Each iteration of the Multiverse had its own devourer of worlds, being the last survivor of the previous multiverse merged with that universes' essence.

History

In the Fourth Cosmos the Devourer of Worlds was an Archetype of Evil known as the What-Must-Be, who also possessed an Archetype of Good form known as the What-Can-Be, a primal being resembling and forming the template for Galactus. Little is known about him, but he was a being from the Third Cosmos. He was possibly the first devourer of worlds.^[1]

In the Fifth Cosmos there was an unknown devourer of the worlds, the last survivor of the Fourth Cosmos.

In the Sixth Cosmos the devourer of worlds was Moridun, later known as Omnimax, the last survivor of the Fifth Cosmos.^[2] His soul survived on past the destruction of the Sixth Cosmos, with his ghost returning in the eighth cosmos.

In the Seventh Cosmos the devourer of worlds was Galan, later known as Galactus, a humanoid being born on the planet Taa, a paradise-like world whose civilization is said to have been the most advanced of any of the known universe of that time, to the scienceer Taaia. However, the Sixth Cosmos and all its universes were in their final stages of collapse due to the multiversal renewal cycle,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} being consumed by the Abstract Entity known as the Black Winter.^[9][10]. Galan later became the devourer of worlds in the Eighth Cosmos as well, as that multiverse was a direct continuation of the previous.

In the Ninth Cosmos there are at least two possibilities for the devourer of worlds. The first one, Franklin Richards and Galactus of Earth-616 are the sole survivors of the Eighth Cosmos. Franklin will merge with Galactus's energy and became the devourer of worlds of the ninth cosmos.^[11] On the secod one, it will be Bruce Banner of Earth-TRN781 later known as the Breaker Apart. Unlike previous devourers, Banner was possessed by the cosmic being known as the One Below All. Banner was approached by the Sentience of the Universe, who thought that Bruce Banner was still himself and wanted to merge together in order to become a new being in the next cosmos;^[12] however, the One Below All-possessed Hulk grabbed the Sentience and devoured him, which in turn, begun transforming Banner.^[13]