What Happened to Galactus in Marvel ‘Ruins’ Storyline & How Did He Die?

Plenty of alternate universes exist in Marvel comics, and not all of them are pleasant at all. Most of the fans are familiar with ‘What If…?’, which gave us an insight into an alternative version of events that would take place if one decision or detail was changed. But what would happen if heroes, instead of superpowers, gained monstrous deformities and became a danger to society? This is what Marvel’s ‘Ruins’ storyline is about. It features a bleak version of the world where humanity is plagued with mutations that lead to ruin. Superheroes and mutants alike are not the only ones affected by this “wrongness.” Even celestial beings found themselves to be the target of this ruin, one of them being Galactus. Let’s see what happened to Galactus in Marvel’s Ruins’ and what led to his death.

In Marvel’s ‘Ruins,’ Galactus was found floating near Mars, dead. His colossal body was photographed by a telescope, and the media assumed, due to Galactus’ nature and size, that he was some kind of a god. The photo of Galactus’ body was published in the newspapers with the title “God Found Dead Near Mars.” It is not known what led to Galactus’ demise. However, his death came after Silver Surfer clawed his chest cavity open in space to feel what it would be like to breathe air again.

Now that we’ve given you a brief summary of events that took place, it’s time to analyze them in more detail. Galactus’ floating corpse, Silver Surfer killing himself in space, and Kree invasion, all of these events are connected. Let’s see how.

What is Marvel’s ‘Ruins’ storyline about?

Marvel’s ‘Ruins’ storyline was originally imagined to be a parody of ‘The Marvel’s.’ This two-issues story was written by Warren Ellis and released in 1995. It follows a retired former reporter of The Daily Bugle, who travels the country in search of paranormal and superhuman phenomena to document, photograph and explore in his efforts to write the book called ‘The Marvel.’

According to Philip’s own words, at one point, something has gone very wrong with the world. It is filled with grotesque and abominable mutations. Instead of gaining superpowers, superheroes are often left disfigured, imprisoned, considered paranormal phenomena, and shunned away from society.

Many superheroes turned to extremism, and many simply fell victim to their handicaps. One such example is Wolverine, who can be seen flaunting his rotting body in exchange for a beer. The Adamantium inside his body is poisoning him from the inside, and instead of a powerful mutant, he is on a level of a circus freak, worthy only of pity.

In ‘Ruins Vol 1. #1,’ Philip Sheldon witnesses the destruction of Avengers Quinjet. In this reality, Avengers are a rebel group of secessionists waging a guerilla war on President X (Professor X).

Silver Surfer was directly tied to the failure of the Kree invasion

Before we explain what happened to Galactus, we have to explain what happened to his Herald, Silver Surfer, and to do that; we need to revisit the Kree invasion as it happened on Earth-9591, where the ‘Ruins’ storyline is taking place.

Philip Sheldon makes his way to Nevada, California, where Kree Reservation is currently located. Kree attempted an invasion on Earth in order to “liberate” humans, but the invasion backfired, and since then, they have been left to live in the Reservation in unspeakable conditions.

As soon as he arrives, Philip is equipped with a protective suit to combat the effects of the surrounding radiation. Kree Reservation has been placed on the site of the former nuclear tests for a good reason. Not only are Kree being punished for their past sins, but they are also being tortured daily.

Kree are not equipped with radiation suits; they are mostly left to their own devices without proper medicine, medical help, or any kind of resources.

Philp wants to interview Mar-vell, who is far from his usual self. The alien is riddled with cancer, decaying, and with mutant cataracts making him half-blind. Mar-vell agrees to the interview, and Philip asks why did they attempt to invade the Earth in the first place.

Mar-vell explains that he was originally opposed to it, but Kree leadership had different plans for humanity. Humanity was supposed to be “liberated” from the grasp of the government and put under Kree control.

Everything went wrong when their ship reached Terran space. Near the moon spotted a silver body, twisted but still recognizable as a humanoid form. Silver Surfer was still twitching when Kree ship passed him by.

He apparently clawed his chest open to expose his lungs to “air” as he wanted to know what it felt like to breathe. Obviously, Silver Surfer was once able to breathe, and the fact that he was sealed inside his metallic body obviously rendered him insane, and this is why he committed suicide since there is no air in space, and the pressure combined with other factors twisted him as soon as he broke his “seal” by clawing at his chest.

The energy that Silver Surfer was emanating messed with Kree cloaking technology, and their invisibility and cover were gone. Humanity united and started bombarding Kree ship with nuclear missiles, and to survive, they had to land on Earth, where they were promptly captured.

Kree were transferred to a Reservation, where they were exposed to horrifying levels of radiation. Mar-vell further explains that they are all basically dying of radiation there. If Philip Sheldon removed his helmet, he could smell Mar-vell’s bones rotting. One out of eight children is born alive on the Reservation, and the soldiers guarding the premises refuse to carry out Kree dead. They are forced to burn them or to “stockpile” them on sight. All of them have cancer, and what is left of Kree will be gone in 30 years.

So, what happened to Galactus?

Silver Surfer died long before Galactus, and as it turns out, something went wrong with his cosmic master as well, and he even made it to the front page of newspapers. Galactus’ dead body was floating in empty space near Mars, where it was photographed by a telescope. The image ended up in the newspapers, captioned “God Found Dead in Space.”

Humans assumed, maybe even correctly, that Galactus was some kind of a cosmic god, probably due to his size. It is unknown what happened to him as it has never been elaborated why he died, only that it happened under mysterious circumstances.

But if I had to make a guess, since ‘Ruins’ universe has a tendency to twist powers and abilities in such a way that the characters that have them are not spared from the scientific & medical consequences of having those powers, I would say that Galactus most likely starved when he attempted to consume Mars.

He avoided Earth since sentient beings inhabited it, and he set his sights on Mars before ultimately dying.

What do you think happened to Galactu in ‘Ruins’? Let us know in the comments below!