How Eternals Sets Up Galactus As The MCU's Next Thanos
Rachel Hickman Marvel's Eternals movie subtly set up Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds - and he could be the ultimate threat of the MCU's Phase 4 slate and beyond.
Marvel's Eternals movie draws on comic book lore that sets up the introduction of the MCU's Galactus. Eternals is best seen as something of a love letter to the late Jack Kirby, one of the comic book industry's greatest legends. The Eternals - and the space-gods who created them, the Celestials - were one of Kirby's grandest creations, initially envisioned as something entirely separate from the mainstream Marvel universe; under Kirby, the closest they came to a tie-in was a battle against a Hulk android.
The MCU's Phase 4 increasingly feels as though it is influenced by Kirby's sense of grandeur, and as such it's appropriate that, according to screenwriter Kaz Firpo, Eternals sets up Galactus, one of Kirby's most remarkable cosmic antagonists. Back in 1965, Stan Lee decided he wanted a story in which the Fantastic Four fought God, and Kirby came up with the design for what became Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. There's a sense in which all Marvel's cosmic stories spring from "The Galactus Saga," because suddenly it was clear to comic book writers and artists that crazy space stories really did resonate with their readers. Kirby was always wary of overusing Galactus, whom he wanted to be a unique villain - an enemy who could never be defeated in battle and thus had to be outsmarted.
Marvel regained the film rights to Galactus after Disney acquired the bulk of Fox's film and TV assets in the Disney-Fox deal, and as such it's surely only a matter of time before the Great Destroyer appears in the MCU, potentially as the next Thanos figure, a villain who could dominate an entire phase. Some aspects of the setup are subtle, others are overt, but all of it is certainly deliberate. Here are all the ways Eternals sets up Galactus in the MCU.
Galactus vs. Celestials: Is Galactus A Celestial?
Though similarly omnipotent, Galactus is not a Celestial. In one version of his comics origin story, Galactus was actually once a more ordinary being named Galan from the planet Taa, which met with a catastrophic demise after most of its people were wiped out by a plague. On a suicide mission with the rest of his surviving people to plunge into an enormous star, Galactus (who was not a Celestial) instead found himself transformed and empowered by the star's radiation. Only afterward did Galactus gain Celestial-level powers, finding that he had to continue to consume vast amounts of energy in order to sustain himself. This is how he gradually evolved into the immensely powerful Devourer of Worlds. Celestials, by contrast, are a more ancient race that dates back to the First Firmament, prior to the splintering of the multiverse. Although Galactus and the Celestials aren't the same type of being, they do play important roles in balancing each other out in the Marvel universe.
Galactus Is The Cosmic Balance To The Celestials
The Eternals movie may be heavily inspired by Jack Kirby's original comic book run, but its interpretation of the Celestials is actually derived from the classic Earth X miniseries by Alex Ross and Jim Kreuger. This is set in a dystopian future timeline, and it reveals Earth had been impregnated with a Celestial seed millennia ago, one that had been gradually consuming the Earth's resources until it matured and would emerge as a newborn Celestial, shattering the planet like an egg. According to Earth X, the potential for superhuman power had been implanted within human beings millennia ago by the Celestials so these metahumans could protect the planet, and in so doing serve as a defense mechanism for the seed that lay deep inside the Earth's core. Eternals adapts this idea a little, revealing the Eternals themselves are secretly protectors of the Celestial seeds in the MCU.
But this isn't just one of Eternals' many MCU Easter eggs; it's also an important setup, because Earth X revealed Galactus is the counter to the Celestials, bringing balance to the universe. "Left to their own devices, the Celestials would grow in number to rule the universe," the miniseries revealed. "As it is, there's only been one being in all creation who was able to keep their expansion at bay. He has had many names. Galactus. The Great Balancer. The Destroyer. The Devourer of Worlds." According to Earth X, Galactus travels to planets impregnated with Celestial embryos, feeding on the life energy contained within. He serves as a check to the Celestials, an essential part of the cosmic order. By embracing Earth X's version of the Celestials, the MCU has also implicitly set up Galactus as their counter.
The Eternals' Cosmic Energy Sets Up Galactus As Well
Other elements of Eternals' Galactus setup are rather more subtle. As seen in the film's opening scenes, the Eternals were granted their powers by the Celestials. Although it's never confirmed in dialogue, Marvel marketing has confirmed this was done by imbuing them with "cosmic energy." According to character descriptions that were released alongside merchandising, each Eternal manipulates this cosmic energy in a unique way; Ikaris projects beams of intense cosmic energy from his eyes, Thena forms cosmic energy into any weapon she can imagine, Sersi uses cosmic energy to transmute matter. The term "cosmic energy" may seem pretty broad and ill-defined, but in the comics, it is actually associated with Galactus himself.
The comics traditionally portray Galactus as master of the Power Cosmic, able to wield exactly the same kind of power associated with the Eternals, albeit on an infinitely greater scale. The Earth X approach provides a nice explanation for Galactus' vast power; he feeds on the cosmic energy of the Celestial seeds, absorbing it into his body, then using it as a weapon. This potentially resolves the mystery of why the Celestials appear to have retreated from the universe, using proxies like the Eternals but otherwise only emerging in order to usher a newborn into whatever realm they are residing in. If Galactus is a predator who feeds on cosmic energy, then over the millennia he has likely absorbed so much energy that his power would exceed the MCU's Celestials, and so they have hidden lest he hunt full-grown Celestials rather than sate his appetite on their seeds.
Eternals Even Sets Up Galactus Heralds
It's even significant that the Celestials can actually imbue other beings with cosmic energy. In the comics, Galactus uses the Power Cosmic in exactly the same way, choosing Heralds to traverse the spaceways ahead of him, granted a fraction of his own power that they may seek out worlds for him to consume. The most famous of these Heralds is the Silver Surfer, but there have been numerous others, each with their own distinct powersets (in fact, even Thor Odinson was a Herald of Galactus for a brief period). In functional terms, the MCU could view the Heralds of Galactus as the Devourer's response to the Eternals, because their task would be to locate worlds containing a Celestial seed that Galactus could then go to feed upon. It's interesting to note one of the Eternals, Ikaris, appeared to be more powerful than the others, so much so it took multiple Eternals to bring him down; perhaps every team of Eternals protecting a Celestial seed has an alpha warrior fashioned to take on a Herald should they arrive on the planet.
There's already been speculation that the Heralds of Galactus could appear in Phase 4, simply because the heroes being introduced are now operating on a completely different power level to those of the first three phases. The most powerful hero of Phases 1-3 was Captain Marvel, who brought down Thanos' Sanctuary II spacecraft singlehandedly and was able to recover from a punch boosted by the Power Stone. Since then, she's already been exceeded by the Scarlet Witch, and several of the Eternals would be able to trade blows with her pretty easily. In narrative terms, only Heralds like the Silver Surfer, Air-Walker, and Terrax could take these heroes on.
Galactus Could Serve As The MCU's Phase 4 Thanos Figure
Galactus is one of the most powerful beings in Marvel Comics lore, and Marvel Studios won't want to waste him. It's likely the MCU intends to use Galactus as a villain who dominates one or more phases, akin to Thanos, simply because that approach would allow them to explore him to his full potential. This fits with a recent interview with Eternals writers Ryan and Kaz Firpo, where they seemed to believe they were laying the groundwork for something major coming in the MCU and that the Eternals' future direction is tied to it in some way. As Ryan Firpo explained:
"The analogy that I use a lot is that, if you're playing chess, then your objective is to checkmate the opponent, but you don't know exactly how you're gonna do that - you're setting up a bunch of paths to victory, and I think Kevin and everybody at Marvel are brilliant chess players, and they know how to set those pieces up and give themselves multiple paths to victory. So while there is not specifically the exact storyline, we have a lot of ideas of where we could go, and it'll be based on a lot of other variables that come to fruition."
Looking at Phase 4, there are so many opportunities for Marvel to continue developing this Galactus theme. The upcoming Secret Invasion Disney+ TV series is lifted from an event that, in the comics, was triggered when Galactus destroyed the Skrull homeworld. It's possible Galactus has done something similar in the MCU as well, consuming their sanctuary world and leading a group of the shapeshifting alien Skrulls to stage a secret invasion of Earth. It's reasonable to assume Secret Invasion will set up The Marvels, given there are clear narrative throughlines for the supporting cast, and that film could expand the scale of the threat, potentially introducing the first Herald of Galactus. If this theory is correct, then Eternals is just the first step toward something truly spectacular in the MCU, and it won't be long before more clues are dropped.
