Every Marvel enemy has their own unique destructive power that threatens the universe, but perhaps none are quite as terrifying as Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds.
This unimaginably huge and monstrous being eats planets whole to keep himself alive. In order to help him with his duties and find suitable planets, he chooses servants that he provides with the Power Cosmic. These beings are known as Heralds of Galactus (with the Silver Surfer being the most famous), and there have been quite a few over the years. Let’s take a look at all of them.
Generally, Galactus has one active Herald at a time. Some Heralds, like the Silver Surfer, get to keep the Power Cosmic. Others do not. There are very familiar names who’ve held the position and even more that have been very minor characters, or just mentioned in passing. Who are the best Heralds? We’re going to rank them between 1 and 5, with one being trash and 5 being the best that ever was. Who will come out on top?
The Fallen One – Rating: 1.5
The Fallen One was Galactus’ first Herald, and like most Heralds, Galactus granted him some of the Power Cosmic. Instead of dutifully serving his master, Fallen was too unpredictable and very cruel, so Galactus imprisoned him. He would escape many times and eventually became a Herald for Thanos.
Unknown Herald – Rating: -3
The Unknown Herald was with Galactus the first time he targeted Earth (the first of many times). This was in A.D. 1582, and told in the first six issues of the S.H.I.E.L.D. comic book. Galactus was felled by Galileo and the Brotherhood of the Shield, and the unidentified Herald remains unidentified to this day.
The Silver Surfer – Rating: 5
Is there any Herald more well-known than the Silver Surfer? Once a simple astronomer on Zenn-La, he sacrificed himself to save his planet from Galactus. After being imbued with the Power Cosmic, he became the Silver Savage we know him as today. Eventually, he grew tired of his master’s wanton destruction and rebelled along with the Fantastic Four to save Earth, and act that freed him from Galactus’ grasp.
The Air-Walker – Rating: 2
After the loss of the Silver Surfer, Galactus went through a bit of a Herald ho-phase, if you will. His first post-surfer replacement was a member of the Nova Corps named Gabriel Lan. After getting the Power Cosmic, he became the Air-Walker. The Air-Walker was actually very faithful to Galactus and even sacrificed himself to protect him. Galactus was too weak to bring him back to life so he transferred Air-Walker’s consciousness into a identical android. It didn’t work and Galactus tried to get the robot to convince Silver Surfer to come back, but Silver and the Fantastic Four beat him up instead and Galactus left him on Earth.
The Firelord – Rating: 3
Next up is Firelord, who was Gabriel Lan’s first officer. He saw Lan get taken, so he vowed to get him back. After years passed, he eventually found Galactus and beamed aboard his ship. Galactus was impressed and chose him to be his next Herald. Firelord, in the pursuit of his duties, ran into Thor, who bargained with Galactus to let him go in exchange for taking a construct known as the Destroyer.
The Destroyer – Rating: 5
The destroyer was basically just a brainless suit of armor made even more powerful with the Power Cosmic. He was pretty much the perfect Herald; he would never rebel or have any thoughts of rebellion ever. Unfortunately, Loki stole him and the search for a new herald began again.
Terrax the Tamer – Rating: 4.5
At this point, Galactus was over giving humans the Power Cosmic. They were too unpredictable, so he chose a tyrant named Tyro and got the Fantastic Four to defeat him so he could give Tyro the Power Cosmic, which transformed him into Terrax. While Terrax has no qualms about destroying worlds, he had no loyalty to Galactus and tried to kill him. He almost succeeded but Galactus took back the Power Cosmos and left Terrax for dead, but he was near death himself. Ultimately, Reed Richards saved Galactus’ life.
Nova – Rating: 3.89
Nova came into Galactus’ periphery after being too weak to leave Earth after the whole Terrax fiasco. Originally named Frankie Raye and dating Johnny Storm, she jumped at the chance to be the new Herald. She was a great Herald, did her job and even dated the Silver Surfer for a bit. She eventually got a conscience and tried to hide a planet from Galactus, after which he dismissed her. His next Herald would kill her.
Morg the Executioner – Rating: .78
You would think Galactus would learn from past mistakes, so for his next Herald he wanted someone tyrannical like Terrax but loyal like the Air-Walker. He found Morg, who turned out to be the most vicious Herald of all. Nova, Firelord and Surfer soon realized Morg would cause billions and billions of deaths, so they resurrected the Air-Walker robot and also teamed up with Firelord.
They “killed” Morg but he killed Nova in the process. Then Galactus let Firelord and the Air-Walker robot be Heralds again. What happens next needs its own article, but let’s just say Galactus escaped to another dimension after being nullified with a powerful weapon.
Red Shift – Rating: 2.3
Not much is known about Red Shift except that when Galactus returned from another dimension, he was going mad with hunger and recruited Red Shift as soon as possible. Surfer went after Red Shift because Galactus wanted Earth again, and the two ended up fighting in a black hole from which Surfer barely escaped, leaving Shift trapped in there forever.
The Invisible Boy – Rating: 4.7
OK there’s a lot here but we’ll summarize. Aliens whose worlds were consumed by Galactus came up with a cloaking device for planets, but for some reason they thought Sue Storm would thwart them so they tried to kill her. Reed Richards, to protect his wife, switched her powers with Johnny Storm, essentially making him the Invisible Boy. Galactus chose him and Johnny played it cool so that the FF could use a device to return Galactus to his original form, which worked!
Stardust – Rating: 2.5
Stardust was a good herald because she treated Galactus like a god. Stardust was fanatical and if Galactus devoured a world and there were escapees, she hunted them down. From here, we enter the Annihilation Wave, an insectoid armada destroying all planets in their path. All the heralds basically teamed up to fight this, and in the end, Silver Surfer returned to his dutiful place as Herald.
