Fantastic Four: First Steps Reveals Galactus Is Finally Done Right
The big Marvel news from SDCC may have been Robert Downey Jr. coming back to play Doctor Doom, but frankly, I was more excited about the leaked Fantastic Four trailer. Not only did we get the official title of the team’s first MCU adventure, but we also got a glimpse of who they’ll be facing on that adventure. It looks like The Fantastic Four: First Steps will feature none other than Galactus as the FF’s adversary. Even better?
It looks like Marvel is doing him right this time.
Galactus’ Ill-Fated 2007 Cinematic Debut
The Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser suggests that Galactus will be a Kaiju-sized dude in a big dorky helmet. Thank Kirby! Finally, a Galactus who embraces the inherent silliness of comics and isn’t a sentient collection of space dust.
As many of you have no doubt blocked out, Galactus made his big screen debut in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) as a giant cloud nebula thingy. The movie took its cue from the Ultimate Fantastic Four, a darker, more grounded version of the team that existed at the time. Of course, grounded in this instance means the team got their powers from dimensional radiation instead of space radiation, but I digress.
A “First Step” In The Right Direction
For reasons I’ll never understand, writer Mark Millar created Ultimate Galactus, a cloud of sentient robot drones named Gah Lak Tu’s that travels from planet to planet and releases a flesh-eating virus. Because a giant celestial being that eats planets is just too goofy, right? A hive of murder-bots is just so much more practical. Thankfully Fantastic Four: First Steps, much like myself, prefers the giant celestial man version of Galactus.
An Inherently Goofy Character Design That Worked
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Galactus in 1966 as a new kind of threat for the Fantastic Four to face. They had done egotistical warlords bent on conquering Earth and wanted something more menacing. That’s when they came up with the idea of a god-like being who doesn’t want to conquer Earth but devour it.
This cosmic demigod was essentially a giant man wearing a pink and blue costume with an enormous headpiece. The design is simultaneously goofy as heck and just plain awesome—a combination of words that could describe most comic book characters. My hope is that Fantastic Four: First Steps goes all-in on classic Galactus, hot pink helmet and all. They can drop the big “G” from his chest, though; that was a tad too goofy even for Galactus.
MCU Embracing The Source Material
I’m just happy that the MCU is willing to do him as a Godzilla-sized biped. Hollywood has a bad habit of trying to make superheroes less silly. Look how long it took to get Wolverine in a comic-accurate costume. For the life of me, I’ll never understand how a man with metal claws in his hand is grounded, but if he wears a blue and yellow suit, it’s suddenly too much.
Even the MCU tried this approach in the beginning. Thor (2011) made a point of explaining that the Asgardians aren’t “gods” but aliens with “magic” that was really just advanced tech. By the time Thor: Ragnarok (2017) rolled around, however, the studio seemed more comfortable embracing the cosmic weirdness of Jack Kirby’s early designs- which brings me back to Fantastic Four: First Steps and a comic-accurate Galactus.
Teaser Looks Promising
Galactus is a cosmic threat on the same level as Thanos. And just as Thanos retained his massive chin on the big screen, the big G deserves to have his silly skyscraper-sized pink helmet. I just hope Fantastic Four: First Steps makes good on its Galactus teaser.
