Galactus: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Galan

First Appearance: Fantastic Four #48 (March, 1966)

Powers: Possesses the Power Cosmic. Through it, Galactus is afforded cosmic awareness, telepathy, telekinesis, size alteration, energy projection, teleportation of himself and objects throughout space, forcefields creation, resurrection, creation of new life, manipulating emotions, memories and the souls of those around him, destroying many solar systems at the same time, and matter transmutation.

Affiliation: N/A

Did You Know? Galactus gives power to others so that they may find him planets to consume.

A Little History

The origin of Galactus is pretty straightforward. 

Before he was Galactus, he was Galan and Galan was an ancient explorer from the planet Taa. The planet Taa existed long ago (the 6th Universe) before the current Universe existed. As a result of a cosmic-wide cataclysm Galan and a many others sought to escape Taa. Unfortunately, in their attempted flee, the ship that was carrying Galan was consumed by, for lack of a better description, the end of the Universe. That is, the cataclysmic event (Big Crunch) triggered the death and rebirth (Big Bang) of the Marvel Universe. Unlike the majority of the Universe, Galan survived the event. This happened after he bonded Sentience of the Universe. For reference, the Sentience of the Universe is was the embodiment of life in this Universe just as Eternity is in the new Universe.

After making contact with the Sentience of the Universe, Galan began to undergo a series of changes. These changes happened over the course of billions of years. Once complete, Galan, now Galactus, emerged in the new Universe. Starving, he sought out a nearby planet to consume. That planet, Archeopia, would go down in history as the first of many planets Galactus consumed to survive. Once Archeopia was consumed, Galactus began the construction of a ship. The ship, Taa II, was built in the memory of his former home.

After engaging in and winning numerous battles, Galactus quickly realizes that he cannot continually battle and search for planets to consume. This causes him to create a Herald with the purpose of that Herald to seek out planets to feed on. Although his first two attempts at this prove to be unsuccessful, his third attempt was anything but. In exchange for the safety and sparing of his homeworld, Zenn-La, Norrin Radd agrees to become the third Herald of Galactus. Now called the Silver Surfer, Radd spend the next many years in servitude of Galactus.

And that’s it. The origin of Galactus.