The Monstrefact: Marvel’s Galactus

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses Marvel Comics’ Galactus and how he ties into various contemplations of extraterrestrial intelligence.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Robert Lammon. This is the Monster Fact,
a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. If
you've seen the new MCU film The Fantastic Four First Steps,
then you've finally experienced a proper cinematic treatment of Galactus,

(00:34):
the iconic devour of worlds for Marvel Comics, created in
nineteen sixty six by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This
titanic space god predates the Big Bang. He survived the
great collapse of the previous universe and entered into our own,
hatching from the cosmic egg. His god like abilities come
via the power cosmic, which he sustains through the consumption

(00:58):
of entire worlds. And yet Galactus is a lot more
complex than your typical Earth destroying elder god. While definitely
an existential threat and a perpetrator of untold megadeaths, Galactus
does not consume worlds with malice, as the latest MCU
film accurately depicts. He himself is a slave to his
own insatiable hunger, but is lawful and honorable standing by

(01:22):
the letter of pacts made for the survival of various
planets and such. While he's certainly a villain and a
monster by many measurements, he is also beyond good and evil,
a natural force that dwarfs everything he encounters. Sometimes he
even acts in ways that might cast him as an
anti hero. In The Fantastic Four First Steps, Galactus is

(01:44):
as close to his silver Age glory as we could
hope for. A giant humanoid being in purple armour and
a great hat that might best be described as a
papal miter with cosmic horns. English character actor Ralph Ineson
provides his voice and likeness. The presentation is delightfully over

(02:04):
the top, as it should be, But the entire Galactus scenario,
in which a ravenous cosmic power sends its harbingers out
in search of worlds and civilizations to dine on, actually
isn't entirely the domain of comic book science fiction. Humans
have wrestled with the Fermi paradox for seventy five years now.
If other intelligent life forms exist in the universe, perhaps

(02:25):
even in some abundance, then why haven't we encountered them,
heard of them, seen any signs of them. Why is
the universe so silent? Hypothesized solutions vary from the possibility
that Earth really is a rare commodity in the cosmos
to the idea that we exist in a sort of
space zoo or nature reserve. But while the latter concept

(02:46):
entails benign alien beings that intentionally leave us alone, the
dark Forest hypothesis paints a bleaker picture. Name for the
two thousand and eight Lucien novel of the same name,
the dark Forest hypothe this states that the rest of
the universe is quiet because its various intelligent, technologically advanced
civilizations are understandably afraid. They remain unheard and unseen because

(03:11):
they know to raise their voices or in any way
broadcast their presence could attract the unwonted attention of dangerous,
even more powerful forces. This could be threats known to exist,
or merely threats likely to exist and therefore worth remaining
silent for. And this is where we get to the
possibility of if not an actual galactus, then something close

(03:32):
enough to terrify us, something that hungers and sends its
seekers and heralds far across the sprawl of stars in
search of civilized worlds to harvest. First, let's think about
that hunger galactus must consume worlds. This we know the
idea is far from ridiculous when we consider it the
Kardashev scale, which sorts potential civilizations by how much power

(03:54):
they can harvest Type one the energy of an entire planet,
type to the energy of an entire star, Type three
the energy of an entire galaxy. Certainly, by type three
we are contemplating galactus level power, and it certainly puts
forms of planet and star harvesting or even consumption into consideration,
both in terms of what we can imagine, such as

(04:16):
the use of a Dyson sphere to enclose a star
and collect the sum total of its energy output, and
means that we can't even fathom.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yet.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
After all, we're not even a type one civilization on
the Kardashev scale. Some of the aims and abilities of
a Type three civilization or even a Type two may
simply exist outside of our context, and this leads us
to another Fermi paradox solution hypothesis, the Berserker hypothesis, also
known as the deadly Probe scenario. The Berserker name, by

(04:46):
the way, stems from the nineteen sixty seven Fred Saberhagen novel.
The concept here is that the cosmos seems silent because
thus far all other sufficiently advanced intelligent forms of life
have been destroyed by deadly seeker self replicating destroyers that
are even now on their way to decimate Earth as well.

(05:06):
In teasing this hypothesis apart, some have argued that humanity
would have surely been discovered and eradicated already if this
were the status quo in the galaxy. However, if we've
not yet met the criteria for extermination, or if there's
some hope of passing a civilizational test that ensures our
survival yish, then perhaps the sword of Damocles merely hangs

(05:28):
above all of our heads, entirely dependent on how we
conduct ourselves or how solid the latest season of Single
Female Lawyer happens to be. Obviously, there are numerous ways
to dissect this hypothesis, ranging from just considering the toll
such self replicating machines might take on the galaxies available
mass over time. This would potentially spell a kind of

(05:50):
Gray Goog apocalypse on a cosmic scale, as well as
issues of detection or lack of detection here in our
local neighborhood. Naturally, the idea has been explored in various
Sci Fi treatments, often as a means to explore our
collective values as a species, our hopes and our fears
that something else out there shares those values in either

(06:11):
its dark or light extremes. And we see this with
Galactus as well, that a herald is sent to judge us,
save or condemn us based on our merits or the
merits of those who stand as shining examples of what
we aspire to be. And in this we're reminded that
Galactus is a comic book take on the divine, a

(06:33):
god who sits in judgment, echoing a very long standing
note in human mythmaking, such as in the Bible, and
God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is
come before me, for the earth is filled with violence
through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
In the Bagava Ghita, I am time grown old to

(06:55):
destroy the world, embarked on the course of world annihilation.
Except for yourself. None of these will survive. Of these
warriors arrayed in opposite armies, and in Marvel comics, Your
planet is now marked for death. Your world will be
consumed by the devour. There is nothing you can do
to stop him, for he is a universal force, as

(07:17):
essential as the stars. Hold your loved ones close, and
speak the words you've been afraid to speak. Tune in
for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact or
Animalist Upendium each week. As always, you can email us
at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.