki mastered his ability to control time itself, destroyed the Temporal Loom, and physically wove the infinite timelines into a new, stable World Tree, Yggdrasil. He now exists outside of time, personally holding the entire multiverse together.
His new role places Loki on a plane of existence far beyond physical conflict. He is no longer just a character within a story, but a fundamental force ensuring that all stories can continue to exist. If Galactus were to threaten a timeline, Loki would not need to fight him with magic or illusions. He could simply rewrite the narrative, traveling back in time to prevent Galactus’s arrival, pruning the entire reality where he poses a threat, or simply altering the story so that Galactus never became a world-eater at all. As the master of the multiverse, Loki wields the ultimate power: narrative control.
Which other MCU characters do you think could take down Galactus? Let us know in the comments.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
