Marvel Studios recently announced that Galactus will be making his live-action debut in the upcoming MCU film Fantastic Four: First Steps, and that he will be played by actor Ralph Ineson. No further details or plot points have been made available, which means there’s plenty of time for Marvel Studios to decide to adapt Galactus’ forgotten origin as opposed to his original one, as that would allow the MCU to use its own existing lore to shape his backstory.
In the four-part limited series Hunger by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Leonard Kirk, readers are shown how the events of the Age of Ultron in Earth-616 affected the Ultimate Universe of Earth-1610. During the Age of Ultron, the Avengers used time travel to defeat the murderous machine, and by doing so, they ripped a hole through time and space. That created a rift between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, one large enough for Galactus to travel through. Upon entering the Ultimate Universe, Galactus bonded with his Earth-1610 counterpart, Gah Lak Tus, turning him into the ultimate powerhouse.
Hunger details how the greatest cosmic heroes of the Ultimate Universe united against this ultimate Galactus, but more than that, the story goes into the origin of Earth-1610’s original version of the character, Gah Lak Tus. Gah Lak Tus is a hive of nearly indestructible android drones that had only one directive: consume. The Gah Lak Tus swarm aimlessly devoured planets across the cosmos, using the energy it got from every world it consumed to continue this cosmic slaughter. And Gah Lak Tus was created by none other than the Kree.
The MCU Should Use Galactus’ Ultimate Universe Origin & Tie His Villainy to the Kree
The Kree Empire has been Well-Established as an MCU Villain, Making this Galactus Connection Perfect
While the Kree Empire has been portrayed as neither a villainous nor heroic entity in Marvel Comics’ main continuity of Earth-616, it has absolutely been established as a major villain in the MCU. The Kree were villains in Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and The Marvels, not to mention Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the underlying villains of Secret Invasion, as the Kree were responsible for the Skrulls’ desperate situation in the first place.
Using the established villainy of the Kree to explain Galactus’ origin would be a brilliant move by the MCU. The Kree were introduced in the MCU working with Thanos, after all, so it would be perfect if they also ushered in another major antagonist. Plus, being responsible for the creation of Galactus would elevate the Kree Empire’s own standing as a main MCU villain, which is something the MCU has seemingly been building toward all these years, and would act as a fantastic payoff for long-time fans.
Galactus’ Ultimate Universe Origin Would Make Him an ACTUAL Villain in the MCU
The one thing that many fans have rightly been concerned about when considering Galactus’ MCU debut is the fact that he’s not actually a villain. In Earth-616, Galactus is tasked with maintaining a cosmic balance by consuming worlds. He’s not evil, but a force of nature that must exist. Gah Lak Tus, on the other hand, was created by the Kree to consume the worlds of the Empire’s enemies, but the hive-mind malfunctioned and began consuming every world it came across. Gah Lak Tus is not a force of nature, it’s an affront to nature, making it a legitimate villain.
By giving the MCU’s Galactus Gah Lak Tus’ origin story, the MCU would succeed in expanding the villainous legacy of the Kree Empire that it’s been building upon for more than a decade, while also establishing Galactus as an actual villain. In other words, Galactus’ forgotten Ultimate Universe origin is a way better fit for the MCU than the original.
