New images give us an official look at a very different Galactus from The Fantastic Four: First Steps, reminding us how incredible the new Marvel Cinematic Universe villain really is. Ralph Ineson joined the MCU as the planet-eater Galactus in 2025, finally bringing a comic-accurate version of the Devourer into live-action 59 years after his Marvel Comics debut in 1966. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer depicted Galactus, controversially, as a cosmic gas cloud in 2007, but Marvel finally put him in his iconic helmet and armored suit in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
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While it was incredible to see Galactus in his iconic Marvel Comics costume in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we almost also saw a very different version of the villain. New images shared by Ryan Meinerding, Marvel Studios’ Head of Visual Development, reveals what Ineson looks like as Galactus without his helmet. “This wasn’t in the movie,” Meinerding explains. “But we explored options from the comics where you could see his whole face.” This shows more of the details of Galactus’ skin, face, and connection to his machinery beneath the helmet, giving us new insight into the antagonist.
What is Galactus’ MCU History in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?
While Galactus’ history hasn’t really been explored in the MCU, there are that his backstory is similar to that from Marvel Comics. Galactus was originally Galan, an ordinary man from the world of Taa. In the MCU, he was a mortal man who, at some point, became imbued with the Power Cosmic, allowing him to reach a new plane of existence. He grew in size significantly, and honed his powers, and became a source of balance for the universe, as he traveled around devouring entire worlds to satiate his unending hunger and consume the energy stored inside them.
Galactus’ armor is also his method of feeding, as he consumes worlds by having his ship, Taa II, break them apart with force, then melt them down in a refinery into a molten substance that Galactus absorbs through tubes in his back. This fate almost befell Zenn-La, but Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner) became Galactus’ herald, the Silver Surfer, in exchange for sparing her world. Galactus originally targeted Earth to be consumed, too, but later turned his sights to the unborn Franklin Richards, who he realized was also imbued with the Power Cosmic, making him a fit heir to his throne.
We haven’t yet seen Galactus in the MCU’s primary continuity of Earth 616, as The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduced the iteration of the space-faring Devourer from the 828 Universe. He is still alive after The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but his location is unknown, as Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Shalla-Bal managed to push him into the teleportation bridge. This opens the door for Galactus—whether from Earth 828 or the primary Earth 616—to return in the MCU’s future.
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Image courtesy of Netflix -
Image Courtesy of Netflix -
Image courtesy of Bethesda
