Silver Facts

Are you a fan of The Herald of Galactus? Because we got One Dozen Silver Surfer Facts!

1. Following Norrin Radd, Galactus had several other Heralds to help him feast on planets. This included a machine of his own creation called Tyrant, Nova Corps Academy graduates Firelord and Air-Walker, Stardust-an alien who prefers to kill the inhabits of a planet before Galactus eats it, a planetary ruler known as Terrax, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch for a short time, among others.

2. When designing the character, Jack Kirby claimed he was "tired of drawing spaceships" which led to The Silver Surfer riding a surfboard. Stan told Jack that-at the time-"he had gone too far". Despite a plot thread in "Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer", Norrin does not actually die or lose his The Power Cosmic when he is separated from his board. Instead, the board is linked to him in such a way that he can repair in when it destroyed and convert it into pure energy. The board also follows Surfer's will, traveling across the world to get to him, bending into various shapes, and allowing him to pass through like water.

3. Stan Lee wrote The Silver Surfer's first solo series himself and actually like to write it all on his own. He thought with other writers taking Spider-Man, and The X-Men, and The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer was the one book he could do on his own. So much so that he was a little disappointed when the book was given to another writer.

4. Norrin Radd was originally to marry Empress Shalla-Bal of his home planet Zenn-La, but offered his loyalty to Galactus in exchange for his planet's safety. Despite his leaving, Shalla had a complicated life of her own. She was brainwashed and used as bait by the demon Mephisto and Doctor Doom to force The Silver Surfer to battle The Fantastic Four. Galactus feasted on Zenn-La when Surfer betrayed him, but had the decently to tell the planet's people beforehand. He left the planet in ruins, but Silver Surfer shared his Power Cosmic with Shalla and she used it to restore the planet to glory. She sadly had to reject Surfer's love due to the responsibility of being Zenn-La's savior. During the Free-Skrull War, she and her planet were on the side of The Skrulls. She is currently romantically involved with Norrin's half-brother (by father) Fennan Radd.

5. Both of Norrin Radd's birth parents died by suicide.

6. Like all of Galactus' Heralds, Silver Surfer received a portion of The Power Cosmic-an energy source linked to the cosmos themselves that allows it wielder various powers. Telepathy, telekinesis, energy manipulation, size manipulation, teleportation, transmutation of matter, mental manipulation, resurrection, life draining, force field projection, energy blasts, and countless other abilities, a majority of which Surfer has used. He has even offered to use The Power Cosmic to keep his human love interest Dawn Greenwood young and immortal so they could be together forever, but she rejected the offer.

7. While Surfer has worked with many of Marvel's heroes he doesn't often work on teams. The largest exception to this fact are the original Defenders. Founded by The Silver Surfer, The Incredible Hulk, and Namor The Sub-Mariner, The Defenders were a team of heavy hitters who helped protect the world from evil. Originally, Surfer referred to this team as "The Titans Three", but after Doctor Strange joined them they changed the team name.

8. Surfer briefly hooked up with Guardian of The Galaxy Mantis, however after her death and revival she never reconnected with Surfer. Surfer then rebounded from Mantis by hooking up with another ex-Herald named Frankie Raye/Nova.

9. The Carnage Symbiot once attached itself to Silver Surfer, turning him into "Cosmic Carnage" with both the powers of Carnage and The Power Cosmic at his disposal. Surfer was able to overpower the Symbiot and Spider-Man led it back to Kletus Cassidy.

10. In The Ultimate Universe, Gah Lak Tus controls silver humanoids who come to Earth and convince masses of people of commit suicide so that the resistance of Earth becomes smaller. These Silver minions can form wings, spikes, and turn themselves into flying boards. After that crisis is everted, Reed Richards accidentally summons a being called The Silver Searcher to Earth. When Searcher comes to Earth he triggers natural disasters and chaos just by being there. He summons the ruler of Zenn-La, who Johnny Storm nicknames "Psycho-Man"-and his Silver Surfer Army. The Fantastic Four free the Earth from Psycho-Man's control.

11. A Silver Surfer solo film was almost produced by Marvel Studios based off the CGI short film of two film school students and a script by Andrew Kevin Walker, but the project stopped dead in 2000. Before that, in 1983, a film called "Breathless" told the tale of Jesse Lujack who loves Jerry Lee Lewis music and read Silver Surfer comics. Jerry is actually obsessed with The Silver Surfer, collecting his comics and even quoting the character. From The Surfer, Jerry is inspired to be a free-spirit, loving, loyal, and gains a sense of self-determinism that leads him to a point of self-destruction.

12. In the "MC2" future of the Marvel Universe, Silver Surfer fuses with Galactus and searches the universe undoing all of the old Galactus' destruction, an idea that would recycled in the 2015 series "Ultimates" where Galactus became "The Restorer of Worlds". In another alternate future, Galactus comes to a version of Earth that had been slaughtered by Thanos The Mad Titan. The only remaining hero remaining is Frank Castle/The Punisher who made a deal with Mephisto and became The Ghost Rider. Alone and crazy, Frank becomes Galactus' new Herald and seeks vengeance on Thanos as The Cosmic Ghost Rider. Also, in this future, Norrin Radd wields Thor's hammer Mjolnir. In a crossover between Green Lantern and Silver Surfer, the two heroes team up to battle Parallax, Cyborg Superman, and Thanos. Ironically, the two of them fought during "Marvel vs DC" and Surfer defeated Kyle Rayner. In the "Marvel Zombies" Universe, Silver Surfer comes to Earth to warn them of Galactus' approach only to find the Earth infected by a zombie apocalypse. He is then attacked and eaten alive by zombified heroes like Captain America, The Hulk, Wolverine, and more. Now imbued with The Power Cosmic, the zombified heroes set off into space to devour Galactus and the rest of the galaxy.

Thanks for reading!

What kind of vehicle would you ride through space!?