Teen going for Guinness record in Galactus comics collection

Lael Lee has 854 comics featuring the Marvel supervillain, who will appear in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

- Yamini Chinnuswamy

As the second reboot of the Marvel superhero film franchise that kicked off in 2005, The Fantastic Four: First Steps will no doubt serve up something familiar for fans.

But director Matt Shakman's new version marks the first time supervillain Galactus is fully depicted on the big screen since his creation in 1966 by renowned American comic creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

Portrayed by British actor Ralph Ineson, the cosmic being who feeds on entire worlds to stay vital is arguably one of the top comic-book "big bads" of all time.

When First Steps opens in Singapore cinemas on July 24, local teenager Lael Lee will be going to watch it not for Marvel Comics' "First Family", but for his favourite character, Galactus.

Says the 14-year-old: "From what I've seen in the trailers, there's a lot going on in the film. I don't think Galactus will play a significant part. But the actor they've cast seems cool, so hopefully they do Galactus justice."

Just as many classic superheroes have secret identities, so too does Lael.

By day, he is a soft-spoken Secondary 3 student at Assumption English School. By evening – or whenever he is done with his schoolwork – he is a mega fan of Galactus, and might have amassed the world's largest collection of comics which include the character.

Lael has already accumulated 854 of these, and says the second-biggest collection he is aware of numbers around 200. He has his eyes set on another 20 or so Galactus-covered comics to make for a richer and more complete set.