Marvel Studios hiring Ralph Ineson to voice Galactus in The Fantastic Four is exciting news. But like the Devourer of Worlds himself, the new big screen Galactus’ arrival comes with a warning: don’t do what Fox did.
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That may sound needlessly ominous. After all, the first two Fantastic Four movies released by what was then 20th Century Fox weren’t that bad. Okay, the scripts were weak, the acting uneven, the production values patchy – the laundry list of shortcomings runs on. Yet the characters in Fox’s Fantastic Four flicks are all (broadly) recognizable – except for Galactus. And this, as much as anything else, is what killed Fox’s first stab at a Fantastic Four franchise.
So, even though Marvel Studios keeps making all the right choices with its Fantastic Four reboot, the whole production could easily come crashing down if they don’t avoid Fox’s big Galactus mistake.
Who Is Galactus in Marvel’s Fantastic Four Comics?
To understand how badly Fox fumbled Galactus, it’s important to appreciate who he is in Marvel comics continuity. As envisioned by his creators, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and the many Marvel writers and artists who followed them, Galactus is a cosmic being of near-limitless power, with an appetite to match. The Big G’s purpose in the Marvel Universe is to maintain balance, and he does that by gobbling up planets. So Galactus is, essentially, a force of nature, with all the awe that conveys. At the same time, he’s also a gigantic dude in a big purple helmet that readers can hiss at.
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And this is true of pretty much the entire Marvel multiverse too – except for the Ultimate universe. Here, Galactus (or “Gah Lak Tus”) is a hive-mind creature made up of zillions of city-sized drones. Still, Gah Lak Tus shares its mainstream counterpart’s penchant for consuming entire worlds, albeit with a more wilfully genocidal bent. In short: the swarm-like entity is a more grounded, less fantastical take on Galactus. That’s probably what made it so appealing to the team behind Fox’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver, which smooshed both versions of Galactus together.
Where Fox’s Fantastic Four Went Wrong with Galactus
Merging Galactus and Gah Lak Tus for Rise of the Silver Surface was a major miscalculation, though. By depicting Galactus as a non-speaking space cloud, the movie stripped the FF’s legendary foe of any gravitas. He’s just a generic alien threat, rather than an awesome, quasi-Biblical presence, complete with booming, “end times” proclamations. Lee and Kirby’s vision for Galactus – as effectively God coming down to Earth for Judgment Day – is completely lost. Heck, even Gah Lak Tus has a creepy, ineffable vibe. But this Galactus? He barely registers.
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Admittedly, realizing a comics-accurate, classic Galactus design with 2007 CGI would’ve been tough. And to their credit, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer director Tim Story and his team tried to hint at Galactus’ true nature throughout the film. However, it’s still not enough. Galactus doesn’t work without a voice, or – with apologies to Gah Lak Tus – a body. The Devourer of Worlds may be above human concerns, but the reverse should never be true. Yet that’s what happens once Galactus is given a form so otherworldly that we can’t properly relate to it. That’s ultimately where Fox’s Fantastic Four went wrong with the character: Galactus needs to be a big guy in a big helmet.
Marvel Studios Can Get Galactus Right
Fortunately, Marvel Studios’ track record suggests they’ll succeed with Galactus where Fox failed. After all, the Celestials seen in Eternals (and elsewhere in the MCU) are proof the production company isn’t scared of putting towering, brightly-hued humanoids in its movies. Plus, they’ve cast the famously baritone Ineson to supply Galactus’ vocals, so that’s the oversized glutton’s bone-rattling pipes sorted. Indeed, Marvel has all the ingredients for a satisfying live-action Galactus ready to go. It’s a good thing, too – The Fantastic Four‘s success almost certainly depends on it.
The Fantastic Four arrives in cinemas on July 25, 2025.
Published: May 19, 2024 10:15 am