All recorded encounters between Galactus' power and Odin's power have either gone in Odin's favor by implying Odin as superior through Thor, or have been worthless and do not prove or imply anything one way or the other. And all other evidence points to Odin being his equal or superior. (Though, I myself maintain a conservative opinion that they are equals).
Thor #227 -- There is a perpetual myth floating around the comic book community that Odin once took on Galactus in the middle of Asgard and drove him out singlehandidly. 'And Thor #227 is the issue that proves it.' Don't ask me where said rumor came from, but it ain't true. There is little to scant nothing containied in Thor #227 to substantiate something like this. The whole idea of this having ever occured is plain flat out untrue.
Fantastic Four: The Worlds Greatest Comic Magazine -- Dr. Doom is going around owning *** in the Marvel Universe. Thus far, he's taken a Cosmic Cube and embarrassed Galactus all over again by robbing his powers and reverting him back into Galan (I know, it's ridiculous). At the time of Doom's battle with Odin, Doom had the combined might of Galactus, a Cosmic Cube, the Helix of Randac, the Cosmic Control Rod, and one other thing I think I'm forgetting. Anyways, during Issue #11 of the series, Doom and Odin battle for a little while on Earth until Doom, who seemed to be toying with Odin, finally decided to take Odin out of the fight with a blast from his gauntlet.
Thor #161 -- Ego spots a bypassing Galactus, gets frightened, and attacks him out of fear. Thor joins the battle and turns his might towards Galactus, who had just been whooping Ego. Anyways, in the end, Thor sends Galactus' butt packing with a godblast. It is often said that Thor was drawing on Odin's power in order to defeat Galactus, which is a rumor stemming from a OOC cutaway break in Thor Annual #14. There is, however, nothing in continuity to substantiate that.
COMMON QUESTION: "But...But...Galactus has greater feats!! Doesn't he?"
Galactus' demonstrations of power are no greater than Odin's, and often inferior in some cases.
Perhaps the single most cited display of power by Galactus occurs during the Cosmic Powers issue where Thanos imagines Galactus' battle with Tyrant as one which must have destroyed Galaxies. However, there is no actual demonstration in existance involving Galactus destroying galaxies, postive proof, nor concrete evidence therof. Other impressive demonstrations include a battle with Agamotto in Agamotto's own realm, and his battling of and defeating of Mephisto in his own realm via threatening to absorb it after niether could gain an advantage in combat. Worth noting is that in his battle with Mephisto, Galactus did succussfully destroy a myriad of planets in his efforts. He fought and stalemated the In Betweener in a joke of a confronation, which Galactus seemed to gain the upper hand in with a judo toss, as he apparenly took lessons from Captain America somewhere down the line. Galactus defeated the Sphinx rather casually, crushing the Kaa Stone in his hand as if it were nothing. Casual stuff like teleporting galaxies and devolving Hercules into protoplasma or whatever, and creating immensly powerful heralds may be considered as well, but the ones above are mainly his top.
.....Odin has matched *all* of those feats, as well as surpassed them some areas. He has, with definitive certainty, destroyed entire galaxies in his battles with Seth in an effort that shook the entire universe and tore at the very fabric of the multiverse. He, again, rattled across the entire universe in his battle with Forsung, which blew away planets like dry sand castles, and created heat so intense entire burning stars were created in its wake, as they blew each other to the ends of the universe. Odin battled Infinity in a confrontation that could be seen as far away as from Earth (Earth was just about destroyed), as the very laws of physics were being warped across the entire Unvierse (of course, Odin would eventually go on to lose to Infinity). Casual stuff such as teleporting all the people of Earth to another dimension, creating powerful artifacts, wiping out populations, creating a realm complete with false gods, waving his hand over a regualr apple -- giving the apple the power to warp reality over entire planets, or shattering the Sword of Doom can also be considered. But the first feats are mainly the top for Odin.
COMMON MISCONCEPTION: "But. The Infinity saga doesn't count. It was retconned in a Quasar issue!! Right?"
There was only a *partial* retcon, designed to get rid of the idea that just *half* of the Odin Power could effortlessly destroy the entire Universe, as well as boost Infinity's stature while at it.
........The exact Quote from Quasar #19:
"I glimpsed her HAND once-- many cycles ago-- when a tiny FRACTION of her power was being tapped by the Earth-God ODIN.."
........The exact quote from the Handbook:
"Thor #184-188: Infinity's force perceived by Odin and inadvertently tapped, creating an astronomical manifestation extinguishing stars in Asgard dimension; Odin went to World Beyond to investigate it, became mentally unhinged while contemplating power, combined mystical might of Asgard directed by Thor prevented a permanent merging with Odin-like Infinity-manifestation"
.......Allow me clarify some on the Infinity Saga, at least little bit, since there seems to be a lot of misconception as far as the retcon goes. I also want to preface this by reminding that the handbook is OOC, and thus invalid.
In said story, a failed assasination attempt splits Odin into two beings. One of the beings is named Infinity. And Infinity is Odin's evil half. Eventually, Odin confronts Infinity and they do battle (lots of fireworks). But Infinity is only getting *stronger* and *stronger* as time goes by, and eventually simply overpowers Odin -- Odin is defeated by Infinity. Mind controlled Odin then goes after Thor and company. At any rate, only with the help of Thor and some others is Odin able regain his senses or whatever. Then, is able to absorb his evil half, Infinity, back into himself and fix all the damage Infinity caused, as well as the damage they caused during their battle. ISTR.
The retcon only told us *where* Odin's evil half was getting power from, and why Odin's evil half grew more and more powerful as it so desired, surpassing Odin's good half. It tells of nothing else.
COMMON ARGUEMENT: "Well. What about when the Celestials visted Earth and whooped Odin? Galactus would have did better than that!!"
Since there are no documented encounters between Galactus and the Celestials inside of actual continuity, we really have no real way of knowing that. It is worth mention, however, that according to Mark Guru, the Celestials were the next leap in power and would have kicked anybody's butt, Galactus included. And what better way, I suppose, to demonstrate that point than by having the Celestials march in and mollywop the most powerful guys that were around at that point in time in Marvel, which, short of Eternity, were the gods?
Aside from that, a few other things are worth mentioning. During this period Odin appeared to be somehow significantly less capable than normal, and being on Earth allegedly even further weakend him (although I don't know how much stock there is in that -- I suppose it depends on the weight you give to the writter's comments). At the time, AISTR, it was beyond Odin's power to destroy even a sinlge planet. And, ISTR, preceeding the clash between the Celestials and the Destroyer, Thor faced Odin in combat and actually had a considerable chance at defeating his father had he not restrained himself.
It was later revealed that the loss of his eye did in fact contribute to a wane in his power during the Celectial Saga. Once Odin reclaimed his eye, the comment was made that he had regained his full power. Later on Odin would become even more powerful when he absorbed Surtur's power. In any case, no matter how it's looked at, the Odin that appeared in the Celestial saga was not a good benchmark.
COMMON MISCONCEPTION: "But? Isn't the Ultimate Nullifier a part of Galactus? Game over, right?"
No. And No.
..........That idea comes from this quote:
"(Ultimate Nullifier).........as much a part of me as my heart itself"
When you consider a few things, that statement begins to look mighty figurative. In fact, I don't know why anybody would have ever taken that statement so completely and utterly literal as some fans apparently have.
The first and most obvious thing to consider is the fact that Galactus appears to have no special relationship with the Ultimate Nullifier other than being its protector and guardian. Likewise, Galactus doesn't seem to hold any sort of special influence over the Ultimate Nullifier, either. Galactus even died, and the Ultimate Nullifier was unaffected.
The actual quote seems similar to a long list of quotes I complied earlier with a Google search, in partcular this one: "This here Basketball is as much a part of me as my heart is." Or this one: "My children are as much a part of me as my Heart itself." Nevertheless, even in the face of obviousness, I still went ahead and asked Mr. Brevoort, who worked on the book, for clarification. Here's what he had to say:
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Originally Posted by Tom BrevoortThat's pretty clearly a figurative statement. While there's a past historical connection between Galactus and the Nullifier, there's never been anything to indicate that it's somehow connected to his very being. |
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