Galactus rises: How Marvel's cosmic giant sets the tone for Phase 6

There are villains. And then there’s Galactus.

When Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters this July, it will launch Marvel’s first family and unleash a force that makes even Thanos feel like a warm-up. According to producer Grant Curtis, Galactus is “the most epic of the most epic that you can imagine.” A devourer of worlds. A godlike presence. A symbol of something larger than the multiverse itself: Marvel’s return to scale.

With Phase 6 on the horizon, Fantastic Four carries more than the weight of a reboot. It defines the next chapter of the MCU. And it begins with a presence that reshapes the very idea of villainy.

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Grant Curtis isn't holding back

In a recent interview with Collider, producer Grant Curtis made it clear that Marvel aims higher than ever with Fantastic Four: First Steps. The stakes go beyond hero versus villain. They reach the scale of planetary consequences.

Curtis said when asked what to expect from the world-devouring entity.

“Because that’s the global stakes we’re dealing with, the universal stakes we’re dealing with. That’s Galactus. When Galactus’s gaze comes across your planet, you’re not in a good spot. I think that’s as big of a scope and scale you could ever ask a villain to bring with him or her. And that is what Galactus brings... One of the beautiful things about working with Kevin Feige and with [director] Matt Shakman, they are totally in on sci-fi.”

Curtis frames Galactus not as a character with a goal, but as an elemental force. A presence. A shift in gravitational pull. A signal from Marvel Studios that Phase 6 won’t revolve around Earth. It will expand across the stars.

This approach arrives at a critical time. After years of fragmented arcs and overstretched multiversal threads, the MCU needs new gravity. Something colossal. Something that reframes what heroism means at scale.

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Why Fantastic Four needed a villain like Galactus

The MCU has explored countless antagonists. Loki, Ultron, Killmonger, and Thanos. Galactus, however, belongs to a category all his own. His purpose is embedded in the structure of existence. He doesn’t plan, manipulate, or negotiate. He arrives and consumes. His role in the cosmos isn’t personal. It’s fundamental.

Curtis’s emphasis on scale highlights a larger shift. The MCU has experimented with time travel, multiverses, and alternate realities. Galactus represents a different kind of escalation. He doesn’t tear timelines apart. He erases entire worlds.

That matters deeply within the context of Fantastic Four. This isn’t just another conflict to outthink or overpower. It’s an existential challenge. Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben are confronting something beyond comprehension. Galactus demands awe. Dread. Wonder. And Marvel seems intent on delivering all three.

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What we know about Fantastic Four: First Steps so far

Marvel is building more than a movie. It’s building a myth.

The cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. Supporting characters include John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser, creating a cast that balances gravitas and unpredictability.

Ralph Ineson, known for The Green Knight and The Northman, portrays Galactus. Leaked Lego sets and behind-the-scenes glimpses confirm a towering, armored figure faithful to the comics, helmet included.

Julia Garner plays the Silver Surfer, reinterpreted with emotional complexity. Rather than stoic detachment, this version explores internal conflict and reluctant servitude. She becomes not just a herald, but a character caught between destruction and redemption.

Director Matt Shakman, who helmed WandaVision, brings a sensibility rooted in genre experimentation. According to Curtis, Shakman and Feige “are totally in on sci-fi,” and early reports suggest practical sets, retro-futuristic design, and tactile environments that set the film apart from recent green-screen-heavy entries.

Even the marketing plays with scale. From Snapple promotions to massive Galactus-themed popcorn buckets, the film is being positioned as a towering event.

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Galactus sets the tone for Marvel Phase 6

Galactus serves as more than an antagonist. He defines the horizon of Marvel’s next storytelling phase.

After extended multiversal chaos, Marvel appears to be reorienting toward permanence. Galactus isn’t someone you outsmart or undo. His presence has weight. He’s the kind of force that doesn’t ask questions or play games. He simply arrives.

Positioning him at the start of Phase 6 establishes intention. Marvel is aiming for mythic scale, a cosmic grandeur that reclaims the awe of early MCU milestones. If Phases 4 and 5 felt fragmented, this chapter feels like alignment, a universe in motion, drawn toward something massive.

Choosing Fantastic Four: First Steps as the entry point is no accident. These heroes aren’t warriors. They’re explorers. Confronting Galactus places them at the edge of meaning, not just danger. Their response won’t be brute force. It will be discovery, sacrifice, and perspective.

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Galactus, Thanos and Kang: different scales of fear

To understand what Galactus brings to the MCU, it helps to look back at its previous heavyweights. Thanos was a tactician, a manipulator whose power depended on planning and philosophical conviction. Kang was fragmented across timelines, a puzzle made of variants and volatility. Both characters relied on context. Galactus requires none.

There’s no need to justify his actions. He doesn’t balance ecosystems or manage sacred timelines. He arrives because it is his nature. Where Thanos saw himself as inevitable, Galactus simply exists. That shift strips away strategy and introduces something more elemental. No backstory. No cause. Just presence.

In that sense, Galactus introduces not just a new villain but a new genre of storytelling. Less personal vendetta, more cosmic reckoning.

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Silver Surfer and the morality of servitude

Galactus doesn’t operate alone. The inclusion of Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer opens a thematic corridor that could ground the cosmic scale in something deeply human.

The Surfer has always embodied paradox. A servant to destruction but driven by compassion, whose loyalty is not blind; it’s bound by necessity. Introducing the character early in Phase 6 gives Marvel a chance to explore questions it rarely touches. What does duty look like when it conflicts with conscience? What happens when the herald sees the truth before the master does?

If Garner’s version leans into that emotional tension, the Silver Surfer could become more than a foil and become the first moral anchor in a universe spinning beyond control.

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Galactus already looms over pop culture

Even before his first line of dialogue, Galactus has begun to make his mark. A Snapple promotion revealed the first look at his helmeted silhouette. A massive Lego set spoiled the scale. A popcorn bucket the size of a toddler’s torso has already gone viral.

Marvel knows what it’s doing. Galactus is an icon in the making. Every piece of merchandise and every leaked image contributes to a kind of myth-building that few characters achieve before their debut.

It’s a deliberate strategy. Marvel isn’t simply teasing a new story. It’s broadcasting the arrival of something monolithic, not just within the MCU but across pop culture itself.

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Galactus: Marvel’s cosmic gamble

Describing Galactus in superlatives sets the bar high, but it also reveals the stakes Marvel is playing with.

Audiences are no longer impressed by scale alone. The MCU’s next arc needs resonance. Galactus, by design, offers that potential. But to fulfill it, the film must connect spectacle with substance. The emotional impact must equal the visual grandeur.

Marvel is betting that cosmic weight can restore narrative focus. That a godlike figure, rendered with care, can rekindle the curiosity and gravitas that once defined its universe.

It’s a bold move. If Fantastic Four: First Steps delivers, it may become a cornerstone of a new era. If not, the collapse will echo louder than any villain’s roar.

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Fantastic Four: First Steps opens a new frontier

The MCU has always evolved. From grounded suits of armor to gods, aliens, and fractured timelines, it has constantly rewritten its rules. Now, Fantastic Four: First Steps offers something deeper. A cosmic parable about scale, insignificance, and the will to act anyway.

Just like in John Byrne's comics, where Reed Richards spares Galactus to preserve the balance of the universe, the film could reframe him as the necessary evil that Phase 6 needs in order to move beyond simple notions of good and evil.

This isn’t a return to form. It’s a leap forward. And if Marvel gets it right, Galactus won’t just devour worlds. He’ll revive wonder.