Silver Surfer: The Hero Who Didn’t Make it

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Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Silver Surfer: The Hero Who Didn’t Make it

Our Silver Surfer Friend is a hero who started with the wrong foot in the movies: He was included as a supporting character in a movie that, for some reason, was not very successful. I´m not going to analyze the quality of the film here. I prefer to focus on the character himself who, in my opinion, still has a lot to offer. They made an animated series, with the intention of continuing it until chapter 22 of the second season. But due to budget problems, they left us expectant, with the cliffhanger from chapter 13 of the first season.

For my analysis I am going to rely mainly on the animated series and Wikipedia. Let’s start with the basics: Just look at the list of powers he has:

Super powers list

  • He can fly, also without his table.
  • Superhuman Agility, strength and reflexes.
  • Almost impenetrable skin.
  • He can absorb cosmic energy of great power (to expel it in the form of lightning or to store it in his body while increasing his energy)
  • He also can track small objects lost in space.
  • He is able to transmute matter.
  • He can heal wounds.
  • He also can see the past.
  • Regeneration.
  • Interdimensional transportation.
  • Time control (for brief moments).
  • He can walk through solid matter.
  • He also can see in the dark.
  • Great psychic ability (able to contact any being at a great distance).

A character like this could easily beat more popular superheroes. Can you imagine someone like superman trying to fight him? (And I won’t even mention Batman) Why doesn’t he have the place he deserves in popular culture then? I’ll never understand.

But a superhero is not just his powers. Their attitude towards life is important too. As soon as the first chapter begins, the character makes a deal with Galactus, so that he does not eat his planet. In exchange, he would find other planets. He intended to guide him only to uninhabited worlds, but Galactus erased his memory. A mistake he didn’t make with his next herald. But eventually, the Silver Surfer regains his memory and has to face remorse for having done something bad with good intentions. During the course of the series, he faces several dilemmas, which are similar to this one. Be true to your principles or defeat evil at any cost? I don’t want to be in this boy’s shoes.

Galactus

His previous master (who turned into an enemy later) deserves special mention too: Galactus. The guy is not bad, but he has to eat something. He is a character who raises ethical questions that, today, with the development of trends such as veganism, begins to gain importance. It is not my intention to initiate a debate on the subject. I just wanted to highlight it as one of the topics that the story addresses.

Adaptations

According to wikipedia, another animated series called Marvel The Super Hero Squad Show, was made, where the character becomes a villain for a time. I have not seen it. If anyone saw it, leave your impressions in the comments.

Looking for information for this article, I found out that there is a video game for the 8-bit Nintendo console. I have played it for a while and I wasn’t satisfied. It’s fun, but it’s just a character flying in a 2D screen, where anything that touches you, kills you immediately, and the only weapon the game gives to you, is a very slow shot, which is very difficult to aim too. Not enough for such a powerful character. You could take out Silver Surfer and put in any other character, and the game would be exactly the same.

Another curious fact that I found out, was that Silver Surfer was not in the original script of the comic. It was just going to be the Fantastic Four against Galactus. But the artist thought that such a powerful being should have a herald who would announce his arrival. And as the old adage goes, the rest is history.

Bibliography:


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