Mephisto vs. Galactus: Who Would Win & Why?

In this article, we are going to compare the infernal Mephisto and Galactus, Marvel’s galactic devourer. In a fight between the devil himself and a world-devouring giant, there are no safe bets. So, who would win in a fight between Mephisto and Galactus?

As their direct conflict confirmed, Mephisto and Galactus are equally strong in terms of physical power, but due to the fact that Galactus is able to consume Mephisto’s kingdom – with which Mephisto is symbiotically connected – Galactus would win this fight.

Speaking of Mephisto vs. Galactus, there’s still a lot to be said. Throughout the rest of this article, we will look at their powers and abilities in more detail and see how the fight between Galactus and Mephisto would play out.  

Comparing the powers of Mephisto and Galactus

Mephisto is an extremely powerful immortal demonic entity that possesses magical powers and abilities obtained through manipulation of the forces of magic. Mephisto is capable of using his power for a variety of uses, including superhuman strength, changing shape and size, projecting illusions, manipulating memories, altering time, and is highly resistant to injury.

The character has been shown to be energized by sources of evil in the human realm, such as the Dire Wraith aliens. Like other demons, Mephisto is symbiotically linked and is considerably more powerful within his own realm, and the character is able to transform its structure at will. Within it, he has threatened a galaxy and has stalled a nurtured Galactus until the latter threatened to consume his kingdom.

If Mephisto’s physical form is destroyed, the character will regenerate and reform in his domain. Mephisto is known for acquiring souls, but he cannot subdue the will of another being without the permission of the victim, which is usually done with some kind of pact.

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.

Much like when we have compared Trigon to Galactus, we can establish that there is no major difference between the non-magical powers of these two characters. Yet, Mephisto has access to a wider array of magical powers that might give him an edge over Galactus, but we are going to see whether that is actually the case or not.

Galactus vs. Mephisto: Who wins?

And while we do enjoy doing our own analyses here, Marvel’s writers have done the work for us in this case. Namely, Galactus and Mephisto have indeed clashed in the pages of Marvel Graphic Novel #38 – Silver Surfer: Judgement Day (1988), written by Stan Lee and illustrated by John Buscema, the creators of the Mephisto character.

In the pages of this story, Mephisto has finally managed to trick the Silver Surfer into giving him his soul for the safety of his dear ones. Mephisto had been hunting for his soul for a while, but Galactus’ herald was always successful in avoiding him. This time, though, Mephisto was successful and he trapped the Silver Surfer in his kingdom.

Although impassive during such events, Galactus intervened and he entered Mephisto’s realm, demanding his herald back. Mephisto is always strongest in his own kingdom and he is intrinsically tied to it, which meant that Galactus had to give his best to defeat him. Did he do it?

The match seemed to be at a standstill. Mephisto, at the height of his powers, even stood to win against Galactus, who had eaten not long ago, until something happened. Galactus realized that he could simply devour Mephisto’s kingdom and he began draining its energy, which prompted Mephisto to react. Mephisto finally gave in and returned the heralds to Galactus, who had thus proven that he could defeat Mephisto – not in direct physical combat, but he did have the upper hand as he could devour Mephisto’s only source of power.

This is a bit different from our comparison of Galactus and Trigon, where we have established that Trigon could deal with Marvel’s devourer simply because Trigon has no inherent weakness. He is not tied to a planet or a realm, he is powerful as he is and Galactus would not have anything to bargain within such a scenario.