Okay, I am a bit salty and I am going to allow the writers to somehow make this right with me over time by writing newer, better stories than the ones they are currently erasing, otherwise I will have to start taking my comic time elsewhere.
Sometime in the decade, maybe fifteen years, I noticed this affliction going around the House of Ideas Infested With Mice.
I could feel a decided lack of respect for the cosmic powers of the Marvel Universe. Not going to into my feelings. I am just going to give you an example. All the Old Heads Who Read Comics will know exactly what I am talking about. If you don’t you don’t rank among us.
Thor doesn’t beat Galactus in a physical confrontation. Period. Nuff Said.
In any contest where:
Thor, god of Thunder, scion of Odin and the Elder goddess Gaea, even if he is coursing with the power of the Odinforce and wielding mighty Mjolnir itself — confronts the being who is from the previous iteration of the Universe entire, the last creature to survive the Big Crush and was reborn into the Seventh Iteration of the Cosmos, empowered by the birth of the new Cosmos itself, coursing with a unique energy which can only be met by consuming living worlds, Galen formerly of Taa, now Galactus, casually known across the Universe as the Destroyer of Worlds — confronted by the aforementioned powerful version of Thor … results in Thor losing. Easily. Because he is Galactus and there are no others like him.
Yet, in the modern mythos, the writers have taken it upon themselves to erase this hierarchy; I guess in their way they are hoping to leave their lasting fingerprint upon this canvas but, in no way is Thor a physical, magical, energy-manipulating, reality-altering match for Galactus.
Thor amuses Galactus.
Thor drinks mead with Galactus.
Thor learns to control his own cosmic abilities at the hand of a being whose ability to manipulate the cosmic energy of the Universe into anything he can think of: Literally, there should be no one better at this than Galactus. (And those damn Celestials who technically predate even HIM.)
Thor talks about the ephemeral nature of the Universe and how sad and lonely being immortal might be.
Galactus knows it better than Thor. He’s been doing it longer.
But the one thing that never happens: Thor does not kill Galactus.
But I have included a deathblow for you, and I have to set it up.
Galactus comes to Thor with the threat of an enemy capable of killing him and he hopes to enlist Thor’s help by empowering him with the Power Cosmic. With Thor now being the All-father and wielding the former’s Odinforce (redubbed the Thorforce) if he had the Power Cosmic he might be able to assist Galactus in fighting this threat.
But Galactus would need to top off first. He would go to five super-gaian worlds teeming with life energy, each more significant than any ordinary world. Together, they would raise Galactus’ vibration and power to previously undescribed levels.
Over the course of their interaction and eventual confrontation with their mutual enemy, the Black Winter Thor would get it into his head that he should destroy Galactus and absorb the Power Cosmic in its entirety from Galactus and giving it to himself.
Cosmically empowered-All-Father Thor in a moment of betrayal then killed the Ultimate Galactus.
What? Shouldn’t this be the equivalent of a kitten attacking a great white shark? Even empowered by the sliver of the power cosmic Galactus gives to his heralds and the divine power of the Odinforce, Thor should be little more than an amusement to a Galactus empowered to the Nth degree.
And yet he has been declared dead by the writers at Marvel.
And since when can anyone just roll up and KILL Galactus. And if they could, you would expect them to be a galaxy-conquering threat.
- Reed Richards, with the aid of the Ultimate Nullifier, kills Galactus. And dies.
- Mephisto, on a day when he tricks a hungry Galactus into his hell-realm and gets really lucky, kills Galactus.
- Dormammu, in an upset, kills Galactus.
- Ego, in a brutal, no holds battle fights against Galactus, both fight for years, exhausting their energies and destroy each other. Ego kills Galactus and dies.
- Thanos, in an ambush, armed with an attuned cosmic cube, catching Galactus as he is setting up his planetary conversion hardware with his hunger at its peak and his power at its nadir, this might be just the right moment to fell the titan. But it probably won’t.
- Master Order and Lord Chaos kill Galactus, treacherously taking advantage of their alien natures to undermine his invulnerability. These two are at the highest order of meta-conceptual intelligence in the Universe. They are the weakest of the strongest.
But where does Thor rank?
But Thor? Not on that list. Not ever on that list. Not with Galactus’ own power. How many times have we seen the Surfer turn against Galactus? Has he ever really stood a chance?
Modern writers don’t have the respect for the work of the old creators and have been slowly dismantling the old ways, substituting scale, sweeping battles with lots of destruction, confusing that with creativity of the like which created GALACTUS.
King in Black? Not even close.
Nuff Said.
-30-
Thaddeus Howze is an award-winning essayist, editor, and futurist exploring the crossroads of activism, sustainability, and human resilience. He's a columnist and assistant editor for SCIFI.radio and as the Answer-Man, he keeps his eye on the future of speculative fiction, pop-culture and modern technology. Thaddeus Howze is the author of two speculative works — ‘Hayward's Reach’ and ‘Broken Glass.’