While Galactus is an unfathomably powerful force of universal nature who existed before the beginning of the Marvel Universe, he has one weakness that makes him vulnerable to Marvel’s all-time silliest villain: Stilt-Man.
Galactus is a giant cosmic entity who was imbued with the Power Cosmic during the birth of the universe and cursed with the unending task of consuming planets for the sake of keeping himself alive and maintaining universal balance. When Galactus was introduced, he faced off against the Fantastic Four after he descended upon the Earth with the intention of devouring the entire world. However, with the help of the Watcher and the Silver Surfer, Mr. Fantastic was able to get his hands on the Ultimate Nullifier–a device with the power to obliterate a huge chunk of an entire universe, which meant it was more than enough to kill Galactus–and Mr. Fantastic threatened to use it against Galactus, forcing him to retreat. With that defeat, it seemed as though Galactus could only be beaten if something as drastic and mutually destructive as the Ultimate Nullifier was used against him, but one comic proves there’s another way to defeat the Devourer of Worlds, and Stilt-Man has his own version of that very weapon.
In Daredevil #8 by Stan Lee and Wally Wood, Daredevil is facing off against Stilt-Man for the first time. After failing to stop him a number of times within this issue, Daredevil successfully tracks Stilt-Man to his lair and finds that he has access to a weapon far more dangerous than the giant, robotic stilts: a shrink ray. This shrink ray, known as the molecular condenser, does as advertised and shrinks practically anything it blasts into apparent nothingness. At the end of this issue, Stilt-Man accidentally turns this device on himself while his legs are fully extended, proving that the ray doesn’t have to encompass the entirety of something to shrink it as well as proving that this ray works on giants, meaning it should also work on a being like Galactus–and there’s another weapon that worked against Galactus that gives even more evidence to this claim.
Stilt-Man’s Shrink Ray Can Beat Galactus, Just Like Ant-Man’s Did
In Cosmic Ghost Rider #3 by Donny Cates and Dylan Burnett, Galactus is attacking an alien planet, and it is up to Cable to stop him. So, Cable time-slides to the future where Hank Pym aka Ant-Man designed a gun that shrinks whatever it shoots. Cable then returned to the present and used this weapon against Galactus, and it worked perfectly. This comic proves shrinking rays work against even a cosmic being like Galactus, and Daredevil #8 proves that Stilt-Man’s molecular condenser works on giants. Based on this evidence, it seems like Stilt-Man, while wielding his molecular condenser, can actually beat Galactus.
The idea that a villain as silly as Stilt-Man can presumably take down one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Universe seems preposterous, but when looking at the facts presented in these two Marvel Comics issues, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. All Stilt-Man would have to do is walk up to Galactus the next time the Devourer of Worlds visits Earth and blast him with his molecular condenser just as Cable shot Galactus with Ant-Man’s shrink ray. Because of Galactus’ proven weakness to shrink rays, he is seemingly left at the mercy of Stilt-Man, Marvel’s all-time silliest villain.