10 Characters Who Single-Handedly Destroyed Galactus

Of all the threats in the Marvel Universe, almost all of them pale in comparison to Galactus, Devourer of Worlds. Galactus was once a scientist named Galan, who survived the death of his universe and was reborn as a cosmic being in the Marvel Universe. Galactus is a force of nature who travels around the Marvel Universe devouring worlds flush with life. To this end, he creates heralds to find new worlds to consume, though one herald, the Silver Surfer, defies him when he arrives to feast on Earth.

Throughout his time in the Marvel Universe, Galactus has gone through many changes, and he's fought just about every major superhero, earthbound or otherwise. He was first introduced in "Fantastic Four" #48-50, where he's stopped when Reed Richards threatens to destroy him with the Ultimate Nullifier. It's later revealed that Galactus must continue to consume worlds, or an even greater threat would be unleashed upon the multiverse. Because of this, Galactus is typically diverted instead of destroyed.

Heroes and villains have battled Galactus for decades in the comics, he's appeared in video games, and he'll debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe via 2025's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." While teams like the Fantastic Four and Avengers have fought Galactus several times, it's interesting to see which individuals went up against him. Each of the heroes detailed here fought Galactus with and without the help of others — and all managed to defeat him for a time.

An Omega-level mutant from birth, Franklin Richards is the son of Reed Richards and Susan Storm, and at first is easily the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe, capable of creating galaxies on a whim. His powers include the ability to alter reality as he sees fit, and thanks to some time travel shenanigans and other issues related to the character, he's at one point both a little boy and a grown man working alongside one another in the same book.

This happens in "Fantastic Four" #604, when future versions of Reed and Sue's kids fight the Mad Celestials. After sending them away briefly, the older Franklin syncs himself with his younger self, absorbing a great deal of power he'd saved for him. Before the Mad Celestials can return, Franklin uses his newfound power to revive the fallen Galactus, and in doing so, he forces Galactus to become his herald, turning the tables on the Devourer of Worlds.

In that way, Franklin defeats Galactus by subjugating him to his will, but he defeats him in a fight in another story. In Fantastic Four: Life Story" #5, Franklin fights Galactus by first destroying his mind with psionic energy, which he follows up with a massive haymaker, knocking the cosmic being unconscious so the Fantastic Four can escape. In each engagement, Franklin proves his immense power, but the character has since been nerfed and retconned as a human, not a mutant, making him no longer as powerful as he once was.

Thanos has been a villain throughout his time in the comics, but that doesn't mean he won't fight other bad guys. Galactus isn't evil — he's a literal force of nature, but he's also immensely powerful, and Thanos needs the Infinity Gauntlet to defeat him. That's how things went down in "The Infinity Gauntlet" storyline, but Thanos easily subjugates all cosmic beings with just a thought, including Galactus, so it's not their most impressive battle.

That came in the pages of "Thanos" #16, which sees the Mad Titan go up against Galactus without the aid of any Infinity Stones in the "Thanos Wins" storyline. It's an apt title, as Thanos goes up against just about everyone he can, defeating them all. Throughout the "Thanos" books, the Mad Titan fights and pursues Galactus across the cosmos, leading him to a destroyed Earth in the far future, where they finally fight for the last time. Before that happens, Galactus transforms Frank Castle (Ghost Rider) into his herald, making him Cosmic Ghost Rider.

Galactus isn't there to feed — he's on the run, looking for help, and that's when Thanos rears his purple head. Galactus arms himself with a building-sized weapon and charges Thanos with Cosmic Ghost Rider at his side, but he doesn't get off a shot. Thanos blasts him with energy, knocking off his head and killing Galactus instantly. After he falls, Thanos strikes a deal with Cosmic Ghost Rider, giving him an opportunity to ... punish.

There are many variant Thors in the Marvel Universe, and King Thor is what the Earth-616 Thor is destined to become in the far future. He is missing an eye, like his father, and one of his arms is replaced with the Destroyer armor's arm. He's also imbued with the Odinforce, which he appropriately calls the "Thorforce." King Thor rules over the decaying ruins of both Earth and Asgard, and much of his story takes place millennia in the future. 

King Thor becomes increasingly more powerful as time passes, having absorbed the Phoenix Force and more throughout his unending life. In "Thor" #6, entropy threatens to destroy what's left of the Marvel Universe, so King Thor works with Galactus, as he's the only being known to survive the death of a universe. Galactus arrives at Earth, looking for a herald to assist him at the end of the universe, but he finds King Thor ready to fight him. 

At this point, King Thor's powers are off the charts, and he barely breaks a sweat fighting Galactus. First, he absorbs the Power Cosmic from his enemy, rendering him powerless. Once he absorbs that, King Thor says, "Galan of Taa. On behalf of the countless planets you have destroyed and laid barren in your wake" — he then lists several worlds, including Earth and Asgard — "I sentence you to death." With that, Thor blasts Galactus in the chest, destroying him once and for all.

Before becoming the Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd is an astronomer on the planet Zenn-La. When Galactus comes to consume his world, he flies out to confront him. Galactus recognizes Norrin's potential and agrees to spare his world if he becomes his herald. After agreeing, Galactus empowers Norrin with the Power Cosmic, making him into the Silver Surfer. Because he is created with only a tiny fraction of Galactus' full power, there's no way the Surfer can defeat him in a fight.

That's certainly true of how the Surfer normally operates, and when he openly defies Galactus to save Earth, he does so without fighting him, as he knows it would be folly. That isn't the case in "Guardians of the Galaxy" #25, when the Silver Surfer fights and defeats his former master in hand-to-hand combat in an alternate 31st century of Earth-691. The Surfer is able to do this because, at the time, he also possesses the Quantum Bands, making him into a being of incredible power as the Protector of the Universe.

Initially, the Surfer works with the Guardians to try and kill Galactus, but this doesn't work. With his power augmented via the Quantum Bands, making him the Keeper, the Silver Surfer battles Galactus, trading blows and defeating him. Instead of killing Galactus, he returns to his side as his herald, with the intention of finding worlds without sentient life for his master to feed upon, as he once did.

Of all the characters to fight Galactus, Hiro-Kala does so in the most dastardly manner. Hiro-Kala is the son of the Hulk, having been born of a union between the Hulk and his mother, Caiera, who's one of the few characters to survive sleeping with the Hulk. Hiro-Kala survives the destruction of his homeworld, Sakaar, at the hands of Galactus, so he swears to get even on the Devourer of Worlds. To accomplish this, he travels the universe looking to acquire the Old Power, a force which is poison to Galactus.

He finally faces the World Ender in "Skaar: Son of Hulk" #17, but it's not a straight-up fight as with other characters. Instead, Hiro-Kala establishes himself as a god among the people living on the planet Giausar. He drives the planet's inhabitants toward their own demise, drawing Galactus to the world to consume it. Hiro-Kala lets this happen since he's tainted the planet with the Old Power.

As Galactus consumes the planet, he's engulfed in pain, feeling the hurt and suffering of every living being he just devoured. With this, Hiro-Kala tells him, "You were tainted by a power that will destroy you the next time you consume it. This is the pain of knowing that you can never have the thing you crave the most. I hope you choke on it until the end of time." By poisoning the planet and others, he spoils Galactus' food supply forever, as there's no way for the Devourer to determine which worlds are safe to consume.

Long before Galactus created the Silver Surfer as his herald, he had others. The first being he creates, Tyrant, begins his existence more as Galactus' companion, but they have something of a falling out and fight across the cosmos, destroying whole galaxies in their wake. To stop him, Galactus banishes Tyrant to the edge of the universe and strips him of most of his power, though the battle nearly results in Galactus' destruction.

Eventually, Tyrant returns to confront his "father" in "Silver Surfer" #108, telling him that each time he consumes a world, it weakens him. As a result, he's there to fight Galactus because, in Tyrant's mind, only one of them can exist, and he's intent on it being him. As they fight, it initially looks as if Tyrant is significantly outclassed by his creator. To be fair, he is, but Tyrant has a trick up his sleeve, as he's empowered by Galactus' attacks.

This gives Tyrant the upper hand, and he manages to slash Galactus' face, knocking him back and leaving him open to take the killing blow. Tyrant defeats Galactus, but he's interrupted by Morg carrying the Ultimate Nullifier. The device is one of the few things capable of annihilating Galactus, and Morg is intent on using it to defeat Tyrant. In the subsequent issue, the Silver Surfer attempts to stop him, but Galactus' ship, Morg, Galactus, and Tyrant are all seemingly destroyed. In the end, Tyrant both wins and loses.

Greg Willis is sucked into a mini-black hole while on vacation and imbued with the ability to manipulate gravity in his immediate area. He takes on the name Gravity and becomes a superhero, but for most of his career, he's a street-level superhero. That all changes after the events of Battleworld, when Gravity sacrifices his life to literally hold the world together. After this, Epoch places him into a cocoon, and when he emerges, Gravity is empowered as the new Protector of the Universe, though he doesn't have or need Quantum Bands.

This makes Gravity exponentially more powerful than he was previously, and while he would have been less annoying than a fly to Galactus before, he steps up his game. Eventually, this leads to a face-off between the two in "Fantastic Four" #546, with the Devourer of Worlds looking to finally sate his unending hunger by consuming Epoch, the very being who empowers Gravity to cosmic levels.

Unwilling to see Epoch be consumed, Gravity flies off to face Galactus, unleashing a torrent of cosmic energy at his foe. Instead of succumbing to the attack, Galactus is fed by it. This is entirely intentional, as Gravity wants to keep Galactus from consuming Epoch, but not by killing him. This works, and Galactus' hunger is sated, leaving Epoch safe. When it's all over, Gravity refuses the power he unleashed and returns to his life on Earth as a street-level superhero.

Kitty Pryde isn't a character many would associate with fighting Galactus, but she's also one of Marvel's most underrated female superheroes. Her superpowers have grown as she's matured, and she's gone from the kid on the X-Men to the new Star-Lord (Star-Lady) and leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. During the "Cataclysm" event that sees Galactus arrive in the Ultimate Universe of Earth-1610, Kitty fights alongside other heroes against Galactus as he attempts to feed upon the Earth with his machine.

In "Cataclysm: The Ultimates' Last Stand" #5, Reed Richards hatches a plan to chuck Galactus into the Negative Zone, and the only one who can do it is Kitty. Reed gives her Giant-Man's growth ability, allowing her to reach the size of the Devourer of Worlds. Kitty is chosen for this task because only she is immune to Galactus' attacks via her phasing ability, which comes in handy whenever he tries to strike her. His attacks hurt Kitty, even while she's intangible, but she manages to stay in the fight.

Kitty pummels Galactus, interrupting his feeding process and destroying his machine. She clobbers him multiple times and ultimately defeats Galactus as the Fantastic Four and others watch from the sidelines. Kitty nearly falls through the portal with Galactus, but the other heroes step in to save her as Thor slams Galactus (and himself) into the Negative Zone. Reed's goal is to trap him inside, where he will have nothing to consume and ultimately starve to death.

Rick Jones is the person inadvertently responsible for Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, remaining Bruce's friend for years. For most of his publication history, Rick doesn't have any superpowers, but that eventually changes in 2008 when he becomes A-Bomb. That's on Earth-616, but in the Ultimate Universe, things are a bit different. Prior to the "Ultimatum" event, Rick is empowered by the Watcher to save the world, but the energy overflow puts him into a coma for six months. After a superhero intervention, Rick accepts his powers and becomes Nova.

Later, Galactus arrives at Earth-1610, encountering Nova in space. The latter attempts to save some Chitauri from the World Devourer but cannot, and is rescued by the Silver Surfer. Meanwhile, Galactus subjugates the Gah Lak Tus swarm, making it his new herald, and he gets busy doing what he does best. Finally, in "Hunger" #4, Rick has a chance to take on Galactus and the Gah Lak Tus swarm after he's boosted with Captain Marvel's powers.

With his newfound abilities, Rick blasts a hole between universes, nearly splitting Galactus in half. He also separates the swarm from its former master and destroys it. Unfortunately for Rick, he traps himself in a reality between universes and can't get home on his own. Eventually, he's rescued when the Future Foundation stumbles into his pocket of spacetime. In the meantime, Galactus heads to Earth to try and recover from Rick's attack, setting the stage for the "Cataclysm" event.

Squirrel Girl is a lighthearted character in the Marvel Universe and easily the least likely to take on or defeat Galactus. Still, on several occasions, she's managed to fight and beat characters who greatly outclass her, including Thanos. Squirrel Girl is one of the many young Marvel heroes who need to appear in the MCU, but before that happens, there are plenty of great stories featuring the squirrel-talking superhero, including the time she faced the Devourer of Worlds.

In a one-on-one fight, there's no way Squirrel Girl can do anything to damage Galactus. Indeed, when she attempts to fight him in hand-to-hand combat, he mistakes her attacks for an attempt to buff his shoes in "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" #4. Instead of stomping on her, Galactus picks Squirrel Girl up, and they have a long conversation in which he talks about his plan to consume the world while they're both standing on the Moon, observing the planet.

Their conversation goes on for several pages, and by the end they become friends. They travel to another world and overeat, which explains why the comic opens with them lying down on the Moon. In the end, Squirrel Girl defeats Galactus, not through force or power, but via logic and understanding. She essentially talks him out of eating the Earth, and he gives her a charming little gift before he departs. While lighthearted and different from every other encounter with Galactus, Squirrel Girl's time with him is canon — so she alone saves the world.