With Marvel Studios set to kick off the MCU’s Phase 5 this coming February with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, one corner that will undoubtedly be crucial as we approach the upcoming Avengers films will be the cosmic side. This corner of the MCU involves stories featuring characters such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and the Eternals. The upcoming phase will explore even more stories and characters in projects such as Secret Invasion, The Marvels, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Additionally, we’ve heard word of more cosmic characters coming into play later on in the upcoming phases, such as Nova and Silver Surfer.
We’ve previously reported that Silver Surfer would debut in a Disney+ special, set to premiere before his appearance in the upcoming Fantastic Four film. With Silver Surfer making his presence known in these upcoming projects, it’d be wise to assume that his master Galactus is not too far behind. After all, it was recently revealed via some early storyboards from Thor: Love and Thunder that Galactus almost had a cameo appearance in the film.
Whether or not the Devourer of Worlds will appear in any of the previously mentioned projects with or without Silver Surfer still needs to be confirmed. In today’s theory, we’ll discuss why now is the perfect time to introduce Galactus into the MCU and how his appearance will factor into the upcoming Multiverse Saga.
Galactus’ origin predates the birth of our multiverse
In the comics, before becoming the Cosmic entity that devours planets, Galactus was born a humanoid named Galan on a planet known as Taa. Galan’s origin is particularly interesting because he is the sole survivor of his respective universe. While Galan was still a humanoid, his entire Multiverse was threatened by its imminent demise as the multiverse as we knew it would eventually be consumed by an entity known as the Black Winter.
In the comics, the Black Winter is, in essence, a larger-scale entity with a purpose similar to Galactus’. The critical difference is that the Black Winter can destroy entire universes and multiverses rather than only consuming planets.
Now, as the Black Winter devoured the previous multiverse, the sole survivor of that universe was Galan. Galan survived when imbued with the energy of the former embodiment of the multiverse, the Sixth Cosmos, and was birthed into the new multiverse as Galactus, eventually situated in Earth-616.
How this translates into Galactus’ MCU origin
As Marvel Studios continues to unravel the events of The Multiverse Saga in these upcoming projects, what better timing is there to introduce a character whose very origin is set alongside the birth of the multiverse? However, I don’t expect Marvel to go for an accurate comic book origin for Galactus. In fact, multiple elements necessary for Galactus’ MCU origin have already been introduced in previous MCU projects.
During the first season of Loki, He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and the TVA thoroughly explained how there was a multiversal war amongst the various Kang variants from across the multiverse before the Sacred Timeline was established. This event nearly destroyed all reality across the multiverse. Before that could happen, He Who Remains found and weaponized Alioth, a creature capable of devouring space and time. Using Alioth, He Who Remains wiped out all remnants of the other universes, keeping the MCU-Earth (designated Earth-616) as the sole universe.
I suspect that Marvel could incorporate these elements as the basis for the origin of Galactus. The multiversal war between Kang variants could be the catalyst for the demise of Galactus’ original universe. Alioth could be the MCU counterpart to the Black Winter as the entity that consumes the entire multiverse.
Multiversal wars and a warning for the future of the MCU
The reasoning as to why this concept is the most likely scenario for Galactus’ MCU origin is not only a way to connect Galactus to events that have already been told in the MCU but also play a critical factor in the events that can come next. By having Galactus be a survivor of the previous multiversal war, he can be an exciting antagonist to some events in The Multiverse Saga.
Galactus’ reasoning for devouring Earth could arise as a preventive measure to save the universe (and multiverse) from the threat of Kang. Knowing full well what Kang and his variants are capable of, if he can consume Earth before the Kang variant’s birth, he is saving the entirety of his universe.
Obviously, the Earth won’t be consumed by Galactus, and Kang will still be around later in future projects. But Galactus could warn the people of the Earth about the incoming danger of Kang the Conqueror and how the universe will be headed into a multiversal war. Who he could warn – whether it’s the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, or someone else – is a theory for another day.
What do you think? Is it finally time for Galactus to make his debut in the MCU? Let us know on social media or The Cosmic Circus Discord! Also, check out what else Marvel will have in store for Galactus’ herald, the Silver Surfer, here.
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