There was a FF story during Bryne's run on the book. Galactus came to Earth severely weakened to feast on it, and it took the combined might of the Four, the Avengers, and Dr. Strange to bring him down (while Daredevil and Spider-Man, feeling out of their league, sat and watched on a roof). Only due to being staving, did Galactus fall. However, rather than allow Galactus to pass, Reed Richards felt that all life is worth saving, even Galactus', so he works to dom so. And not one hero there seemed too upset about that.
But if you think about it, it makes little sense. Superheroes often destroy vampires, and feel little remourse about doing so, because their very existence means they have to kill others. They MUST kill innocent people so they can continue living. Most superheroes feel that is wrong. There are a few vampires that feast on "guilty" people like Morbius (who isn't even a mystical vampire, but a science-based "living vampire"), but most vampires just bite whoever they can land. Galactus is essentially a GIANT vampire. Dr. Strange literally crippled the guy by unleashing all the spirits of the dead from his devoured worlds on him. You'd think Spider-Man, whose entire life has been shattered by merely losing one or two people in his life, would object to allowing that to continue on a cosmic scale.
Later on, Reed was put on space trial for that act and it was later that Watcher or someone else basically went on about how "Galactus is a force of nature" and thus has a place in the cosmos, which always struck me as ridiculously liberal, as in the notion that the "act of murder", no matter who does it or the circumstances, is never justified. That killing Galactus to spare trillions is somehow no better than his act of killing them.
I mean, superheroes kill Dracula when given half the chance, but Galactus is determined to have a place in society? If some think tank said Vampires had a right to cull the herd of humanity, perhaps citing overpopulation and scarce resources, would most heroes agree? To me it almost look like Reed has a bit of an Earthling prejudice; he'll eagerly make deals with Galactus to spare Earth, but so long as he is menacing some other poor planet away from his notice, that's fine. And you'd think Mr. Fantastic would be the last hero to feel that way, having dealt with aliens for half his career.
But that's all old hat now. Galactus is a big character and thus can't die. I suppose it could make sense for there to be a "Church of Galactus" somewhere like there is a Church of Hala for Capt. Marvel. There are always nihilists out there.
