Summary

• Galacta's healing power involves consuming alien diseases inside humans, saving lives while maintaining her own existence.
• Galacta's ability to heal extends beyond individuals, as she also protects the Earth from planet-eating creatures of Kree origin.
• Galacta's 'healing factor' takes a dark turn when she discovers she is pregnant with a child who could pose a threat to Earth, as their 'healing factor' could cause the end of the world.

Galactus’ daughter, Galacta. In Marvel lore, there are characters like Deadpool whose ‘healing’ factor is actually a ‘dying’ factor that replicates dead tissue, and Hulk whose healing is supernaturally linked to a hellish dimension. However, compared to Galacta, their healing processes seem tame.

In Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2 “Galacta (or, “The World Eater’s Daughter”)” by Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan, fans are introduced to Galacta, who explains exactly how she satisfies her cosmic hunger. Like her father Galactus, Galacta must consume life-energy to sustain herself. Though thanks to her Power Cosmic, Galacta can self-sustain for long periods of time, and can keep herself alive by eating the bare minimum. That’s how she’s able to ‘heal’ in this decidedly dark way: by eating alien fauna.

Anything that is alien and harmful to Planet Earth (and the indigenous life there) is on Galacta’s menu. While that seems straightforward enough, as Galacta has become something of Earth’s protector while also sustaining her own life, the specifics of how she does so is where things get a little dark. Primarily, Galacta tracks down humans afflicted with alien diseases, scans their bodies, and consumes the non-native creatures while leaving the human safely intact.

Galacta’s Feeding Process is Unsettling, but Life Saving (& World Saving)

The idea of a cosmic god feeding on alien diseases that linger inside human beings without them knowing is, indeed, unsettling, and more than a little freaky. However, as weird and dark as it is, it’s actually a life-saving process. These people would die horrible deaths if not for Galacta, who - in this comic alone - purges the body of one person who contracted a Skrull virus that human doctors couldn’t detect or treat.

While she’s saving individual lives, Galacta’s ‘healing’ process is far more beneficial to the world than that. After feeding on the Skrull virus, Galacta tracks down a swarm of planet-eating parasites of Kree origin, which were in the process of stripping the Earth’s core. If left unchecked, these creatures would have brought about the apocalypse, and no one on the surface would have known what was happening until it was too late. Just as she stripped alien diseases from a human body, Galacta healed the entire Earth the same way.

Galacta’s ‘Healing Factor’ Has the Potential to Take a Dark Turn

Galacta: Daughter of Galactus by Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan

In her follow-up one-shot comic Galacta: Daughter of Galactus, Galacta herself contracts an ‘alien virus’ in the form of a ‘Tapeworm Cosmic’, which she eventually learns means she’s pregnant. Her pregnancy makes her ever-present hunger (which she is always keeping at bay) nearly impossible to ignore - and Galacta has firmly claimed Earth as her home. Not only could she lose control and consume the entire planet, but the child she’s giving life to could do the same, making her feeding process not only unsettling, but potentially world-ending.

While Galacta’s continued existence on Earth may be a potential ticking time-bomb, she is still doing everything she can to not succumb to her cosmic hunger, while also making the world a better place with every meal she does allow herself. However, even at her best, the way Galactus’ daughter ‘heals’ herself (corresponding with how she feeds herself) is pretty disgusting, and is arguably the darkest ‘healing’ power in Marvel Comics.