The true nature of the Power Cosmic is a mysterious thing. An enigmatic source of cosmic energy that permeates everything, it’s one of the most profoundly powerful forces in the entire Multiverse, with even a miniscule portion granting its wielder a near-endless list of superhuman abilities. Cosmic awareness, limitless strength, telekinesis, molecular manipulation, generation of portals and black holes, transmutation and the ability to affect the fabric of life itself are just a few of the effects the Power Cosmic can achieve, though the powers it grants its various users are often specific to the individual. The most famous user of the Power Cosmic is arguably the Devourer of Worlds himself, Galactus, whose vast reserves of this energy seem to be the greatest in the Marvel Universe.
Due to the immense level of power he wields, Galactus must feed on the energy of planets to survive, often recruiting servants known as “heralds” to assist him in his search for consumable worlds, bestowing the Power Cosmic upon these helpers. It’s because of this that the majority of the power’s users have served as heralds at some point -- but this isn’t always the case by any means. Thanks to the inscrutable nature of the energy source however, it’s tough to quantify exactly where these characters sit in a hierarchy of power, and that’s where we come in. Having rummaged through every comic book containing Power Cosmic we can find, CBR has put together a definitive list of the most powerful characters ever to wield the Power Cosmic, ranked.
20 DAZZLER
Due to the character’s origins as a cross-platform collaboration between Marvel Comics and Casablanca Records, Dazzler has inadvertently become the butt of many comic fans’ jokes over the years, but believe it or not, she’s actually a pretty cool character. With the vastly underrated ability to transform sound into light, the true potential of Dazzler’s mutant power seems to have gone largely unnoticed by the wider Marvel Universe -- with the exception of one particular character.
Galactus himself briefly recruited Dazzler, bestowing a portion of the Power Cosmic upon her before exposing her to the sound of an exploding galaxy, augmenting her powers to a cosmic level. Using this, Dazzler is able to retrieve Terrax -- one of the World-Eater’s more defiant heralds -- from the heart of a black hole.
19 HUMAN TORCH
It goes without saying that earning yourself the nickname “Devourer of Worlds” may come with a few unforeseen complications. It makes sense then, that after billions of years draining the life force from countless worlds, many planets across the universe began to get wise to the destructive intentions of Galactus, cloaking their homes from the World-Eater’s sights.
To remedy this, Galactus recruits the Fantastic Four’s very own Human Torch -- who at the time had the abilities of his sister, the Invisible Woman -- in order to shed some light on the situation. Instead however, Galactus is defeated by the Fantastic Four and Quasar, and is eventually reverted back to his human form, Galan.
18 AIR-WALKER
Originally a member of the Nova Corps hailing from the planet Xandar, Gabriel Lan had a chance encounter with Galactus during one of his many adventures, after which the World-Eater gifted him with some of the Power Cosmic.
Eager to become the entity’s new herald, Gabriel accepts the position and begins to serve Galactus under the name Air-Walker. Surprisingly, the two actually grew rather close over time, before Gabriel’s life is cut short by a group of alien creatures known as Ovoids. A desperate Galactus transfers the last shred of Air-Walker’s consciousness into an android body, but is disappointed to learn the new Air-Walker isn’t the one he once knew, stranding him on Earth.
17 RED SHIFT
One of the lesser-explored heralds of Galactus, not a whole lot is known about Red Shift’s past other than his eventual recruitment by the Devourer of Worlds. Happy to placate Galactus’ increasingly destructive tendencies, Red Shift made his first appearance in 1999’s Galactus: The Devourer, soon coming into conflict with the Silver Surfer.
Aside from his uncanny resemblance to Beta Ray Bill, Red Shift is perhaps most well recognized for his powerful set of blades, which allow him to cut through spacetime itself. This enables Red Shift to create portals at will, often using this ability to weaponize meteors, black holes and energy blasts from across the Universe.
16 NOVA
Perhaps not the Nova you were thinking of, Frankie Raye was an interpreter for the UN before rediscovering her long-repressed set of superpowers. With abilities similar to those of her on-again off-again boyfriend Johnny Storm, Frankie later became Galactus’ latest herald, vastly increasing her fiery powers to a cosmic level – even proving herself capable of taking on the Elders of the Universe in battle.
Taking on the name Nova, Frankie embarked on a series of deadly space adventures alongside the likes of Galactus and Silver Surfer, before meeting her unfortunate end at the hands of the World-Eater’s latest employee, Morg.
15 TERRAX
Definitely one of the more famous of Galactus’ heralds, Tyros was hand-picked by the fearsome entity during his time as a tyrant on the planet Birj. After being defeated at the hands of the Fantastic Four, Galactus transformed Tyros into the being known as Terrax the Tamer, resulting in his limited ability to control rock and ground becoming significantly boosted.
Possessing a disturbing obsession with conquest, Terrax proved to be possibly the most effective Herald Galactus had ever had, but despite his namesake, Terrax simply couldn’t be tamed. Frequently abandoning and betraying his master, Terrax became something of a rogue agent, putting his desire for revenge and conquest above his duties as a herald.
14 FIRELORD
Bearing the typically on-the-nose name of Pyreus Kril during his years in the Nova Corps, it’s no surprise that the Xandarian soldier would later become the herald known as Firelord. Serving under his friend Gabriel Lan in the Nova Corps, Pyreus agrees to assist Galactus after learning of his friend’s untimely demise, but never quite takes to the position as well as his former mentor.
Using his ability to wield the “cosmic flame” in battle, Firelord serves the World-Eater for a brief time, but ultimately desires his freedom once more. Fortunately for Pyreus, Galactus agrees to release Firelord with the help of Thor, who provides Galactus with his next herald in exchange for Pyreus’ freedom.
13 STARDUST
Easily standing out as one of the more unique heralds of Galactus, Lambda-Zero -- known as Stardust during her tenure as a herald -- is a being of pure energy, making her essentially immortal when imbued with the Power Cosmic.
Famous for callously ending the escaping inhabitants of the planets her master devours, Stardust finds herself in hot water with Beta Ray Bill after she assists Galactus in consuming his home planet, Korbin, leading to a heated series of battles. Despite her apparent cruelty however, Stardust takes her role as a herald extremely seriously, eventually sacrificing her entire species, including herself, to feed Galactus.
12 CAPTAIN UNIVERSE
The living embodiment of a potent cosmic force known as the Uni-Power, Captain Universe is more of a concept than a character, with the entity attaching itself to different hosts in order to take on a human form. Boasting vast cosmic awareness, incredible strength, telekinesis and matter manipulation, it’s hard to imagine the Uni-Power becoming any more powerful -- but a chance encounter with the Silver Surfer did exactly that.
After bonding with the Uni-Power during an intense battle with the energy-draining villain Krosakis, Silver Surfer imbued Captain Universe with a piece of the Power Cosmic to stabilize and safeguard the entity from further attack -- making the Uni-Power a near-unstoppable force of nature.
11 MORG
Prior to becoming a herald of Galactus, Morg was an executioner on his home planet, with the Devourer of Worlds taking notice of the villain after he betrayed and wiped out his own people in a fit of rage. Tired of his past heralds’ struggles with morality, Galactus saw Morg’s bloodlust and lack of moral fiber as an asset, gifting Morg with the Power Cosmic in exchange for his service.
Further augmenting his power after finding the Well of Life, Morg became so powerful that it took most of Galactus’ previous heralds including -- Silver Surfer, Terrax, Firelord, Nova and Air-Walker -- to bring him down.
10 COSMIC MESSIAH
The brainchild of mad scientist Alexei Ganger and the supervillain Puppet Master, the Cosmic Messiah is an organism sculpted from radioactive clay, given essence by a stolen portion of Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic. Built with the intention of saving humanity, the Cosmic Messiah was programmed with the entire history of humanity inside his head. This went about as badly as you might expect.
Resolving that the only way to save humanity was to convert all human life into primal energy, the Cosmic Messiah began to do just that, even using his tremendous power to convert Silver Surfer and the Thing to pure energy. Fortunately, the kind-hearted Alicia Masters is able to talk the Messiah down, who subsequently restores his victims to their corporeal forms.
9 COSMIC GHOST RIDER
While many may know the identity of Ghost Rider to be that of Johnny Blaze, or perhaps Robbie Reyes, the identity of the Cosmic Ghost Rider first appearing in Thanos Vol 2 #13 is none other than the Punisher himself, Frank Castle.
Existing in an alternate future in which Thanos has conquered Earth, Frank Castle is imbued with the Spirit of Vengeance by Mephisto, with the hopes of getting some good old-fashioned payback on the Mad Titan. Eager to see Thanos destroyed, Galactus also grants Ghost Rider the Power Cosmic, resulting in the birth of the unfathomably powerful Cosmic Ghost Rider.
8 RED HULK
The center of a rather large Marvel mystery for quite some time, the mysterious Red Hulk was eventually revealed to be none other than Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross himself, with the hulking beast constantly riding the line between hero and villain throughout his career.
Possessing a strength level about on par with his green counterpart, Red Hulk quickly proved himself to be one of the most powerful beings on Earth after he, as well as countless other heroes and villains, are captured and forced into gladiatorial combat by the Elders of the Universe. Ending the Hulk in his first battle, Red Hulk then absorbed the Power Cosmic from Silver Surfer, enabling him to destroy an entire team of Defenders, his teammates Terrax and Tiger-Shark and even the demon Dormammu.
7 SILVER SURFER
The quintessential herald of Galactus, Norrin Radd reluctantly agreed to serve the Devourer of Worlds in a last-ditch effort to save his home planet of Zenn-La from destruction. Having his mind wiped, Norrin was reborn as the Silver Surfer, and later came into conflict with the Fantastic Four after leading Galactus to Earth.
Despite his ominous origins however, Silver Surfer has since become one of Marvel’s greatest heroes following his divorce with Galactus, with his mastery over the Power Cosmic giving him near-godlike levels of power. Partly responsible for widening the scope of the Marvel Universe alongside Galactus, it’s no surprise that the character has become a fan-favorite amongst comic book readers.
6 COSMIC HULK
The “Cosmos Automation Program” was a protocol created and implemented by Galactus with the intention of expediting his often-troublesome feeding process. Forcing planets to build a life form capable of serving as his servant, the constructs would then absorb any Power Cosmic in their solar system, granting them vast power whilst leaving the system vulnerable to consumption.
The Cosmic Hulk was the result of one such project, designed and built by the Mad Thinker. After being unintentionally brought to life, even the Eternals are unable to stop the Cosmic Hulk’s rampage, with the robot later being stolen by the Intelligencia. Under their command, the Cosmic Hulk proves himself powerful enough to make short work of both Red Hulk and A-Bomb at the same time -- which is truly no small feat.
5 KORVAC
Perhaps best remembered as an old Avengers villain featured in the “Korvac Saga”, Michael Korvac is one of those villains whose power levels seem to wildly fluctuate depending on the current story. Nevertheless, at his most powerful, Korvac has proven to be one of the most dangerous foes the team has ever faced.
Accidentally absorbing the Power Cosmic after attempting to download Galactus’ knowledge, Korvac soon sets his sights on Earth, requiring the combined efforts of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy to take him down. The Power Cosmic seems to give Korvac even greater power than most of its other recipients, enabling the villain to manipulate time and space in addition to the long laundry list of other abilities associated with it.
4 ANTI-MAN
Granted his powers alongside Blue Marvel after a bad military experiment, Conner Sims became an unstable anti-matter reactor in human form. While this grants him some of the most profoundly powerful abilities in all of Marvel, Anti-Man is unable to remain in his reality for long, essentially phasing in and out of the Universe.
After serving as the arch-nemesis of the supremely mighty Blue Marvel for decades, Anti-Man takes something of an altruistic turn. Serving as the very first “herald of life” after Galactus becomes the Lifebringer, Anti-Man eventually sacrifices himself to restore Galactus after he’s reverted to his World-Eater status by the cosmic entity Logos.
3 GALACTA
Despite Galactus’ status as one of Marvel’s premier villains, many fans may be unaware that the entity actually has a biological daughter on Earth named Galacta or Gali for short. Unlike her father however, Gali is unwilling to consume planets to sate her hunger, instead devouring evil alien lifeforms who mean to harm Earth.
Naturally, Galacta’s levels of Power Cosmic far exceed those of its other wielders (with the exception of Galactus, of course), which combined with her genius-level intellect and use of advanced science make her amongst the most overpowered -- and underrated -- characters in all of Marvel. Thank God she’s on our side.
2 HIGH EVOLUTIONARY
Born in Manchester during the early 1900s, Herbert Edgar Wyndham’s obsession with genetic alteration would soon see him become the being known as the High Evolutionary. With intelligence said to match that of many cosmic beings, Wyndham’s experiments and achievements would later see him transcend humanity and become a god-like entity.
As the High Evolutionary, Herbert can essentially create, evolve and devolve lifeforms at will, and can even assemble and destroy matter at a sub-atomic level. After draining the Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic however, the High Evolutionary became even more powerful, gaining the ability to restore life to dead planets and terraform on a massive scale, making him the polar-opposite of Galactus in pretty much every sense.
1 GALACTUS
Created with the hopes of providing the Fantastic Four with a more unique, cosmic villain to go up against, Galactus was introduced to the Marvel Universe way back in 1966’s Fantastic Four #48. Although he was initially conceptualized as a mere eater of worlds however, the character has since grown into something else entirely -- a god-like cosmic entity that stands as one of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse.
Similarly, the morality of Galactus has shifted in recent years, with the character being depicted as a near-omnipotent force of nature as opposed to an outright villain. Due to his status as a cosmic god, Galactus essentially is the Power Cosmic personified, making him by far the most powerful character to have ever wielded its power.