He is the villain that relaunched the Cosmic side of Marvel. Introduced in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the creature was just an ordinary being from the Negative Zone until he happened upon the Cosmic Control Rod (the yellow tube around his neck). This mutated him into a highly intelligence being that became obsessed with conquering the world. He first become known to the Marvel Universe, when Reed Richard travelled to the negative zone to retrieve the energy from the rod in order to save his wife and his unborn child. Because Annihilus was extremely processive of the rod, this earn the F4 and most of the Marvel Universe, the hatred of Annihilus. He would go onto battle most of the Marvel Universe but mostly the F4. He would also go onto conquer most of the Negative Zone, creating a rivalry with Blastaar.

Much later, Annihilus would lead an army against the Marvel Universe when he believed that that universe was encroaching on the Negative Zone. He would destroy and enslaved many planets including Xander, which saw the Nova Corp destroyed. He would also killed many of the Cosmic side of Marvel, like Quasar which he stole the quantum band from. He was later defeated and killed by Richard Rider. He was later reborn from one of his Queens and returned to the Negative Zone. He would later return to plague the the heroes of the Marvel Universe and joined the Intergalactis Council. He would later go onto build a giant suit which he used to battle Hulk. The Negative Zone would eventually be invaded by the Cancerverse, leading Annihilus to seek aid from Marvel Universe. He help defeat the invaders and even revived Nova.

Annihilus has been a fan favourite character for F4 fans for years. He also made history as being the first ever Build-A-Figure Hasbro made when they took over the Marvel licence.