The latest hero shooter looking to take over the gaming world is NetEase Games and Marvel Games' upcoming Marvel Rivals. With players in 6v6 matches, you'll be able to take characters like Magneto, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Rocket Raccoon and more and enter into a battle royale in an attempt to stop a villainous Doctor Doom.
However, the good doctor isn't the only one watching these battles unfold 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 wouldn't be far off, the judge 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 series of comics from 2009 to 2010 called Galacta: Daughter of Galactus and was featured in a special series in the anthology The Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectactular. It's a fun series set in a separate universe of Earth-610102 in the larger Marvel Multiverse.
Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan brought Galacta to life in The Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular, pushing the boundaries of fun characters playing in the Marvel universe.
In the comics, Galacta is an ordinary young woman who blends in with the human population well, although she always seems hungry despite to be able to curb her 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 she has built a life for herself on Earth as a blogger and foodie. She even has her own X account (formerly Twitter), although it hasn't been updated since 2009.
How strong is she?
She would do some heroic work every now and then, but never in the public eye. When the hunger pangs become too much to handle, she would go in and devour intergalactic threats to Earth, consuming them without the people of Earth ever knowing. Since then, however, she has not been seen in the Marvel Universe, until her introduction in Marvel Rivals. She was relegated to an obscure universe and deemed non-canon in the main Marvel timeline. Much like her alien father, Galacta comes with many of the same powers that Galactus has, although some of them are weaker since she is much younger than her father. She has some extraordinary abilities that put her past most of the Marvel heroes hanging around on Earth.
Some of her most powerful abilities include a cosmic awareness of the world around her, allowing her to grasp the very essence of everything around her. This helps make her one of the most intelligent beings in the universe, much like her father. Another of her main abilities is the ability to consume any matter she choosesconverting it into pure energy to satisfy her endless hunger. While her father is driven to consume endlessly throughout his existence, Galacta can control her hunger to a much greater degree. That said, if she gets too hungry, her powers can go haywire, amplifying her abilities to a greater degree.
Much of her cosmic power gives her a plethora of other abilities that can be lumped under the title of near-divinity. She can fly, teleport, control the weather, read minds and so much more. More importantly, she is an evolution of Galactus, who has powers similar to his but a level of ingenuity that her father lacksdriving her to find creative solutions to problems plaguing her father.
Most importantly, Galacta doesn't seem to be either bound by the cosmic necessity that Galactus is. He acts as a kind of cosmic arbitrator for the other cosmic beings Eternity and Death, balancing the two and making sure that one does not overpower the other. Since Galacta doesn't have to deal with that level of responsibility, she's free to pay attention to other things and enjoy her life.
So what is Galacta doing in Marvel Rivals?
Her role in Marvel Rivals seems to be similar to Athena's in Overwatch 2, as a narrator and passive observerperhaps even one that sets up the player's matches to some degree. While we may have to wait for Marvel Rivals to release later this year to find out more, Galacta makes a fun addition to the game as a watcher of the events they predicted, much like the Watcher in Marvel's main story.
As she returns to the eyes of Marvel Comics fans, there's a not-insignificant chance that Galacta will make a return with her comic book side, and maybe even enter the 616 universe with all the other heroes and villains you love.
