See the Galactus You Didn't See in FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER Concept Art by Daniel James Cox

Check out Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer concept art by Daniel James Cox!

I ran into some amazing concept art this week that points to a very different interpretation of Galactus for The Fantastic Four sequel.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (also known as 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer) went through many design changes, the most striking being Galactus "Devourer of Worlds."

In the final film Galactus is a massive cloud that engulfs the planet, but I found some concept art by Daniel J. Cox that points to very different interpretations including one called "Planet Devouring Machines." I found the final design underwhelming, so that would have been wild.

Cox is a professional storyboard and concept artist who's worked on big budget movies like The Great Gatsby (2013), Knowing (2009) and 30 Days of Night (2007).

Check out the rest of the images after the jump (click to enlarge).

In the comics, Galactus is a massive dude in a purple suit who literally walks up and drains living planets of all their energy. He first appeared in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966). When the film's title was announced many wondered if this meant Galactus would appear as well, since Silver Surfer is his "herald." You can't have one without the other.


For comparison, here's what he looked like in the comics.

Director Tim Story, on his MySpace page, said, "There continues to be much speculation about Galactus. Major speculation. We haven't finished the design of him/it so be careful about what you read and believe. Trust me...no one knows. One things for sure, you can expect to see him/it. It will be pretty powerful. I'm having a lot of fun with the concept and believe me - MOST will be satisfied." (Side note: Remember when MySpace was cool? HA!)

That was dated March 01, 2007 and the movie came three months later, so they must have gone through a bazillion designs. Here are some of them along with a couple of designs for Doctor Doom and Silver Surfer.

Daniel said the first one is a personal illustration that "was kinda close to the stuff I did for the FF2 film." The rest are from the production.

Here's what Galactus looked like in the final film.

Source: Wikipedia

See more of Daniel J. Cox' at http://www.danieljamescox.com

Click on the links if you want to see more of Daniel James Cox concept art and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer on my blog.

What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer what did you think? Would you have preferred Galactus in another form?

Official Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Synopsis
Catch a wave of "terrific adventure" and "non-stop action" (CBS-TV) in this fun and fantastically entertaining smash-hit! "Invisible Woman: Sue Storm and "Mr. Fantastic" Dr. Reed Richards are about to be married when a mysterious alien... the Silver Surfer... crashes the proceedings and heralds Earth's impending destruction. With time running out, the Fantastic Four reluctantly teams up with the nefarious Dr. Doom in a thrilling effort to save our planet!

Directed by Tim Story
Cinematography by Larry Blanford
Starring Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon

Release date: June 15, 2007

© Copyright 2007 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures, Constantin Film, Ingenious Film Partners