As Russell sized up Galactus, Galactus was sizing up Russell as well. From his years of traveling the cosmos, he could tell that someone like Russell was definitely no good.
The good in question had nothing to do with justice or evil. In Galactus's understanding, there were no good people or bad people, because such distinctions were meaningless and lacked any universal standard.
Take Galactus himself as an example. He had devoured countless living planets, leaving devastation wherever he went, corpses strewn across the land. One lush, beautiful planet after another had become wastelands incapable of sustaining life.
Not only had he killed without restraint, he had also destroyed hope. He was certainly not a good person.
Yet he remained one of the Five Cosmic Entities, an indispensable part of existence. His position was unshakable, and he represented balance in the universe!
At the dawn of the universe, the rules manifested three factions of power: Infinity and Eternity represented new life and hope in the universe; Death and Oblivion represented vengeance and destruction; Galactus alone was responsible for balance.
Infinity and Eternity had long stood opposed to Death and Oblivion. Although they had called one another brothers and sisters since their birth, the rules decreed that they would struggle against one another forever.
This struggle was not born of hatred, but an inevitable result of natural law. As the neutral party, Galactus was responsible for providing the stage for their conflict.
Different dimensions led to different views of all things. The laws of the universe were beyond ordinary comprehension. In the eyes of ordinary people, Galactus, whose sins were unforgivable, should have gone to hell. Yet Galactus knew that his existence carried necessary meaning.
The countless planets he destroyed and the countless lives he killed would all eventually be compensated.