Eternals: Is Galactus a Celestial?

A new type of being was introduced in Eternals – but is Galactus, one of the true Marvel immortals, one of them?

Warning: spoilers for Eternals below.

In Eternals, we met a group of superhuman beings who serve a race of enormous, god-like creatures, known as Celestials.

Through Sersi and Ajak, we met Aristem, one of the Celestials, voiced by David Kaye.

Arishem, one of the Celestials, is the only one we meet in Eternals. Photo: Disney.

He is one of many Celestials, who are all birthed through the death of planets with intelligent life.

The Eternals face him and some of their own down to defend Earth, but Aristem and the rest of his kind still endure as incredibly powerful beings at the end of the film.

Based on their size, some fans have been wondering whether another enormous being, Galactus, is part of their race.

Who is Galactus?

In What If...?, the character of Ultron eating universes, in a nod to how Galactus consumes planets. Photo: Disney.

Once a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic being who eats entire planets to sustain himself.

In Marvel’s What If…?, there was a nod to Galactus when Ultron chased the Watcher through various realities and, in one, become enormous and opened his mouth wide enough to consume an entire planet.

He is roughly the same size as a Celestial and feeds in a similar way, draining life from planets.

Is Galactus a Celestial?

Despite these similarities, Galactus is not a Celestial.

Celestials are birthed from the centre of planets after feeding on the growth of intelligent life for hundreds of years, then destroying them as they break free and start their lives.

Galactus literally consumes planets, feeding on the life energy, but he doesn’t have the same birth origins as Celestials.

He was once a mortal, known as the explorer Galan from the planet Taa, which existed in a pre-Big Bang universe.

When an unknown force begins to kill off all life in his universe, Galan’s ship is caught in the Big Crunch, a hypothetical scenario where the opposite of the Big Bang happens and the universe collapses.

The process changes him and Galan gestates in an egg for billions of years, to hatch out again as Galactus.

He went on to consume multiple words in order to sustain his immortal life.

Galactus is one of the only truly immortal beings in the Marvel comicbook universe, and is rumoured to soon be introduced to the MCU films.