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Love It or Hate It: Galactus in Fantastic Four 2

I've got my reasons, what are yours?

 

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I know it's been quite a while since this film came out, but I've been thinking about this a lot recently. Ever since Fantastic Four 2: Avenging the Silver Surfer's Rise or whatever came out, I’ve heard a lot of people upset, but not with the movie, as a whole, so much. They were upset with the portrayal of the traveling world eater, Galactus. Most people seemed to be upset because it wasn't the same character from the comic book. Although it’s been a while since I’ve seen the film, I’m here today to say, “I love the Fantastic Four 2 version of Galactus, for a couple reasons.”

1. A giant man in purple armor, to me, would not translate well to film. I could only think it would look pretty goofy, almost kiddie-like. He works great in the comics as such, but it’s something we’re used to. Comics are a world of fantasy, and although the movies are also, films try to bring a sense of reality to what the viewer sees, and giant purple man has the potential to come off as just plain silly, and no one can take a giant man who wants to eat your planet that serious… until it’s too late, but then you're dead and you're planet is gone. I did, however, really enjoy the homages the film played to the original character (pictured right). Although some fans may not have enjoyed the way the character came out, you have to admit you got at least a few goosebumps seeing the silhouette of his helmet a of couple times. 
 
2. The film version of Galactus is a little more grounded. I know what you’re thinking, “How is a giant cloud ‘grounded?’” Hear (read) me out. With life we know of three kingdoms (my biology may be off, please feel free to correct me) Animal life, plant life, and fungi. (I think viruses and bacteria may have their own too) When it comes to the rest of the universe, is it that hard to imagine something outside of those kingdoms? An entity entirely energy based? Or what about a creature whose physicality we can’t fully understand? The idea of an entity made of space dust and other debris, if that's what it is made out of, is incredibly intriguing. It's a being that is larger than life and has a life-force we do not completely understand. There is mystery behind that. With the comic version, there isn't too much left that is unknown, since his origin has been completely explained.


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== TEASER ==

Neo... Enter the Matrix... I mean, I want to eat your planet. (Gah Lak Tus)
Neo... Enter the Matrix... I mean, I want to eat your planet. (Gah Lak Tus)

Things within the universe surprise us every day. They change our perception of how the universe works. A being like the FF2 Galactus is something along those lines: A giant space entity that feeds off of planets. There’s much more terror in that rather than the giant purple man. What works well in a comic may not always work well on the screen. I can understand why people would be mad about this. You go into a film hoping to see Galactus, and you get a space tornado. It's the same way I'm sure a lot of people felt when Gah Lak Tus was revealed in the Ultimate Universe, but sometimes we're dealt a weird hand and have to make due.

I grew up with this character being one of my favorites. I always felt sympathetic towards him. He essentially travels through space alone, and he must feed on other planets in order to sustain himself. He's still one of my favorite Marvel characters, but even though Galan doesn't appear the way I grew up with him in the film, I still love what they did with the character. I think the space-tornado was pretty awesome. 
 
Love it or hate it?
I loved the film version of Galactus, it brought something fresh to the screen, and you may laugh, but it seemed more realistic to me than the comic version.
 
What about you guys? Did you love or hate the film version of Galactus? What are your reasons?
 
 
~Mat "InferiorEgo" Elfring is a comedian, teacher, comic book writer, comic store employee, and herald of space tornado.~

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Novemberx2

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Edited By Novemberx2

  to be honest i had walked out the cinema before Galactus must of arrived. i just could not stand the Fantastic four movies, not because they changed things from the comics, but because they sucked, bad acting,bad script,bad action sequences! i could't care less what happened to in them. the first one was terrible and my friend talked me into seeing the second one and we left about 30mins in 
 
that said i would of accept this Galactus as a realistic  portrayal of him, i think the idea of giant man in purple is silly even in the comics. i think the ultimate version was pretty realistic too.    

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The Sharp Dressed Lady

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Anything translates to film when done right with the goal in mind of telling the story the way it was told in the comic. 
 
For the first two decades of Fantastic Four history to be told in cinematic form bearing any semblance to the comic, one would need a series of movies of comparable contemporary scale to Birth of A Nation meets Avatar meets anything George Lucas and Jon Favreau and Richard Donner, told with Stanley Kubrick precision and with a 2001 : A Space Odyssey vista, and beyond. Probably now in 3D.
 
The smoke and fire images of Galactus in FF2 were good suggestions, but they weren't even postage stamps in comparison. 
 
CGI helps to make the visuals possible. Disney trained armies of cell animation artists, and John Chambers trained armies of make-up artists to make and apply prosthetics to armies of extras for The Planet of The Apes movies. In the sixties, seventies and eighties I believed a way to create convincing visuals for a convincing Fantastic Four adaptation would be to train matte painters in cell animation and to train cell animators to matte paint. CGI pretty well negates that necessity by doing much of the same thing. 
 
Also, the use of stop-motion effects, a la Ray Harryhausen, to create many of the visuals of an FF adaptation and other comic adaptations, and the need to train armies of stop-motion artists, is also pretty well handled by CGI and the prevalence of the CGI realm. Instead of Mr. Fantastic effects being largely animated matte paintings and Puppetoon-like stop-motion and animatronics, it can be done pretty convincingly with CGI for the most part.
 
The Human Torch and Invisible Woman, with animation effects, and Thing, with prosthetics and stop-motion and animatronics, can both be concisely done in large part with CGI. 
 
To do an FF movie the right way, 30 or 40 years ago, would have been a painstaking technical achievement that would have taken a long time to produce as movies go. It will still be painstaking, but we now have more universal tools that equate the movie maker to the scope of the comic artist. Something filmakers, prevalently, did not previously have. 
 
A note : Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry loved Marvel, as noted with the Borg Cubes, a la Galactus and the Skrulls, Spock, a la Namor, and Star Trek : The Next Generation, a la X-Men. So, if it can work for Mr. Roddenberry, it can work for Marvel. 
 
Science tells us that Nature doesn't classify us into kingdoms. Leave kingdoms to those who think they can classify Nature. 

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Cpt. Quor

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Edited By Cpt. Quor

I always thought it was a good take on the character, I'm sorry but a giant man with a purple helmet (amirite!) would have looked utterly ridiculous on the big screen.

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Donovan Montgomery

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I acctually liked the way they did Galactus in the movie, I agree a big purple guy would have made the movie a little more silly.
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Rich-Man

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Edited By Rich-Man

the fantastic 4 movies were'nt the best, they were too cheesy. they chose the wrong director for the films, but ive got to admit i DID like the way Galactus was portrayed. i agree a giant bloke with a huge purple helmet ( haha ) would have looked stupid, this way they made him mysterious and scary, the   silhouette of his horns was great and it did give me goosebumps! 
 
so films bad, galactus good!

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Beyond your Doom

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Edited By Beyond your Doom

I see their reason but they could have done better and they could have given him more screen time. I would prefer it to have been more like marvel ultimate alliance Galactus.

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The Sharp Dressed Lady

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@Beyond your Doom said:

" I see their reason but they could have done better and they could have given him more screen time. I would prefer it to have been more like marvel ultimate alliance Galactus.

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"
And THAT, @Beyond your Doom, is why we love you. Thank you for that. That is also one of the most awe-inflicting depictions of a comic character in comic adaptation history.
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BIackFlash

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Edited By BIackFlash

 http://www.villainsandheroes.net/2009/09/26/doom-and-galactus-drop-the-bomb-on-a-fantastic-four-3-movie/

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grimreaper1980

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Edited By grimreaper1980

i have to agree with you on that one, i mean he still had the form and hunger of galactus, but without the purple look

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pinchpaker29

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Edited By pinchpaker29

I hated the film version coz he seemed weak! the space debris look was cool, I was just dissapointed that the confrontation with him was soooo quick. The big man deserves more screen time and maybe some demonstration of the power cosmic...
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Dro

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Edited By Dro
@inferiorego said:
"

Thanks for all your opinions guys! I love hearing them whether you agree or disagree!


@Meteorite said:

" Well, I guess you have made some points there that I overlooked when I first saw the movie, but I still want the comic version.
 
Also, there are five kingdoms:
  1. Animalia (e.g. humans)
  2. Plantae (e.g. trees)
  3. Fungi (e.g. mushrooms)
  4. Protista (e.g. Algae)
  5. Monera (e.g. Bacteria)
"
Thank you! "
Also, the scientific community as a whole can't agree on whether viruses are alive or not, so they're sort of in limbo. I'd imagine if they were alive, though, they'd get their own kingdom, as they're pretty wildly different from any other form of life, being basically DNA in a protective shell.
 
When I saw the movie, I had little to no knowledge about comics, but even I knew there was a problem with the Silver Surfer beating Galactus, the source of his power. I'm thinking of a quote somewhere along the lines of "he who hath given can also take away" or something like that. Why give a possible enemy the power to beat you? And even if you did, why couldn't you just take it back?
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bob agent of agency x

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I liked it until Silver Surfer actually killied him, kinda makes a few questions  
1. How come he didn't do that somewhere between Zenn-la and Earth (was earth like the first planet with life on it?). 
2. Galactus is a GOD, and isn't it impossible to kill a god 
3. I don't belive that Galactus so stupid to give a weapon that can kill him to someone who's planet he is theatening to eat! 
4. After the first couple of credits, it says that Surfer lived?!?!?! AN EXPLOSION THAT CAN KILL GALACTUS CAN LEAVE SURFER ALIVE?!?!?!

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heroic_warrior76

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Edited By heroic_warrior76

Galactus added in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" movie love it.

 
 
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ms__omega

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Edited By ms__omega

I liked the whole energy cloud look the idea of a giant man in pink and purple armor just seems wierd to me in a movie

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fred93

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Edited By fred93

Noticed that the fire burning inside the cloud looks like galactus helmet ????

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Natarooma

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@bob_agent_of_agency_xsaid:

2. Galactus is a GOD, and isn't it impossible to kill a god

Technically IRL you kill gods when you stop believing in them, so nope, not impossible at all. Though in the comic book world it may be different, especially if you consider characters like Thor, though I like to believe that they're simply very powerful beings and not actual gods despite what the writers would have us believe.

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