Darkseid vs Galactus: Who is Stronger?

We’re back with our series of comparisons between comic book characters, this time again pitting a DC Comics character against a Marvel Comics one. This time, we are going to compare DC’s ultimate supervillain, Darkseid, against Marvel’s largest cosmic threat, Galactus. Who is stronger? Keep reading to find out.

This was a tough one, as both Darkseid and Galactus are enormously powerful. But since Darkseid never showed his omnipotent “True Form”, we believe that the Dark God of Apokolips would be able to defeat Galactus in that form.

Marvel Comics is a comic book publishing company founded in 1939 under the name Timely Comics. Timely Comics changed its name to Marvel Comics in 1961. Along with its chief rival, DC Comics, Marvel Comics is the biggest and most important mainstream comic book publisher in the United States.

Marvel has, along with DC Comics, contributed to the development of American comics, specializing in the superhero genre. Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby are just some of the pivotal writers who’ve helped shape the style and universes of Marvel Comics.

Throughout the years, Marvel has created several pivotal superhero characters and has launched successful franchises such as the Avengers, X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy, all of which have been adapted into movies, TV shows and video games.

Some of the most famous Marvel Comics heroes are Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Wolverine, Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey; but, the franchise also includes famous supervillains such as Thanos, Apocalypse, Galactus, Loki, Magneto, the Mandarin, Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Venom and others.

DC Comics, for those of you that are not familiar with the story behind the comics, is a major American comic book publisher founded back in 1934. Along with Marcel Comics, it is the most popular comic book publisher in the United States.

DC Comics is a major player in the comic book business and is the “home” of many famous comic book characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and many others.

Now that we’ve given you a short introduction, let us discuss the topic of this article in more detail.

Galactus and his powers?

Galactus is a fictional character from the Marvel Universe, a cosmic entity known as the devourer of planets. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, debuting in Fantastic Four #48 (1966).

Despite usually being portrayed as an antagonist, Galactus is actually essential in the upkeep of the Marvel Universe and is not primarily a villain like some other characters.

He has appeared as a protagonist in several stories, as well as being both a main and a recurring character over the years. He is considered to be one of the best and most popular Marvel villains.

Galactus was actually a humanoid alien explorer known as Galan from the Taa-an species. After passing a star, Galan gained god-like powers and turned into Galactus, a god-like entity that has to devour planets because he feeds on their energy.

His origin was further expanded by revealing that he had lived during the previous universe, before the Big Bang that created the current one; Galactus still remains the last living being from the previous universe. Due to his nature, Galactus has been an inspiration for many writers who’ve explored his story and his character further.

Being a god-like entity, Galactus is usually depicted as having a very different sense or morality than regular humans, which often causes him to clash with Earth’s superheroes. He has an immense set of powers and is considered to be one of the most powerful beings in the whole Marvel Universe, especially if full on energy after having devoured several planets.

He is usually accompanied by a herald (the most famous one being the Silver Surfer) to whom he has granted cosmic powers. The herald travels the universe and searches for suitable planets for Galactus to feed on in order to satisfy his endless hunger. Although not impossible, it is exceptionally difficult to stop Galactus from devouring a planet once he’s decided to do so, which is why the best option is to leave the planet and let it get eaten.

It is presumed that Galactus cannot be stopped, even to the degree that he will probably be the last living being once this universe has collapsed, just like the one before it.

Due to his immense popularity, Galactus has appeared in a number of derivative media, including a cameo in the movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). He is one of the villains heavily rumoured to make a debut in the MCU.

Darkseid and his powers?

Darkseid is a fictional character appearing in stories published by DC Comics. He was created by the legendary Jack Kirby and made his full debut in Forever People #1 (1971), after having had a cameo in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970).

Darkseid is a supervillain in the DC Universe and is usually depicted as the greatest supervillain in the whole franchise. He is one of the New Gods and the merciless ruler of the planet Apokolips. Darkseid’s chief plan is to erase every being with free will in the universe and then reshape the whole universe in accordance with his principles, which is why he often clashes with DC’s superheroes, including the Justice League.

Darkseid was born as Prince Uxas as the son of King Yuga Khan and Queen Heggra of Apokolips. He was the second in line for the throne of Apokolips, after his brother Drax (a.k.a. Infinity-Man). At one point, when Drax tried to claim the famous, yet powerful Omega Force, Uxas killed him and claimed the force himself as part of his plot to take over the planet. The Omega Force transformed Uxas into a rock-like creature, which is when he took the name Darkseid. Not long after these events, Darkseid had his mother poisoned and became the sole ruler of Apokolips.

His early reign is mostly remembered for the destructive and seemingly endless war with the neighbouring planet of New Genesis, where the good New Gods reside. Led by Darkseid’s brother Highfather, the gods of New Genesis fought Darkseid and wanted to stop his evil plans. The war was actually stopped through intense diplomatic efforts made by Darkseid’s son Scott Free (Mister Miracle) and Highfather’s son Orion; in truth, the two children were switched in early childhood, so Orion is in actuality Darkseid’s son, and Scott Free is Highfather’s son.

Darkseid is usually depicted as the biggest supervillain in DC’s Multiverse, although there are more powerful cosmic entities inhabiting the Multiverse. He turned Apokolips into a hell pit and made a plan to conquer the whole universe and submit every sentient being with free will to his own vision of a Darkseid-ruled universe. He traveled the universe, conquering and destroying planets and then terraforming them so that they resemble the hell pit he created on his home planet.

He played a role in several major DC Comics storylines, the most notable among them being Final Crisis and The Darkseid War. In Final Crisis, Darkseid is seemingly killed by Orion at the beginning of the story, but his life essence survived and traveled to Earth, where he took on a human form (“Boss Dark Side”) until returning to his original body.

Using the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid threatened the whole universe and was eventually confronted by the Justice League. He was shot and mortally wounded by Batman using a Radion bullet (the same one that killed Orion, since Radion is Darkseid’s Kryptonite) and finally “killed” by the combined effort of the two Flashes, Wonder Woman and Superman; Batman was hit by Darkseid’s Omega Beam and was sent back in time, finally returning after a long time traveling experience.

In The Darkseid War, Darkseid had to fight the Anti-Monitor, another evil cosmic entity from the DC Universe, and was eventually killed by him. This event had serious consequences for the evolution of future stories. In Scott Snyder’s Metal series, he appears as a baby.

Darkseid has appeared in a lot of derivative material, do to him being one of the strongest villains in the DC Universe and one of the most popular. He has appeared in several animated movies (he played a key role in the DCAU movie franchise), several video games (most notably Injustice and the LEGO Batman series) and is set to appear in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, where he will be played and voiced by Ray Porter.

Darkseid vs Galactus: Who is stronger?

We have told you who they are, now it’s time to compare them. Both Darkseid and Galactus are among the strongest and most feared villains in their respective universes, so it’s going to be interesting to see how they compare.

Let us start by comparing their powers. As for Galactus, his powers include god-like qualities (such as speed, strength and stamina), levitation, psionic abilities (telekinesis, telepathy), the ability to teleport, energy manipulation and molecular manipulation (through which he can change the molecular structure of others).

He is also invulnerable when at full energy and is practically immortal, although he can be weakened if not fed regularly. He also has other god-like abilities such as resurrection and creation (seemingly out of nothing), and can sense disturbances around the universe.

He can also change his own shape and size. His true form is unknown; as Galan, he was a humanoid alien, but his true form as Galactus is unknown because he appears to each being in a form resembling their own (this is why humans see him as a giant, armored human). His true form has never been shown.

Darkseid, on the other hand, is not just a god-like being, he is a god. One of the New Gods, to be precise. Although being humanoid, New Gods (something like the Eternals in Marvel’s universe, but a tad more powerful) are exceptionally powerful, with Darkseid being the most powerful among the group.

He has superhuman strength and stamina, and his regeneration skills, combined with his nigh invulnerability make him practically immortal; Darkseid has died on several occasions, but it was never permanent. He also gained the power of the Omega Force, which made him a lot stronger than before.

Thanks to the force, he can fire Omega Beams, beams of energy that can destroy matter in a second (although some cosmic entities like Doomsday or Superman are immune to it). He also has cosmic awareness, he can travel through dimensions and space (he can create Boomtubes at will, without the need for a Mother Box), he can alter his size and has psionic abilities (telekinesis, telepathy).

Thanks to the Omega Force, he can also resurrect the dead. If needed, he can also feed on the energy of Apokolips and other planets, much similar to Galactus.

By comparing their powers, we can easily see that they are very similar. They even share the same “planet devouring” ability, although the nature of their destructive force is very, very different. In order to help us answer our question, we have to consult a 1995 comic book written by John Byrne, entitled “Darkseid vs Galactus: The Hunger”.

In that story, Galactus enters the DC Universe and heads for Apokolips to devour it, being extremely hungry. Once he arrives, the two supervillains fight, demonstrating their majestic powers for the readers to enjoy.

In this story, Darkseid used his Omega Beam on Galactus, only to determine that Marvel’s entity was immune to them. Galactus quickly fired back, but his attack also didn’t do much damage to Darkseid.

Realizing the similarities of their natures, as well as the fact that Apokolips’ energy had already been drained by Darkseid and that Galactus would have nothing to feed on, the two powerful villains cease their battle and declare a draw.

The only official fight between the two ended without a clear winner. This means that we have to analyse their powers and abilities to find out who is stronger.

As stated, their powers are mostly similar and it is not easy to state which character would overpower the other. Galactus is strong, but he has been beaten on several occasions by characters who are obviously below his power level.

Such a thing has never happened to Darkseid; he lost to his son Orion, a New God, to the Anti-Monitor, also a superpowered cosmic entity, and to the Justice League, which has several superhuman members.

As for Batman, the Dark Knight is Darkseid’s intellectual peer and although physically inferior, Batman used Radion and his mind to defeat Darkseid.

Also, Darkseid prefers to avoid direct confrontation, opting to manipulate his opponents using his superhuman intelligence and then crushing them. In that aspect, Darkseid would probably be able to devise a tactical approach for defeating Galactus, especially since Galactus loses a lot of energy when not eating.

On the other hand, Galactus is immune to most of Darkseid’s attacks, so it would be interesting to see how long such a battle would last. But, there is one thing that we haven’t mentioned that gives Darkseid the advantage here.

Namely, according to Darkseid himself, every incarnation of him in every dimension is just an avatar, not even near his full potential. His “True Form” has never been revealed, but it has been said on several occasions that this form is locked away for a reason.

Namely, Darkseid’s “True Form” is so powerful that its mere existence would completely destroy the whole Multiverse. Galactus can survive a lot of things, but his powers are not even near this level. This kind of power is extraordinary and would probably make Darkseid one of the most powerful comic book characters ever, if not the most powerful.

This is why – we think – Darkseid would have absolutely no trouble defeating Galactus in his “True Form”, which would ultimately mean that Darkseid is stronger than Galactus. Galactus wasn’t able to defeat Darkseid’s avatar, which is a lot weaker than the “True Form”, so he would probably not stand a chance against a being so powerful its mere existence would cause the collapse of everything. And that is our final verdict – Darkseid is stronger than Galactus.

And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!