In an odd case of a comic book publisher not wanting seize on an opportunity to cross-promote their publications, Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort says that despite the demand from readers, Marvel Rivals players, and even the character’s creator, he personally has no interest in seeing any new content featuring Galacta, the hero shooter’s resident announcer and daughter of Galactus himself.
Brought to life in 2009 by Empowered! series creator Adam Warren and artist Hector Sevilla Lujan with input from current X-Men line editor Jordan D. White, Galacta made her debut in Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular Vol. 1 #2, the final issue of a two-part anthology series that featured stories pitched by the publisher’s various assistant editors and invited readers to vote for which one would receive a follow-up.
Originally a universe-level parasite that managed to blink itself into existence by way of Galactus’ Power Cosmic, the entity is soon after adopted by the Devourer of Worlds, who proceeds to both transmutate its body into the form of a teenage a girl and, in recognition of her tapeworm-esque hunger, subsequently adopt her as his own child.
However, while her father satisfies his appetites on a planet-sized scale, Galacta instead attempts to redirect her hunger – hard as it may be – in service of the human race, using her own Power Cosmic to both protect them from and feast upon the constant stream of extra-planetary bacteria that continually finds its way to Earth by way of space debris and alien visitation.
Sadly, after winning the Marvel Assistant Sized Spectacular fan vote and receiving a headlining outing in her own Galacta: Daughter of Galactus one-shot special – wherein she notably discovers that she is essentially ‘pregnant’ with her own cosmic parasite – the social media-savy young woman was essentially memory-holed by Marvel, making no further appearances in any of the company’s related media.
That was until March 2024, when after a brief ‘Remember me?’ cameo in Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic Vol 1 #94, the announcement trailer for Marvel Rivals confirmed that Galacta would not only be making an appearance in the NetEase-developed hero shooter, but also serving as its omniscent commentator.
Yet, despite her character blowing up in popularity thanks to the exposure afforded to her by her new job (according to the official Marvel Rivals Twitter account, the game has seen at least 20 million players across all platforms), the aforementioned Brevoort has no interest in giving Galacta another chance in the comic book spotlight.
Asked by a reader of his Man With A Hat Substack blog, “With her popularity in Marvel Rivals, are we finally going to get to see the return of Galacta daughter of Galactus in the 616?”, the Marvel Comics exec admitted that despite White’s desire to revisit her character, he personally wanted nothing to do with the entire concept.
“Jordan D. White has been waiting for his chance to do more Galacta ever since he helped to innovate that character years ago,” said Brevoort. “But as the FANTASTIC FOUR editor, I have to say that I don’t like what the existence of that character does to Galactus, so I am very much in favor of refraining from more Galacta content, at least within the mainstream MU.”
(For posterity, it should be noted that Galacta’s two appearances do not take place in the Earth-616 universe. Rather, per Marvel’s Voices Infinity Comic Vol. 1 #94, they take place in the alternate timeline of Earth-610102.
While it seems Galacta will remain exclusively within the domain of video games for the foreseeable future, Brevoort’s answer does suggest that there exists a chance for her to possibly make a return to comic books via a non-616-set miniseries – though given his overall feelings towards her, this chance is admittedly exceedingly, exceedingly small.
At current, Marvel Rivals is buckling up for the arrival of both The Thing and The Human Torch, both of whom are set to round out the game’s playable roster of Fantastic Four members on February 21st.
