Fantastic Four First Steps Reveals First Official Look At Galactus Without His Helmet (Photos)

A new look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps showed what Galactus looks like without his iconic helmet. The Fantastic Four made their MCU debut in 2025 alongside Galactus, who became the closest thing the franchise has had to Thanos since Josh Brolin's run in the Infinity Saga. 

New concept art for The Fantastic Four: First Steps revealed a look at the villainous Galactus without his iconic helmet on. Shown in the new Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps – The Art of the Movie book, images highlighted the purple-suited villain with his bare head visible, as the helmet lay on a pile of rubble beside him.

A closer look at the villain shows actor Ralph Ineson's face without the helmet, as the costume extends up the side of his face and over his ears.

Other images further show Ineson's head sans helmet, with intricate technology wrapped around the back of his head and his ears.

While Galactus made his most comic-accurate appearance to date in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, all of his screentime showed him wearing his helmet (which was also made into a massive collectible popcorn bucket). It is also unclear where he is in the image, which is set in a completely rocky terrain and may have shown more of his conquests outside of his quest to consume the Earth.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the first movie released in Marvel Studios' Phase 6 slate and the MCU's first-ever Fantastic Four solo film. Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the story pits the team into a struggle to protect the Earth from Galactus' wrath. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is streaming on Disney+.

Galactus' Future in the MCU After The Fantastic Four: First Steps

While the Fantastic Four found a way to defeat Galactus at the end of First Steps, they did so without killing the intergalactic behemoth. The film ended with the Silver Surfer helping to blast her old master to the other end of the galaxy, seemingly stopping him in his tracks for the moment.

The film further established Galactus as a long-term threat when he realized the power of Reed Richards and Sue Storm's son, Franklin Richards. Forcing his birth, he saw that Franklin possessed the Power Cosmic (amongst many other unrealized powers), and it seems clear that he will not stop trying to acquire that power, even after this setback.

For now, the Fantastic Four will have to deal with Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom, who wants to take advantage of Franklin's abilities for his own purposes in Avengers: Doomsday. Although Galactus' return is likely to occur after the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, the expectation is that Marvel will not want to keep him in the background for long.