The argument could be made that the next several phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t need to rely on having an overarching villain pulling the strings in the background, even though the approach paid huge dividends in the long run when it came to Thanos and the Infinity Saga.
There are more than enough characters set to feature in the earthbound, cosmic and Disney Plus arms of the franchise that each could have a big bad of their own, but the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach has worked out pretty well for the MCU so far. Marvel have even been polling fans to see who they want as the next Avengers-level threat, while rumors have been constantly making the rounds about a number of potential candidates.
Unsurprisingly, one of the names most frequently mentioned is Galactus, and with the rights to the character now back in the hands of Marvel Studios, it seems inevitable that the Devourer of Worlds is on his way to the big screen in the near future. And although he’s generally regarded as an enemy of the Fantastic Four, the possibilities of where he could show up are almost limitless.
A new report from insider Mikey Sutton once again claims that Galactus is on his way to the MCU, this time with the added caveat that he won’t arrive as a straightforward villain, and will instead be gradually built up as the next big bad. According to Sutton’s intel, Galactus will believe that his intentions aren’t malicious and he only consumes entire planets as a means of survival, even preferring them to be uninhabited.
Of course, this means that a lot of them won’t be, which would instantly establish him as someone that needs to be stopped as soon as possible. While giving a character like Galactus shades of grey would be a smart move from a storytelling perspective, it also sounds a little too similar to Thanos’ arc, with the Mad Titan also operating under the belief that his genocidal actions were entirely justified. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see which direction Marvel chooses to head in with the character.
