Galactus is one of the most distinctly Marvel concepts ever conceived. The planet-eating cosmic deity was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and formed the center of one of their biggest storylines ever, "The Coming of Galactus" in Fantastic Four #48-50. The character has been involved in a number of different kinds of stories, ranging from parables about faith to stories where he's turned into Elvis Presley.

However, one of the strangest, an most infrequently mentioned, incarnations of the character focuses on Galactus, daughter, Galacta. Now, CBR is taking a look back at the history of the character, what her powers are and where she sits in Marvel continuity.

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Who Is Galacta?

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Galacta was first introduced in Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2 as the teenage daughter of Galactus in a story by Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan. Galacta first appears as a seemingly average human girl on Earth, going by the nickname Gali. In reality, she's just as much of a cosmic powerhouse as her father. But while Galactus is defined by his unending hunger, Galacta tries to control the same impulses that happen to her. She even tries to focus her hunger towards better causes. She has no apparent mother, although a twist in the story implies that Galactus can give birth to a second wielder of the power cosmic without a partner.

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She's openly critical of her father, and at various points, she openly references her daddy issues. Instead of wiping out races without any thought to their survival, Galacta is openly loving to all creatures. She even uses many of her powers to aid and heal incredibly sick human beings by consuming the alien diseases affecting them. She's also become accustomed to human culture and wants to continue living there even though her powers make her potentially incredibly dangerous.

 HOW STRONG IS GALACTA?

Galacta Machine

Galacta is gifted with many of the same cosmic powers that her father possesses. This includes cosmic awareness, which gives her intense intelligence regarding everything in the universe when she allows it to overtake her. She instinctively has the ability to consume anything to use it as fuel and can tell how many calories would be gained by consuming anything just by sight. When she gets hungry, her powers amplify, giving her perks including hunger-accelerated perception. It makes the rest of the world appear to be frozen from her perspective. She can also teleport, turn invisible and fly.

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She even has the capability to affect the cosmos around her, with Galacta at one point suggesting she could extract Wolverine's healing factor and expand it to a cosmic scale so she can feed on the eternally respawning being. This requires an understanding of Celestial power and technology, with Galacta even considering their work to be sloppy. Galacta is someone with the sheer cosmic power of Galactus, but with the creativity to actually use her powers in new and interesting ways. Theoretically, all of those powers could make her one of the strongest beings in the Marvel Universe.

Where We Last Saw Her

Galacta

Galacta has only appeared in comics twice, with her second simply an expansion of the original story in the digital-first series and print one-shot Galacta: Daughter of Galactus. The main conflict of the story comes when Galacta discovers a parasite inside her body that's amplifying her hunger. After approaching the Fantastic Four to try and get their help to analyze it, Galacta reluctantly steals the Ultimate Nullifier. She intends to use it on herself to keep herself from being controlled by the hunger the parasite brings out of her. However, Galactus finally arrives and stops her from going through with it. Galactus reveals it's not a parasite, but just that Galacta is pregnant.

This was the last time this plot was explored, however. The character was allegedly meant to reappear in Fearless Defenders, but was cut from the story at the last second. Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort has even joked about Galacta not existing in the main Marvel continuity.

While the idea of a benevolent Galactus was eventually explored in The Ultimates, Galacta's absence is a shame, as she makes a fun expansion to the Marvel Universe. While a young, optimistic teenage version of Galactus could be used a myriad of ways, none of the possibilities inherent to the character are being explored right now. Without the teenage daughter of Galactus, the Marvel Universe is a slightly less weird place, and it will stay that was until she returns.