Is Galactus a Celestial?
Galactus is exceptionally powerful and is usually thought to be one of the most powerful beings in Marvel’s fictional universe. Due to his appearance, he has often been compared to the Celestials, while some even think that he is (or might be) one of them. Is that true?
Despite the relatively similar appearance, Galactus is not a Celestial. Galactus is a very specific cosmic entity that balances between Eternity and Death and is a remnant of a former universe. Celestials are beings from our universe and are a race of cosmic aliens completely different from Galactus.
Now that we’ve given you a short introduction, let us discuss the topic of this article in more detail, starting with an introduction to the character of Galactus.
Who is Galactus?
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 rumored to make a debut in the MCU.
Is Galactus a Celestial? How different is he from the Celestials?
For you to fully understand Galactus’ nature and his origins, we had to give you a brief introduction to the character’s history. The Celestials have a completely different history, most of which is just legends and unsubstantiated theories. We know that they are a powerful alien race of cosmic entities from our own universe and that they have played a large role in the creation of our universe as we know it. They are not, like Galactus, beings from an already destroyed universe and they do not serve a higher purpose in maintaining the balance of the current universe.
Based on what we know about Galactus, as well as the Celestials, Galactus is definitely not one of the Celestials, which explains why you will not find his name on any of the lists mentioning known Celestials.
The main reason why people think Galactus is a Celestial is because of the way he looks like. He is large just like the Celestials and his armor is relatively similar to the armor worn by the Celestials. Still, if you observe his armor more carefully, you’ll see that his face is revealed, which is not the case with the Celestials; also, the Celestials are usually silent entities, while Galactus speaks quite normally.
Galactus also has a lot of different powers than the Eternals, which is what we are going to explore in the following section, but we can state with certainty that Galactus is not one of the Celestials.
Is Galactus more powerful than the Celestials?
In order to give you a proper answer to this question, we have to give you a quick overview of their powers and abilities.
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.
As for the Celestials, they have a wide array of different powers and abilities, most of which are very similar to Galactus’, although they don’t actually devour planets. To analyze each individual Celestial’s powers would take up too much space, so we’ll just conclude this by stating that they have a similar array of powers and abilities.
But, along with that, they’re just ridiculously overpowered in their own right – they can move whole planets at will and even create small galaxies on their own, and those are just some of their powers. A fight between the creators of galaxies and a being that devours them would be an amazing thing.
Galactus has fought the Celestials on several occasions in the comic books; he has even fought alongside them on several occasions, so go figure. They’re not actually enemies, but they will engage in combat if they cross each others’ paths.
Individually, Galactus is stronger than practically every Celestial, with The Dreaming Celestial, Tiamut and The One Above All (the Celestial, not the deity) being possible exceptions that could defeat Galactus in a one-on-one fight. The others? Not so much. But, the comic books have shown that Galactus is not as strong as a group of Celestials that have combined their powers into one being, which was able to defeat Galactus, as the panel above shows. So there – Galactus is stronger than almost every individual Celestial, but he would not be able to defeat their unified powers.
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!
