Galactus Almost Made His MCU Debut In Thor: Love & Thunder

By now, it has become abundantly clear that the next major villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors, who first made his debut as He Who Remains in "Loki"). Nonetheless, there are still some heavy hitters in the Marvel stable who could easily appear in Phase 5, and while it's easy to argue that Doctor Doom is the most important villain the MCU still needs to introduce, many fans are looking toward the cosmos for the looming arrival of Galactus — am incredibly powerful being who predates the universe itself, and is most well-known for devouring entire planets.

The power of Galactus is virtually limitless, and while he is most commonly associated with the Fantastic Four — indeed, the 1966 end of the world story arc that first pitted him against Marvel's first family is widely seen as one of the all-time seminal Marvel works — the world-eater is definitely a villain more than worthy of an entire phase unto himself, with a scope and backstory that definitely rivals Thanos (Josh Brolin). With that in mind, and considering the long-lasting impact that Galactus has made throughout his time in Marvel Comics, it seems more like a question of "when" rather than "if" he will enter the MCU, and it's very possible he could make an appearance very soon, as we learn more and more about Kang's plans for the multiverse. 

However, perhaps in a different reality, we might've already seen Galactus debut in the MCU, because newly-revealed concept art from "Thor: Love and Thunder" makes it clear that the devourer of worlds was considered for a role in the film.

In a recent post on his personal website, storyboard artist Anthony Lee Winn revealed some of the work he did for "Thor: Love and Thunder" — including one storyboard which features the surprising debut of Galactus himself. Specifically, the landmark Marvel antagnist makes an appearance in a sketch that pits him against Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) as she calls down lightning on the surface of a cracked moon — one which looks remarkably similar to the Shadow Realm, where Jane battles Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) in the final film. 

Although we don't know the specifics of how Galactus might have entered the story of "Love and Thunder," we can guess from the surrounding artwork that he may have appeared during a montage of Jane Foster's heroic actions across the galaxy. Indeed, this brief image of Galactus is followed by sketches of Jane battling several other iconic villains from Marvel Comics history, including Fin Fang Foom (an alien dragon who frequently butted heads with Iron Man) and the Lovecraftian horror Shuma-Gorath. 

Considering the fact that Galactus represents one of the most powerful beings in the entire Marvel universe, it's easy to see why this scene ultimately did not make it into the movie. As exciting as it might have been to see a real version of Galactus on the big screen (we'll pretend whatever that was in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" never happened), it also would've been somewhat disappointing for his only appearance to have been a brief cutaway which is irrelevant to the story. Clearly, this moment would've only existed as setup for bigger things down the line, but perhaps Galactus' debut is better saved for a movie where he can play a bigger role from day one.