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.

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.~

as corny as it would look I still think he would have been epic looking....they could have changed the colors around a little and gone with the modern non short short wearing Galactus

was okay, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed when I saw it, but thinking about it, it's actually a good idea.

galactus was once described to look as anyone would imagine him, most of the part humans would look at him so he looks humanoid, if skrulls look at him he looks skrullish and the same goes for those inhumans. Now, i believe that their imagination was not enough to manifest Galactus into a physical form and yet something scary and cosmic, so, i like it.

i kind of understood why they did it, buuuuut.. i still hate it.

I totally agree with you Inferiorego  [:
I was very impressed with the portrayal of Galactus, a giant man in space would look stupid. -_-  making him a giant, destructive cloud of death is a lot more realistic and logical.

I have mixed feelings about it. I agree with you that it seems more realistic the way the movie portrayed Galactus, but the comic book lover in me wants the the characters to look like they jumped off the pages of the comics and onto the silver screen.

it was okay  
  
it would have been cool to see what he would have looked like though

I was ok with how they handled Galactus-- the writing and direction of the rest of the film? Not so much. The plot and characters were so incredibly cardboard thin. It took the cliches seen in the origin film and stretched them even further, while losing many of the characters' individuality.
 
Susan was entirely defined by her relationship to Reed (and then as an object to the Surfer). It was pathetic.
 
When my friends and I watched it the first time, we looked around and said "that's it?" It felt like half an hour because nothing happened until the end. It was a bunch of filler instead of character development.

I wouldve went for a Galactus looking Galactus. theres a quote from Kick-Ass! i cant think of at the moment on that, maybe someone will. but no more silly than a big orange rubber turd looking guy. lol.

I loved it!
Basically because the space tornado meant one of two things:
1) Galactus was this huge space entity (Like you said in the article) or
2) The tornado was the vessel!
 
Let me explain myself! Silver Surer is too big a character that when being used in a movie Galactus would just over shadow the Surfer, I thought that the tornado could have just been a vessel that covered the World-Eater. A perfect excuse to have Galactus' physical appearance hidden from the public and have that be revealed for a future F4 movie...

It's easier to appreciate in retrospect. My first reaction was "Whaat? =( That's not Galactus. =/"    
And now it just is what it is, really. I'm not strong one way or the other. 
  
I'm just wondering how it communicates, since Norrin Rad was apparently able to convince it not to destroy his planet and become the Silver Surfer and all. I suppose telepathically, have Zen-La folk mastered telepathy?   
Unless it's just the vessel like others mentioned, then communication would be easier...

" I wouldve went for a Galactus looking Galactus. theres a quote from Kick-Ass! i cant think of at the moment on that, maybe someone will. but no more silly than a big orange rubber turd looking guy. lol.

"

i think i heard they did it like that because they were saving an actual galactus apearance for the silver surfer film. i think galactus would translate well all you'd have to do is make him darker (just like the rhino from james and the giant peach)

You could say the same thing about Thing or Silver Surfer... 
 
1. A giant man made of orange rock, 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 orange rock man has the potential to come off as just plain silly, and no one can take a giant orange rock man who wants to clobber people… until it’s too late, 
 
 1. A giant man embossed in silver riding a floating surfboard, 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 man embossed in silver riding a floating surfboard has the potential to come off as just plain silly, and no one can take a  giant man embossed in silver riding a floating surfboard  who is a herald of a cloud that wants to eat your planet that serious… until it’s too late.
  
 Its this kind of thinking that gets us effete metro Dr. Dooms and Blackhearts, Optimus Prime with lips, etc. Look at the ridiculous stuff that people have bought in Marvel movies- a giant dude made of sand rampaging around New York, blue furry scientist man in a suit, teleporting self-healing guy with swords coming out of his arms, so on and so forth.
 
Fantasy/sci-fi is about impossible stuff coming to life on the big screen. If people aren't buying into something absurd it has everything to do with the execution.

How about make Galactus look like a giant humanoid cyborg-thingy? (Not the best description). Like a sentient alien. I don't know.

I was okay with it but I would have preferred his normal from.

I think the part that looked like his head was a bit much. Liked the new look though

They could have easily changed his color and armor around a bit to make him look better. I mean really a stupid intergalatic cloud. Look like the same storm that gave the Fantastic 4 their power to begin with just with some shape. How many movies have we seen with oversized spaceships (Independence Day). It would have translated well is whoever had more imagination.

I did not like it. It was a major let down for me. 
 
Yeah, maybe it would look a little silly for him to waltz up in his purple armor. Nothing a color change couldn't fix. Everyone needs to face it though: VILLAINS LOVE PURPLE!
 
They could have used him in his true form as well, being energy (not dust). Add a few scenes of different people viewing him and him looking different in every view and you would have gotten a great feeling that this creature was beyond Earth and the known science of it. 
 
There are probably even better ideas out there from someone more creative than me. I think how they chose to do it was weak and disappointing. 
 
Great article IE. I love when staff actually talk about something I know about.

disappointing. the movie was meh overall.

I sorta do see reason 1 because i'm a huge Fantastic Four fan and i would have stuck to the comic Galactus however it would be a bit corny to have something that big be in a movie it would be like  like an old movie with corny graphics again because it wouldn't play out well.

I sorta do see reason 1 because i'm a huge Fantastic Four fan and i would have stuck to the comic Galactus however it would be a bit corny to have something that big be in a movie it would be like  like an old movie with corny graphics again because it wouldn't play out well.

I actually really liked the film version of Galactus.
 
What I didn't like was

If they had to make him look more threatening, than I think they should have gone with something more mystical/religious looking.  Having him look like a fiery, other worldly demon would be much more epic looking (plus it would fit in with the story's theme better).  Look at it this way:  In the 60's, when Stan Lee wrote SS in FF and his own comic, he was portrayed as a Christ like figure.  (Other worldly, seemingly perfect being comes from the heavens, comments on our world, is persecuted,  and then sacrifices himself to save the universe  from ultimate evil). Heck, Mephisto was even introduced in SS #3 as the surfer's arch nemesis!!!   There was an entire issue written by Lee dedicated to Mephisto trying to tempt the Surfer  (very biblical!!!)!!!.  And even if you don't like the obvious Christian aspects, you can't tell me that a big space cloud looks better and more menacing on screen then a demonic, apocalyptic version of Galactus.

I have to wholeheartedly disagree.There is a reason it works in comics and even though I do believe some things won't translate,however I feel Galactus could have been so great.If the audience can accept everything else in that movie, Johnny containing all of the 4's powers or Silver Surfer phasing through buildings, then I believe a brief appearance by Galactus as he appears in the comics would not have made the film any less believable but instead would have been a nice nod to Galactus and Kirby's design.Also there was talk of a Silver Surfer movie and if they had any intention of doing that then Galactus should definitely have resembled his comicbook appearance.Then again I am a bit biased because I love Galactus and his look.  

I would have liked to have seen more of a traditional version vs. the Ultimate version. If anything, when the Silver Surfer and Human Torch were flying up into it, if it just had the silhouette of his helmet and showed that a figure was there.

Hated it!!! Galactus is a Titan, not stormy weather!!! :os

I have a question and I want somebody to answer it: why do movies have to be realistic?

I love the way they made galactus in the fantastic four movie.  I agree that making galactus a giant humanoid in purple armor would have looked kind of silly on the big screen.

as much as i hated the F4 movies its the only way galactus would have worked

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)
   

Galactus is not defined by his purple and blue Kirby concoction. Different races perceive him differently. Traditionally, of course, he is more often than not, depicted in his purple and blue armor suit.

The differences aren't only in his physical depiction. Galactus is a force of nature, neither good or evil, he just is. But he is an entity who communicates, nonetheless. You hear nothing from the big cloud. No telepathic language, no channel. He does not speak his mind to the Silver Surfer when his herald turns on him. 

I think people would have been considerably less disappointed had Galactus been a knock-off of the Borg, or even Brainiac. He didn't even have to look like a humanoid. He didn't even need arms, legs, or a head. He could have been a giant floating vessel like VGER or the thing from The Voyage Home. He could have been the fluorescent lifeforms from The Abyss or Eywa from Avatar, and fans would have been infinitely happier. But a big swirling cloud of dust? Not just a big swirling cloud of dust, but a big swirling cloud of dust that is easily defeated by the Silver Surfer. It's like: dude, why couldn't you have just done that before?

No, the movie version was nothing but one big shortcut in every direction. 

" How about make Galactus look like a giant humanoid cyborg-thingy? (Not the best description). Like a sentient alien. I don't know. "

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)
   

"

"I have a question and I want somebody to answer it: why do movies have to be realistic? "

I liked the movie Galactus, he looked like The Void.

I like Galactus from "FF2".

I have to agree, the Giant Living Storm looked pretty cool.