Custom image by Debanjana Chowdhury

SUMMARY

Marvel may recast Kang amid doubts about his viability as a villain, and Galactus would be a formidable alternative for MCU Phase 6.
Galactus is a massive and well-known Marvel villain, with potential to be a recurring threat unlike Kang, ensuring a greater impact.
Marvel could pivot to making Galactus the main multiverse villain, enhancing his cataclysmic threat levels for future MCU events.

With the departure of Jonathan Majors, Kang’s MCU future is still up for question, but thankfully, Marvel just cast the best possible replacement for the villain. Theories and rumors have painted a dismal picture for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and whether Marvel will move ahead with the project as first intended. Having the main star depart the project is one thing (there are plenty of Kang recasting possibilities that make the character even more appealing) but the lackluster reception of Kang in his cinematic debut, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has cast some doubt on his viability as an arch-villain.

Should Marvel decide not to recast Kang and move on without him as the central villain, then The Fantastic Four may offer up a suitable alternative. The Fantastic Four is set to kick off MCU Phase 6 after MCU Phase 5 concludes with Thunderbolts*. Slated for release in July 2025, details about the movie are only just starting to take shape. Among these are the confirmed cast members, with the most recently announced being John Malkovich in an as-yet-undisclosed role and Ralph Ineson as the gargantuan celestial being, Galactus.

Galactus Is A Massive Marvel Villain And More Well-Known Than Kang

Galactus is one of the most iconic Marvel villains whose cinematic career was marred by the ill-advised portrayal of the villain as a giant space cloud in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Anticipation for Marvel’s no doubt more comic-accurate depiction is therefore at an all-time high; which is a level of enthusiasm that Kang does not seem to inspire. Now that the MCU is halfway through the Multiverse Saga, there has yet to be a Kang variant that hasn’t been defeated, which diminishes his threat levels ahead of his starring role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Loki Season 2 established the idea that the TVA is dealing with Kang variants on its own, allowing the MCU to pivot from the villain in that way.

The same cannot be said for Galactus, whose level of threat is practically self-evident. This is largely thanks to how well-known the villain is in comparison to Kang, with Galactus’ size and power helping to make a greater impact than the comparatively diminutive Kang. With that in mind, the MCU should, at the very least, ensure that Galactus is not so easily defeated as Kang, and survives his debut appearance in The Fantastic Four.

Marvel Shouldn’t Make Galactus A One-Movie Villain

The MCU is all too familiar with one-and-done villains. For the most part, this only diminishes characters who should be a lot more powerful and memorable than the MCU allowed them to be. Villains like Malekith and Ultron are notable examples – but the same fate cannot befall Galactus. Aside from being a near-omnipotent Goliath with a penchant for planets, Galactus is more of a force of nature than an out-and-out villain whose planet-eating MO is intended to maintain “balance” in the universe. In fact, The Fantastic Four has even intentionally kept him around in Marvel Comics.

While the same can be said for Ultron, Galactus is not the kind of villain that should be discarded after just one appearance. His significance to the Marvel Universe is at least equivalent to the likes of Thanos, who appeared in several movies in the Infinity Saga. Certainly, he is more significant than Kang who was – and may still be – prepped to appear in several Multiverse Saga movies. With so much controversy surrounding the character now, Marvel could benefit from instead making Galactus the recurring villain of the Multiverse Saga, presenting the Avengers with their biggest challenge yet.

How Marvel Could Pivot To Galactus Being The Main Multiverse Villain

When he appears in Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie, it’s easy to predict what Galactus will be aiming to achieve – namely, the consumption of a planet that The Fantastic Four don’t want to be eaten (most likely theirs). The world-devourer’s MO is already cataclysmic enough to warrant a level of fear that Kang has thus far failed to inspire, but the MCU could ramp up his threat levels to better fit the Multiverse Saga. While eating worlds in one universe is threatening enough, the MCU is destined to set up a multiversal event that leads to Avengers: Secret Wars.

With that in mind, having Galactus be responsible for consuming or destroying entire universes is one way the MCU could achieve this. Based on the theory that The Fantastic Four may take place in an alternate universe to the mainline MCU’s Earth-616, this could also help transport Galactus from The Fantastic Four’s universe to others, following what will presumably be the team’s journey into Earth-616 themselves. Whatever the case, the MCU is under a lot of pressure to do justice to the iconic Marvel villain, and turning him into a greater threat than Kang is a sufficient route to pursue.

MCU’s Movie & Show Lineup Is Perfectly Set To Justify Galactus Taking Over From Kang

Currently, the MCU is in a pretty prime setup to welcome Galactus into the fold as the franchise’s new main antagonist. Loki season 2 and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania can easily be used to downplay Kang’s importance in the overall grand scheme of the multiverse – as Kang was defeated in the Phase 5 movie, and the Disney+ show places Loki as something akin to a new version of the Kang variant He Who Remains, overseeing the fragile ecosystem of the multiverse.

With this framework in mind, the only loose end to truly tie up here would be the Council of Kangs, who could easily and justifiably be turned to concern themselves with a new threat like Galactus. Failing this, having Galactus simply wipe out the Council could be a solid way to establish his power level, and the often indiscriminate path of destruction the character leaves in his wake while attempting to gather more energy.

Eternals and Tiamat’s failed emergence from the Earth’s core could also serve a surprisingly crucial purpose, showing how Earth is the subject of grander designs from some extraplanar beings, and that the planet can be a source of sustenance for figures like Tiamat and Galactus. With Deadpool & Wolverine set to open up the roster of heroes and villains canon to the MCU’s multiverse more than ever, Galactus becoming the potential next primary MCU villain seems not only a logical move, but also one that can be backed up by several releases outside of The Fantastic Four, too.