Summary
The strongest villain that the Powerpuff Girls have ever faced is the one who is a blatant riff on Galactus from Marvel – and it’s not even close. This might come as a surprise to some, but for those who are Powerpuff Girls purists, it isn’t shocking that this parody of Galactus comes from the 2016 Powerpuff Girls reboot of the original 1998 series.
Regardless, IDW Publishing clearly wanted readers to know where inspiration for this villain came from in Powerpuff Girls: The Bureau of Bad #3 by writers Haley Mancini and Jake Goldman, artist Philip Murphy, colorist Leonardo Ito, and letterer Neil Uyetake. After getting knocked into space, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup careen into the ridiculously named Gal-Cactus, Space Cactus and Eater of Towns. This imposing figure tricks them into leading him to Townsville, where he then proceeds to earn his namesake.
The Powerpuff Girls’ Galactus Needed His Own Silver Surfer
The correlations between Marvel’s Galactus and The Powerpuff Girls’ Gal-Cactus are quite obvious, namely their similar designs, the closeness in their names, the fact they are both cosmic beings, and that they have a shared desire to devour either worlds or towns. One major difference, besides the fact that Galactus later seeks to devour knowledge as opposed to worlds, is that Gal-Cactus clearly doesn’t benefit from having his own Silver Surfer like Galactus did. Instead, the Space Cactus is forced to resort to trickery as opposed to relying on a herald to find sustenance.
Ironically, while Galactus is a mainstay in the Marvel Universe and has persisted throughout the comics for more than 50 years, Gal-Cactus is defeated quite easily in the Bureau of Bad miniseries and never returns again in either the TV show or the comics. In fact, Gal-Cactus isn’t even the main focus of the three-issue release. The Bureau of Bad is essentially a collection of short stories where various villains recount a time when they came close to defeating the Powerpuff Girls to determine who should serve as the leader of a new villain supergroup. Gal-Cactus is basically a background character who appears near the end of his respective issue based on Mojo Jojo’s exploits.
The Bureau of Bad Resembles a Villain Supergroup From the Original Powerpuff Girls
Due to the utter ridiculousness of Gal-Cactus, it should come as no surprise that this miniseries is based on the 2016 reboot. This series excelled at and incorporated as much randomness as possible, especially in comparison to the original show. In fact, some of the reboot’s mainstays continued to feel absolutely ludicrous even when they became a staple of the show. For example, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup could create themed energy constructs of certain things such as household appliances, animals, and military-grade weapons, respectively.
Regardless, it’s ironic that the villains in Bureau of Bad are unable to actually do anything as a villainous organization because of how successfully another villain supergroup fared in the original series, the Beat-Alls. A massive pun on the real-life Beatles band, the Beat-Alls always won against the Powerpuff Girls and only disbanded because Mojo Jojo found his own Yoko Ono. That said, if Bureau of Bad’s version of Galactus had joined Mojo Jojo then there wouldn’t even need to be a supergroup because that team-up would completely obliterate the Powerpuff Girls.
