Even though the Infinity Saga saw the Marvel Cinematic Universe become the biggest and most lucrative franchise that the movie business has ever seen, a real argument could be made against the studio wanting to repeat their own formula for success in a post-Endgame world.
Thanos had long been teased as the MCU’s end-of-level boss after pulling the strings in the background for years, and if Marvel decide to have a single big bad operating in the background once again, then it’ll only invite comparisons to things they’ve already done before. As for who that could be, there have already been plenty of names rumored including Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom and Magneto, but one of the most popular choices among fans is another character that the studio have only recently acquired the rights to.
Normally positioned as an enemy of the Fantastic Four, Galactus’ reputation as the Devourer of Worlds presents plenty of narrative scope for him to appear almost anywhere in the interconnected universe, and while he’s usually positioned as one of the most formidable threats in the galaxy, we’ve now heard that Marvel’s spin on the iconic villain could eventually see him act as an ally to the franchise’s superheroes.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us Scream 5, National Treasure 3 and Now You See Me 3 were in development, all of which were correct – at some point in the future, Galactus will turn to the side of good and recruit a team of heroes to assist him in protecting and saving other worlds.
Of course, Marvel are well known for loosely adapting comic book stories to suit their big screen narrative, and in 2015’s Ultimates, Galactus did indeed turn his back on destroying planets and became a good guy, even getting Monica Rambeau’s Captain Marvel and Black Panther to help him out. Quite how closely they’ll stick to the original arc remains to be seen, but we’re told that Monica and Shuri’s Black Panther will indeed be recruited by Galactus in the movies at some point and work alongside him once he turns good.
Indeed, with the cosmic arm of the MCU rapidly expanding and an adult version of Monica set to appear in WandaVision with an eye on inheriting Carol Danvers’ position, we could see the foundations for this being put into place across Phase Five and beyond in the likes of Black Panther 2 and the eventual Fantastic Four reboot.