WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Fantastic Four: Antithesis #4 by Mark Waid, Neal Adams, Mark Farmer, Laura Martin, and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.

The Fantastic Four had a huge problem in their latest limited series Fantastic Four: Antithesis. Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, needed help and Silver Surfer asked MArvel's First Family to help their long-time foe.

However, once they helped Galactus beat his new enemy, the unexpected happened, and Reed Richards stole Galactus's powers for himself. His family pleaded with him to return the powers, and he eventually gave in, but not before he made a lasting change to the nature of the powers.

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Reed Richards was in space and decided he would die rather than give Galactus his powers back. According to Reed, if he ignored the hunger, he could die a hero because he would save countless worlds from Galactus's hunger. Even Galan was happy about it, because he was cursed for years to seek out substance for his hunger, and, as he said, it was time he passed it on to someone else. That would not happen, thanks to Silver Surfer, Agatha Harkness, and the Thing.

It was the Thing's idea, but he had Agatha Harkness use her magic in conjunction with Surfer's Power Cosmic to reach out to Reed. However, there was more to it than that. Sue had Surfer remember what made him love Earth so much before he reached out so it would draw Reed back to the planet. According to the Surfer, he said that he chose to protect Earth because the humans on the planet were compassionate and used their intelligence to help others. The possibilities of hope and love made Earth different from the worlds dominated by the Skrulls and Kree.

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Reed Richards finally realized what he needed to do if he gave the Power Cosmic back to Galactus. He wasn't going to sacrifice himself to save the world; instead, he did something different. Reed knew what Surfer knew — there are reasons to save planets with the possibility of hope. With that little bit of knowledge, the leader of the Fantastic Four left a little something extra in the Power Cosmic before returning it to Galan, a tiny bit of his conscience so small and infinitesimal that Galactus will never notice it is there.

Reed said that he hoped that by giving Galactus part of his conscience, which allowed him to see people and have compassion for them, it might save a world in the future. While he conceded that it might have no effect, he also hopes that one day, it might spark, and one day save lives. This is what happened, as the end of the series showed Galactus pondering eating another planet. When he saw families and alien life on the planet, living, laughing, and playing, he looked at it and then flew off into space, looking for another source of nourishment. Reed Richards left something in Galactus that saved lives across the universe, and made the Eater of Worlds a little less dangerous.

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