History ComicBook / Galactus

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: The giant man with a weird helmet you see? That's only how your mind ''interprets'' what you are seeing. Every species in the Universe sees him differently because what he really looks like is beyond our understanding.

!Tropes in these series include:

* TheDragon: His Heralds play this role.

* In the 1996/97 Crossover/Merger of ''ComicBooks/AmalgamUniverse'', Galactus was merged with Brainiac as "Galactiac".

* ''ComicBook/SecretWars''

* AlwaysABiggerFish: Many galactic threats, like (regular) ComicBook/{{Thanos}} or the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, quail at the thought of direct confrontation with Galactus. But Galactus is not at the very top of the power spectrum either: he has been [[CurbStompBattle stomped]] by the Beyonder in the original ComicBook/SecretWars, by the Phoenix (possessing ComicBook/RachelSummers) in ''Excalibur'' (though he won the moral victory by pointing out the cost of her power to the universe at large), defeated in a DC/Marvel crossover by Krona, and conquered by the Chaos King in ''Chaos Wars.''

** [[ComicBook/XMen Professor X]] barely managed to rouse his attention in the ComicBook/SecretWars, whereas Moondragon and Thanos almost managed to overcome him in Thanos' own series.

* AGodAmI: One of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Multiverse. Reducing matter to energy and traveling at 'impossible' speeds are everyday matters to him. With the aid of the Power Cosmic that invests him, even planet-shattering foes like Thor or the Hulk can be destroyed. In one DC/Marvel crossover he was noted for surviving ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}'s Omega Beams, which are ordinarily a OneHitKill to ''anything.'' It's hard for him to stay humble:

* AlwaysABiggerFish: Many galactic threats, like (regular) ComicBook/{{Thanos}} or the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, quail at the thought of direct confrontation with Galactus. But Galactus is not at the very top of the power spectrum either: he has been [[CurbStompBattle stomped]] by the Beyonder in the original ComicBook/SecretWars, defeated in a DC/Marvel crossover by Krona, and conquered by the Chaos King in Chaos Wars.
** Subverted when he is confronted by Master Order and Lord Chaos after his reversion at the hands of the Ultimates. Thanos with the ''Infinity Gauntlet'' rated either of them individually well above Galactus, but now that he has fused with his Ultimate counterpart and been reversed (which removes his hunger, not to mention directly conflicts with order and chaos' fundamental existence), he not only defies them, but subjects ''them'' to this trope.

* HeelFaceTurn: As the Life-bringer, he's cured of the Cosmic Hunger and no longer feeds on planets. As such he's now a force for good, and he won't go back to the old status quo without a fight.

** After his life was saved by Reed Richards, he promised never to attack Earth again, a promise he's kept thus far. He's even come to the planet's defense.

* LargeHam: One of the biggest in Marvel. His dialogue in written entirely in capitalized letters, and usually for very good reason.

** HamToHamCombat: His fight with Mephisto, along with an evenly matched clash of power, the two equally hammed up the scenery in their verbal clash.

* MindOverMatter: Not often used, but he an throw planetoids with it.

* OneTrackMindedHunger: Galactus himself. His hunger defines his character, and it's pretty much the only thing he ever does.
* OnlyFriend: Galactus' first post-[[ComicBook/SilverSurfer Surfer]] Herald was the Xandarian Gabrial Lan, called the Air-Walker. He and Galactus became friends and Lan ended up sacrificing himself to buy a severely malnourished Galactus the time needed to escape from a race of aliens that might have been able to destroy him. Its been insinuated many times that Galactus regrets not being able to save Lan's life.

* PetTheDog: As mentioned above, he does care for his daughter. Saving her from starvation involved sacrificing some of his energy - which means making his own hunger ''even worse''. All for her.

* TalkToTheFist: When Order and Chaos chastise him for going against his Devourer of Worlds to be the Life-bringer and that, sooner or later, he'll go back to being his previous role, Galactus responds by punching Order in the teeth.

** Amazingly [[CreatorsPet (and refreshingly)]] subverted when, after an entire storyline of beating established characters like [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]], and the ComicBook/SilverSurfer, ComicBook/RedHulk was dismissively one-shotted by him.

* ''LegoMarvelSuperheroes'': Galactus is the game's BigBad, and also an unlockable character upon completing the game. Sadly, He's only playable as a minifigure, smaller even than Big Figure characters like the Hulk.

** Originally it seemed like he was storing up the energy from devoured worlds and, should the universe come to an end, use it to restart the whole thing. [[note]] Arguably, this is what happened in ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015''; following the collapse and re-creation of the Multiverse, a series of events causes him to reach his final form, and start ''seeding dead planets for life''. But this [[StatusQuoIsGod predictably]] did not last. [[/note]]

The ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel era has been a time of great change for Galactus. The new ComicBook/{{The Ultimates|2015}}, an all-star team dedicated to solving cosmic problems, picked ''him'' for their first mission. They tracked down his old incubation chamber and forced him back into it, "evolving" him into a new, golden form. This "Lifebringer" Galactus, who restores desolate worlds, became one of the team's central allies throughout the book's entire run. It's all a bit ironic, considering his rampage through the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe ended up destroying the ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates|original]]'' Ultimates. Note, by the way, that the Ultimate universe had his own one, Gah Lak Tus (for tropes about this one, see [[Characters/UltimateMarvelCosmicCharacters here]]).

* UniquenessDecay: Jack Kirby never intended for Galactus to be used past the first story he appeared in. He objected to all the character background later given for Galactus as well as the characterization for ComicBook/SilverSurfer in later stories. He wanted Galactus and his herald to remain a mystery and felt that overexposure and excessive character development would undermine the character's effect. Given that there are so many "gods" and other cosmic entities in the Marvel Universe, he was right. Only in recent years have writers attempted to restore Galactus position in the grand scheme of things, and even then Galactus will always be more of a character than a true mysterious force of nature as he was intended to be.

* EnemyMine: During ''ComicBook/InfinityGauntlet'', Galactus teamed up with ComicBook/AdamWarlock and other cosmic heroes to challenge ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. Later, Galactus worked with The God Squad to protect his food supply, not for the greater good.

** The Latin American dub of the ''WesternCartoon/SilverSurfer'' cartoon named him "Galaxius", possibly to combine better with "galaxy", we are not sure. We repeat, still better than Alberto.

* ThisWasHisTrueForm: Galactus is
in truth an EnergyBeing who only looks like whatever mortal mind is currently observing him. This is often ignored in parallel universe and alternate timelines, where his death leaves static and physical remains in his iconic getup, but his first death in the mainstream universe lead to his body exploding into a second sun for the Shi'ar homeworld.

The ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel era has been a time of great change for Galactus. The new ComicBook/{{The Ultimates|2015}}, an all-star team dedicated to solving cosmic problems, picked ''him'' for their first mission. They tracked down his old incubation chamber and forced him back into it, "evolving" him into a new, golden form. This "Lifebringer" Galactus, who restores desolate worlds, became one of the team's central allies throughout the book's entire run. It's all a bit ironic, considering his rampage through the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe ended up destroying the ''original'' Ultimates.

* ''Film/{{Fantastic Four|2005}}: Rise of the Silver Surfer''