Here’s How & Why Galactus Consumes Planets

If one thing Galactus is famous for, it’s his penchant for devouring planets. Galactus is a sort of morally grey figure in the comics as far as his acts go, solely due to the fact that he needs to devour planets to survive. But why does he need to do it? Plenty of cosmic entities exist with pre-determined purposes, and Galactus’ seems among the most destructive we’ve ever seen, but apparently, what he is doing is vital for the balance in the Universe, and we decided to explore this in a bit more detail. Now, let’s see how and why Galactus eats planets. 

Galactus consumes planets because he craves life-sustaining energy that only planets with rich biosphere can provide. He is driven by the so-called “hunger,” and his existence depends upon it. Galactus was created to be a herald of a much older and much more destructive entity that does the same thing but on a universal scale. Galactus devours planets through direct contact or by utilizing a special device that makes the process of converting the biosphere into energy much more efficient. 

When did Galactus start eating planets & where’s the limit? If you’re still interested in finding out the answer to these questions, stay with us! 

Galactus devours planets for their life-sustaining energy 

Galactus was not always an enormous cosmic entity with ravenous hunger. At one point in the distant past, he was a humanoid alien hailing from the planet Taa from the previous incarnation of the Universe. He was only (un)lucky enough to survive the destruction of his home Universe and was transformed into the form we know today by the Black Winter. 

Black Winter is a multiversal entity that spreads the plague and entropy, consuming entire universes, and it just so happened that it selected Galactus to be its Herald, which does the exact same thing but on a smaller scale. 

Galactus is driven by a primordial hunger for an energy-rich biosphere that powers all of his life-sustaining functions and powers. Without eating planets, Galactus will gradually weaken and die. And this is something that apparently shouldn’t happen. Silver Surfer got the opportunity to kill Galactus while he was “hatching,” when he traveled billions of years into the past, but he was stopped by Uatu the Watcher. Galactus is necessary for the survival of the Universe, and even if he is killed, he will reappear again. 

So, Galactus devours planets, or rather, their energy to survive, but he also acts like a necessary force of nature and needs to exist. This is why it’s hard to condemn his acts and why most fans don’t consider Galactus a true villain. 

If Galactus doesn’t eat planets and the life that sustains them, the life spreads increasingly in every direction until all of the Universe is transformed into Cancervers, twisting everything in sight until it’s turned into an abomination. By devouring planets capable of sustaining life, Galactus also most likely keeps the population of Celestials in check since they can plant themselves only on biosphere-rich planets, at least according to some theories.

So, yes, Galactus keeps Universe balanced by keeping the cycle of life and death going, but on a massive scale, whether the heroes and villains alike liked it or not. 

 How often does Galactus needs to feed?

In his younger days, Galactus could go a lot longer without devouring a planet, but as he got older and his energy expenditure increased, he was finding himself to be hungrier more often. At first, Galactus avoided devouring planets that were rich with sentient life, but as his hunger was becoming more and more potent, he started eating planets inhabited by intelligent lifeforms. No matter how much Galactus regretted it, he still mostly succumbs to his hunger, realizing that there’s really nothing he can do about it.

Luckily, in recent times, Galactus is focused on devouring knowledge following his death at the hands of Thor and his most recent resurrection. But this likely won’t stick for too long, Galactus was transformed into a Lifebringer once in the past, and he reverted back to his destructive form eventually. 

How does Galactus consume planets?

Galactus can consume planets by either touching them or via a specialized machine that converts the biosphere directly to energy. There has to be a reason why Galactus is able to manipulate his size to reach incredible heights right? Well, there is. Galactus can “consume” an entire planet by touching it, but this process is not the one he favors. Since Galactus has to track his “energy expenditure” quite closely, eating planets by hand is really energy inefficient, as he needs to put effort into it, and a lot of energy is wasted in the process. 

This is why Galactus most often employs a special device that converts biospheric energy into the type of energy that Galactus needs with much greater efficiency, meaning that Galactus has to do minimal work to get the highest possible output of energy and remain sated longer. 

Can Galactus eat stars & why doesn’t he do it?

Galactus can, and in the past, did eat stars, but it proved to be highly infective. He doesn’t crave just any kind of energy; he craves biosphere, and this is why solar energy doesn’t do much to sate his hunger. The more rich biosphere a planet has meaning, ecosystems, different plants, creatures, and elements that can support life, the more “energy-rich” a planet is as far as Galactus is concerned. 

Stars have almost no biospheric energy to offer, and this is why he avoids eating them, but he will do it if there is no viable solution in sight. Galactus can also, in theory, feed on planets that do not support life, but just like when it comes to stars, he will gain little from it. 

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