Nova: I had heard-I guess the Fantastic Four told me-that Galactus isn't really human, but he'd always appeared that way to me!.
Silver Surfer: He appears to every being in the form most comfortable to the being!
Nova: But that's usually human, isn't it? Or humanoid! I mean, the Pirates are humanoid! You Zenn-Lavians are! The Kree, the Skrulls, all the different Elders!
Silver Surfer: The Skrulls are reptilian!
Nova: But their bodies have a humanoid configuration! What I mean is, evolution throughout the universe seems to have a preference for two arms, two legs, five-fingered hands-all that stuff!
Silver Surfer: He appears to every being in the form most comfortable to the being!
Nova: But that's usually human, isn't it? Or humanoid! I mean, the Pirates are humanoid! You Zenn-Lavians are! The Kree, the Skrulls, all the different Elders!
Silver Surfer: The Skrulls are reptilian!
Nova: But their bodies have a humanoid configuration! What I mean is, evolution throughout the universe seems to have a preference for two arms, two legs, five-fingered hands-all that stuff!
— Silver Surfer (1987) #11
Dabbler: Consider this: A creature that evolves one eye has a huge advantage over a creature that doesn't. Two eyes grant depth perception, which is a game changer when a civilization's tech tree advances to "throwing rocks/spears" or "bows and arrows." But eyes three through however many grant severely diminishing returns.
You need at least two legs to run. Four might make you faster, but usually comes at the expense of dexterous fingers. Six limbs might give you the best of both worlds... but each body part requires calories to grow, and it takes a lot of calories to grow a sapient brain. If a species is too busy growing wings and web spinners and sixteen extra arms to survive the lean times, then it becomes an evolutionary dead end.
In short, the humanoid form is evolutionarily efficient.
So as I said, there are plenty of non-humanoid species out there, but there's a bias towards ones that are.
Suzy: You have four arms.
Dabbler: That's not the point, Suzy!
You need at least two legs to run. Four might make you faster, but usually comes at the expense of dexterous fingers. Six limbs might give you the best of both worlds... but each body part requires calories to grow, and it takes a lot of calories to grow a sapient brain. If a species is too busy growing wings and web spinners and sixteen extra arms to survive the lean times, then it becomes an evolutionary dead end.
In short, the humanoid form is evolutionarily efficient.
So as I said, there are plenty of non-humanoid species out there, but there's a bias towards ones that are.
Suzy: You have four arms.
Dabbler: That's not the point, Suzy!
