Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige explains why the MCU’s Galactus had to be comic accurate in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Galactus made his live-action debut eighteen years before Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a cloud-shaped Galactus tried to consume Earth before the тιтular team and the Silver Surfer defeated it.

At The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ roundtable where ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan was present, Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige explained how much Ralph Ineson’s Galactus differs from Fox’s version of the villain. Feige argues that audiences and studios are no longer afraid of embracing the source material, and he compares Galactus’ extravagant appearance to Loki’s horns, which were risky to adapt to live-action back in 2011’s Thor. Read Feige’s full comments below:

“I never looked at it as a redemption, but I did look at it as we had gotten to a point and I hope the audience had gotten to a point, and people making decisions at studios have gotten to a point, where the fear of something being silly is not a reason enough to not attempt it. And even for us going back, I think most things, the comics are not silly.

I think they’re cool, and I think it is awesome to bring to life. Loki’s horns come to mind when we were doing the first Thor, and that was many years ago now, and it had been a handful of years from the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer that had Galactus in it, and I thought, ‘we don’t want to hide it.’ He’s got gigantic, almost makes no sense, huge horns, and we need to embrace that. And we have an actor in [Tom Hiddleston] who can wear it, who can pull it off.

In Ralph [Ineson], we have the same thing. So it is embracing that and knowing that those designs are awesome. Those designs stand the test of time over and over and over again for a reason.”

What Kevin Feige’s Galactus Comments Mean For The MCU

Ralph Ineson’s Galactus Benefits From The Superhero Genre’s Vast Evolution

In 2007, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer‘s Galactus was reimagined as a mᴀssive cosmic cloud, possibly due to the limitations of its time, both in terms of audience expectations and studio risk tolerance. Back then, the idea of adapting a larger-than-life, armored, human-shaped cosmic god was considered too surreal for mainstream moviegoers. Superhero films were still cautiously navigating how to balance spectacle with realism, and studios often prioritized grounded interpretations.

Nearly two decades later, the superhero genre has evolved dramatically. The MCU has already introduced cosmic enтιтies like Arishem the Judge in Eternals and the Living Tribunal in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Compared to characters like these, an anthropomorphic and size-shifting Galactus is no longer a radical change to the MCU’s expanding mythos.

Our Take On Kevin Feige’s Galactus Comments

Marvel’s Movie History Has Led To A Golden Age Of Faithful Character Adaptations

Galactus’ fully comic-accurate MCU debut is perfectly timed. While it took over seventeen years for Marvel Studios to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU, that delay now works perfectly in the team’s favor. By Phase 6, the MCU has evolved to the point that every important element of the Fantastic Four’s lore can be as true to the source material as possible.

Galactus’ faithful appearance also sets a promising precedent for the Fantastic Four’s MCU future. After The Fantastic Four: First Steps, other classic villains could follow suit without major visual or narrative alterations. Cosmic threats like Annihilus and the Annihilation Wave, as well as concepts like the Negative Zone, are now more likely to be adapted faithfully as well. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios is establishing the MCU’s Fantastic Four as a distinct version of the team, much different from previous iterations.