The latest hero shooter looking to take over the gaming world is NetEase Games and Marvel Game's upcoming Marvel Rivals. Taking on players in 6v6 matches, you'll be able to take on characters like Magneto, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Rocket Raccoon and more and enter an all-out battle royale in an attempt to stop a villainous Doctor Doom.
The Good Doctor isn't the only one watching these battles, however, with a mysterious woman overseeing the battles with seemingly cosmic powers at her disposal. Although at first glance, you might mistake her for Galactus, and you're not far off, the arbiter of these battles is an entity known as Galacta.
Who is Galacta?
If you don't recognize Galacta at first, don't worry. Galacta, also known as Gali, is a non-canon character who was introduced in a short comic book series from 2009 to 2010 called Galacta: Daughter of Galactus and was in a special anthology comic called The Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular. It's a fun comic that takes place in a separate universe of Earth-610102 in the great Marvel Multiverse.
Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan brought Galacta to life in The Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular, pushing the boundaries of the fun characters that play in the Marvel universe.
In the comics, Galacta is an ordinary young woman who blends in very well with the human population, although she always seems hungry, despite the fact that being able to satisfy his voracious appetite without having to destroy entire worlds to satiate it. She doesn't have the best relationship with her father, Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, but has built a life on Earth as a blogger and foodie. She even has her own X (formerly Twitter) account, though it hasn't been updated since 2009.
How strong is she?
She would do something heroic from time to time, but never in the public eye. When the hunger becomes too much to handle, she would step in and devour the intergalactic threats to Earth, consuming them without the humans on Earth ever knowing. Since then, however, she has not been seen in the Marvel Universes until her introduction in Marvel Rivals. She was left in an obscure universe and considered non-canon in the main Marvel timeline. Like her estranged father, Galacta has many of the same powers that Galactus has, although some of them are weaker because she is much smaller than her father. She has some extraordinary abilities that catapult past most of the Marvel heroes who hang out on Earth.
Some of her most powerful abilities include a cosmic awareness of the world around her, allowing her to understand the very essence of everything around her. This makes her one of the most intelligent entities in the universe, just like her father. Another of her main skills is the ability to consume all the matter he choosesturning it into pure energy to satisfy his endless hunger. While her father is driven to consume endlessly at every moment of his existence, Galacta can control her hunger to a much greater extent. That being said, if she is too hungry her powers can become furious, amplifying her abilities to a greater degree.
Much of her cosmic power gives her a multitude of other abilities that can be grouped under the heading of near-godhood. She can fly, teleport, control the weather, read minds and more. More importantly, she is an evolution of Galactus, having powers similar to his own but a level of ingenuity that her father lacksleading her to find creative solutions to the problems plaguing her father.
Most importantly, neither does Galacta seem to be related to the cosmic necessity that is Galactus. He acts as a kind of cosmic arbiter for the other cosmic entities of Eternity and Death, balancing the two and making sure that one does not take over the other. Since Galacta does not have to deal with this level of responsibility, she is free to focus on other things and enjoy her life.
So what is Galacta doing in Marvel Rivals?
Her role in Marvel Rivals seems to be very similar to that of Athena in Overwatch 2. that of narrator and passive observerperhaps even one that determines the player's matchups to some degree. While we may have to wait for Marvel Rivals to drop later this year to find out more, Galacta brings a fun addition to the game as an overseer of events, as they predicted, a Watcher of sorts in the main Marvel news.
With her return in the eyes of Marvel Comics fans, there's a not-insignificant chance that Galacta will be back in the comics, possibly even entering the main 616 universe with all the other heroes and villains you love.
