The whole idea ofGalactusis utterly terrifying in a cosmic sense, as he’s essentially a god with the power to consume an entire planet, and there’s really no way to stop him. However, his standing as a pillar of cosmic horror in Marvel Comics doesn’t end with the fact that Galactus merely travels the cosmos devouring worlds, as he has one unique power that effectively turns Galactus from an evil god to absolute nightmare fuel.
In the four-part limited seriesHungerby Joshua Hale Fialkov and Leonard Kirk, readers are shown the fallout ofThe Age of Ultronfrom the perspective of the Ultimate Universe.The Age of Ultronhappened in Earth-616, but because theAvengers used time travel to defeat Ultron, they inadvertently tore the fabric of reality, creating a rift between Earth-616 and Earth-1610. Earth-616’s Galactus traveled through that rift into the Ultimate Universe, and he immediately bonded with his Earth-1610 variant, Gah Lak Tus.
When Galactus merged his body with the Gah Lak Tus swarm, he literally became the ultimate version of himself. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that Earth-616’s Galactus was an unneeded redundancy in terms of the level of horror he brought upon the universe. Sure, Earth-616’s Galactus was far more powerful than Gah Lak Tus - something that was apparent throughout the Hunger miniseries - but Gah Lak Tus needed no help being utterly terrifying, and that was due to the hive-mind’smost unique power: the ability to infect organic life with a ‘zombie’-like virus.
The Gah Lak Tus Swarm Throws Planets into a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ Before Consuming Them
Unlike the original Galactus, who is a cosmic force of nature tasked with consuming planets by the universe itself, Gah Lak Tus is an artificial hive-mind made up of countless drones that aimlessly wanders the universe devouring anything and everything in its path. Gah Lak Tus was created by the Kree Empire eons ago, and since then, it has been indiscriminately obliterating entire worlds. Gah Lak Tus is an affront to nature as opposed to being a natural part of it (like Galactus), making it one ofthe most terrifying threats in the original Ultimate Universe.
The horror of Gah Lak Tus was further amplified in Hunger, as the miniseries showed in gruesome detail exactly what each individual drone actually does while the whole of Gah Lak Tus is feasting upon a planet. When a few of the drones attack Earth, it’s revealed that they can infect living organisms with something akin to the techno-organic virus, mutating humans into cybernetic zombies that immediately start rampaging after being turned. It’s as if Gah Lak Tus forces a planet’s population to destroy themselves in a ‘zombie apocalypse’ before it consumes the planet itself, which is next-level horrifying.
Galactus’ Unique Ultimate Universe Power Explains Why It’s so Good at Destroying Worlds
Gah Lak Tus can also Perfectly Adapt to Any Environment, Altering Itself While Altering Others
Mutating living organisms into techno-zombies isn’t the only aspect of Galactus’ unique Ultimate Universe power that’s utterly terrifying, as the specifics of how it can so easily conquer and then consume whole planets is also horrific. Gah Lak Tus can not only alter the physiology of a planet’s population, but it can also alter itself - each individual drone - to perfectly adapt to any environment. That’s why Ultimate Galactus is such an effective killer, it’s always tailored to the world it attacks.
The aspect of Ultimate Galactus’ unique power of altering itself is terrifying in the sense that it basically cannot be stopped no matter which planet it attacks. However, the fact that Gah Lak Tus effectively turns a planet’s population into zombies before consuming the planet itself is easily the scariest part, proving thatGalactus’ most unique power turns him from evil god to absolute nightmare fuel.
