Galactus is one of the most dangerous threats in the Marvel Universe. He is a planet-eating force of nature, the last surviving lifeform from the universe that existed before, and is destined to be one of the last ones of the current universe, to pass his knowledge onto Franklin Richards. He’s darn near unstoppable, possessing the Power Cosmic, which allows him to do anything from traversing the universe to destroying entire worlds with a thought. He’s fought Mad Celestials and consumed countless worlds, but despite everything, he was just beaten by the most unlikely X-Man. Not only was Galactus all but killed, but how it happened was completely embarrassing.
Galactus wasn’t brought down by a team of the X-Men’s strongest soldiers, and he wasn’t even brought to heel by one of the many Omega-Level cosmic powerhouses like Jean Grey or Storm. Galactus was taken down solely by Rogue in Unbreakable X-Men #1, and while the leader of the Louisiana X-Men is certainly strong in her own right, she shouldn’t be anywhere near Galactus’s level of power. Yet, she took him down, and in doing so, revealed one of the most persistent issues with modern comic books.
The comic started seven years into the Age of Revelation, when Galactus appeared on the front lawn of the Louisiana-based X-Men. They knew that they stood no chance in a direct confrontation with him, but Rogue wasn’t willing to let the Devourer of Worlds destroy her home without a fight. She flew up to Galactus, and to her shock, he told her that he was here to recruit Dome to be his new herald. He said that she was nothing here on Earth, but by joining him, she could become something that truly mattered. Rogue didn’t like Galactus calling one of the members of her family nothing.
Rogue grabbed Galactus and used every ounce of her mutant power to halt his assault. Her power has always been to absorb the life force and powers of whoever she touches, and noted how she has only gotten stronger with age. Instead of trying to hold herself back for fear of hurting someone, Rogue let her power absorb all of Galactus’s strength in a single instant. Just a moment later, the great Devourer of Worlds was laid out comatose, and Rogue had grown in size to match him. Her clothes had shifted to resemble his, indicating her Power Cosmic. Unfortunately, the massive influx of energy was too much, and turned Rogue into a lifeless statue.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with Rogue beating Galactus. Given her power and the fact that Galactus is a being of pure energy, Rogue would be a great counter to him. The problem, however, arises because this is not an isolated incident. When Galactus was first introduced, he was utterly unstoppable. Now, not so much. Just a few years ago, he was killed by Thor, then he was consumed by an Ender, and then defeated by Hadad. Galactus is a terrible threat, yes, but ever since his introduction, he’s been getting weaker and weaker in comparison to other threats in the multiverse.
This is a perfect example of villain decay, where a villain’s numerous appearances over time don’t change who they are as a character, but make them seem less competent and powerful by introducing other villains to fill those roles. This isn’t exclusive to Galactus, but is rather a big issue with most comic book villains. Popular villains consistently appear, but in doing so, they are beaten more and more often, making them appear weak, which incentivizes writers to introduce cooler and stronger villains, who then become popular and appear consistently, exacerbating the original problem.
Add revelations that superheroes are “holding back” on top of that, and you have a recipe for constantly raising stakes that will eventually get so big that it makes you look back on older stories and question how anything the heroes face is actually a threat to them. Effectively, moments like Rogue singlehandedly stopping Galactus, if done often enough and without care, can serve to devalue the hero, the villain, and every other hero and villain around them.
Comics have always had a problem with constantly trying to one-up what came before, but if that trend continues, soon enough, Galactus isn’t going to seem like a threat anymore, and Earth will have so many heroes on his level of power that it’ll make you wonder how they ever lose any fight. Writers and editors just have to be careful when dealing with scenes and plotlines like this, because while I love Rogue taking down someone like Galactus, it does pay dividends to be prudent about maintaining the fear factor of a villain like him. We should scream when we see Galactus, and this doesn’t inspire much fear.
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