30 Days of Scans: Day 22: Favorite Villain.

[halialkers]

This scan will never get old, and while this is not the first time I've posted it I figure this is perfect for a favorite villain post.

My favorite villain is Galactus, Devourer of Worlds.



Why? Because first Galactus was in a lot of ways Trope Codifier for all other Cosmic beings that came after him (and was shamelessly ripped off as Unicron and Imperiex). Unlike most villains there's no real way to fight him, he's a Lovecraftian cosmic horror that predates our Universe and unlike Cthulhu and company is alive and well in the present day. This unfortunately makes him a prime target of the Worf effect, but such is the fate of all cool and powerful characters, unfortunately. Especially in the realm of comic-bookdom.

Galactus is scarier than other villains for the same reason the Great Old Ones are scarier than demons: the most terrifying villain imaginable is one to whom humans are nothing but ants that he doesn't notice or bear real malice to. Galactus predated most of these and helped offer a new and frankly awesome kind of villain that Marvel *still* does better than DC, with the exception of the Anti-Monitor, Mageddon, and Final Crisis Darkseid.

And also because he owned Thanos. XP.

Comments

[hyperactivator]

That is a cosmic Burn. I love the G-man.

[oddpuppets]

While I haven't read all of the Big G's appearances, I'm a big fan, and my favorite moment has to be in NOVA, when Nova and Silver Surfer are battling it out as Galactus consumes a world. The epicness of the whole thing was just so big. Galactus was just cosmic in every sense of the word. That should be how all artists and writers treat Galactus from this day on.

[lonewolf23k]

I always agreed with the "Cosmic Horror" interpretation of Galactus, as well as the idea that he only -looks- like a big human in purple armor to human heroes, because we'd be unable to grasp his true form.

[halialkers]

As I see it with a Devourer of Worlds it really doesn't matter how evil/not evil *he considers himself*, from the perspective of any sapient lifeforms on the planet he will be such.

[naela]

He's definitely served the role as an antagonist in plenty of cosmic Marvel stories, but I wouldn't really say Galactus is a villain per se. From what I remember about his role in the universe, Galactus is a necessary balancing force?

Either way I definitely love the Big G. It took me a while when I was starting to get into comics to take a giant man in a purple jump suit seriously.

[proteus_lives]

I love what Stan Lee said about Galactus, "He isn't evil, he isn't good. He IS."

[selke]

Thanos just got told by a giant man in a pink hat. Pure win.

[yaseen101]

Galactus just gave Thanos the Cosmic Diss.

[arilou_skiff]

Yeah, Galactus is a fantastic character.

But I wouldn't really call him a villain.

[fifthie]

Too many characters want to prove what a badass their character is by having them ace Galactus. That Nova story was fantastic and one of the few that treats Galactus like he should be treated, like a fundamental force of the universe that can't be fought even by characters at the very high end of what normally counts as the Marvel character power scale.

[fifthie]

If he showed up and ate your planet, killing everyone and everything you'd ever known, you'd probably call him a villain.

[fifthie]

The only thing less than completely fantastic about Galactus is that he doesn't have a proportionately giant conical head underneath that giant purple hat.

[stubbleupdate]

Where do you stand on Gah Lak Tus?

[psychopathicus_rex]

There's also the notion - which I read in a spin-off novel; I'm not sure if it's featured in the main MU - that Galactus counts as a Cthulhu-like horror to many inhabited planets in his current form, because there are a number of intelligent lifeforms on said planets that don't have a bipedal humanoid structure, so for them, seeing a giant humanoid in the sky evokes the same reaction as we'd have upon seeing a giant octopoidal creature in the sky - 'HOLY CRAP, WHAT IS THAT HIDEOUS THING?!' A gigantic cosmic entity that eats your planet while looking like you is bad enough; a gigantic cosmic entity that eats your planet while looking like some freakish... THING is even worse.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I could be wrong, but isn't Galactus kinda small in that scan? I mean, normally he's absolutely gigantic, at least fifty to a hundred feet tall, if not higher; whereas here, he seems to be no more than two or three times the height of the others.

[geoffsebesta]

Unfortunately, they've overused him and thus humanized him.

[geoffsebesta]

And that's the deeper question, isn't it? We hate him like cows hate us.

[lonewolf23k]

Perspective at work. They're actually on his desk on the other side of the room. (not really, but it works for me)

[psychopathicus_rex]

His desk? What does he need a desk for? To write letters on? And if so, to whom?

Galactus: Surfer, deliver this letter to Queen Grugumbia of the Planet Fruton. It's urgent, so hurry.

Silver Surfer: Yes sir! *goes a little ways, then stealthily opens the letter and reads*

'Deer Kween. How R yoo. Iyam fyne. Thanx so moch fer the 'apeasmunt givt'. The chogolates wur delishus. Luv, Galactus. P.S - Iyam comin to eat yoour plahnet.'

*to self* He's really got to work on his writing skills...