10 Greatest Jack Kirby Characters

Galactus changed the nature of the Marvel Universe when he arrived. He didn't present the schemes of a supervillain or a gangster; he was a cosmic being that had come to destroy the world.

Originating in Fantastic Four #48, Galactus brought a real threat to Marvel comics. He was presented as a morally ambiguous character, neither good nor evil, which was a relatively novel concept for a comic character in the 1960s.

Galactus is too powerful to be brought down in most stories. Kirby created something that couldn't be defeated by traditional comic book violence, making the threat of the planet-eater something greater than most adversaries found at at the time.

The first appearance of Galactus is completely undercut by a ridiculous color palette. Instead of the typical purple and blue that have been seen since his first reveal in a splash page, Galactus originally had a garish green, red, and purple costume that has thankfully never come back.

That said, it still beats the cloud we got in Fantastic Four.