San Diego Comic-Con 2024 was winding down come Saturday evening, but Marvel Studios revved up the fans once more with a big return to Hall H. While the news cycle and conversations may revolve around Robert Downey Jr.'s shocking return to the MCU in the role of Doctor Doom, fans also received a glimpse of another major villain. Not long after fans in attendance received confirmation that the Fantastic Four movie has a new title, they were gifted a quick glimpse at the Celestial villain, Galactus. And it's definitely worth talking about.
It's still wild to think that Galactus will once again appear in a Marvel movie, for the first time since his appearance in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Readers might be pleased to find he does not resemble the cosmic cloud that was featured that 2007 film. he has a different look that CinemaBlend had the privilege of seeing during the Hall H panel, so it's time we discuss it.
Galactus More Closely Resembles His Comic Book Self, With A Twist
The Fantastic Four: First Steps just flew up the list of upcoming Marvel movies that I'm most excited for, and Galactus seems to be a big selling point. The Devourer of Worlds was only featured briefly, and it's worth mentioning that his appearance was part of a reel of animatics mainly meant to give attendees a feel of what the movie would be going for in terms of style and tone. With that said, we only saw the massive villain bend down to look into the window of a skyscraper from inside the room's perspective.
We didn't get a full-body shot of the antagonist, but the general look and texture of his body resembled that of the dead Celestial Tiamut featured in 2021's Eternals. With that said, he's not from the primary MCU continuity (Earth-616), as it was previously confirmed that this new FF movie will take place in an alternate universe that has a retro-futuristic vibe. For example, the rocket that the team took to space didn't even remotely resemble spacecrafts that the public is likely familiar with.
This Is The Galactus Fans Have Wanted, Though I Do Still Have Some Concerns
Seeing Galactus appear more like his usual self and not as a cloud is great, but I do still have some concerns as a Marvel fan. I mean, let's be real, the massive being has always just looked like a giant guy wearing a costume. For that to truly be intimidating, the scale of the character has to be absolutely massive, and that was not what was shown in this first look.
A Galactus that is tall enough to peek into a skyscraper is not tall enough, in my honest opinion. To be a true Devourer of Worlds, he has to be an unfathomable size that's hard to quantify. Like if I'm looking far off into the distance, I should only be able to see just a single chunk of his body. This Marvel villain is supposed to be capable of eating planets, and the character I saw was not big enough to do that. Give us an image more akin to the drone show reveal at this year's SDCC!
Fortunately, what fans saw likely wasn't the final design for The Fantastic Four: First Steps villain. The CGI for Galactus, who's played by Ralph Ineson, can always change, and there's still plenty of time to make him as large and in charge as Marvel wants him to be. While I think this alteration is necessary, I'm also still excited to see what the MCU's version of this iconic bad guy will look like in his full glory.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will hit theaters on July 25 as part of the 2025 movie schedule. In the meantime, who'd like to revisit Galactus' first cinematic appearance in Rise of the Silver Surfer can do so by streaming the movie with a Disney+ subscription.
