admonition : SPOILERS forSilver Surfer : Black

When it add up to determining the oldest Marvel superhero , the list of possible prospect is amazingly long . After all , when you have gods like Thor who populate for millennia , cosmic entities likeThor ’s mother Gaia(one of the first goddess born on Earth ) , and torpedo likeDoctor Strange living millions of alternate futures … it ’s a near race .

late upshot , however , reveal that at least ONE Marvel superhero ’s lifespan outstripsallof these beingness , earning him the claim of Marvel ’s oldest superhero . In the miniseriesSilver Surfer : Black , the former Herald of Galactus finds himself billions of yr in the past times after being caught in a dim muddle . The only reply is to wait out the story of the universe as the immortalSilver Surfer , make it for eons until catching up with his own time . But what makes this effort more impressive is that this is n’t the first clip the Surfer has live for billions of years . Just a few years ago , in Dan Slott’sSilver Surfer(2016 ) , the Surfer traveledpastthe showtime of time and waitedbillions of additional yearsfor history to catch up with him . While these event doubtless make the Silver Surfer Marvel ’s Old superhero , the question inevitably arises … what the heck   did the Surfer do during all those years ?

Old April O’Neil (foreground) and the new NInja Turtles from TMNT Last Ronin

The Silver Surfer Waited Eons for His Love

Dan Slott’sSilver Surferseries shows a unlike side of Norrin Radd ( aka the Silver Surfer ) . Where other stories depict the Silver Surfer as a lonely , only being , Slottbased his Silver Surfer off the more lightsome BBC seriesDoctor Who . The series show the Surfer traveling the hotshot and fall in love with a human woman , Dawn Greenwood . When Dawn ’s father expire back on Earth , the Surfer tries giving Dawn a chance to say goodbye by traveling back in time . rather , the attempt throws them back to a point before the Big Bang into the world that existed prior to theirs . agnise they ca n’t get back to their own creation , Dawn and the Silver Surfer spend the next sixty days exploring the new cosmos , finally marrying and settling down . Dawn ultimately pop off , leaving the Surfer heartbroken . A few months later on , however , the doomed macrocosm collapses and the Surfer transmutes Dawn ’s persist into energy , vowing to take them both home as his Power Cosmic allows him to live the Big Bang and put down the new universe .

relate : Silver Surfer is the Cosmic Superhero the MCU Needs

Here , the Surfer offers the new-sprung Marvel existence two significant things . First , he releases his wife ’s energy into the black void , make her lighter the first “ dawn ” of our macrocosm . Next , as the first wielder of the Power Cosmic , he chooses the look of its vigour signature tune – and decides to make it cherry-red with black polka dot ( after Dawn ’s pet frock design ) to always prompt him of their love . Other than this , however , Norrin vows to take no significant action mechanism as the world evolve . He mask himself as an invisible shadow named “ Nor - Vill ” and wait patiently for trillion of geezerhood , watching as planet and cosmic beings , including his future superior Galactus , stand up and fulfill their role .

A composite image of the Peanuts gang hoisting Charlie Brown and Snoopy in the air in front of black and white panels from the Peanuts comic strips

Here , the comic deviates from theofficial rules of metre travel in the Marvel Universe , which dictate time traveler move sideways into alternate universe resembling a past or future clock time period . The Surfer lives through the chronicle of the mainstream 616 universe ( possibly due to the Power Cosmic ) , and 13.7 billion years by and by , arrives at the issue of theGalactus Trilogywhere his past ego turns against his master key and gets trapped behind an invisible roadblock on Earth for year . “ Nor - Vill ” takes vantage of this by advisedly trapping himself on Earth and occupy on the human identity of “ Norville Rappaport . ” Under this pretense , he stays at Dawn Greenwood ’s New England inn , becomes a champion of the family , and observe his future married woman grow up until she flee off with the Silver Surfer of her time . Once the pair travel to the past times , “ Nor - Vill ” reverts back to the Silver Surfer , destitute to inhabit out his life as himself once more .

Then, He Built the Entire Marvel Universe

The Silver Surfer was careful to persist mostly passive during his first trip to the beginning of the universe . But he might have feel other than if he knew what he was destined to do thesecondtime he found himself at the dayspring of time . In Donny Cates and Tradd Moore’sSilver Surfer : Black , the Surfer again travel back billions of class to a power point where planets and some other civilisation have already formed . He find himself in conflict withKnull , the God of the Symbiotes , who attempt to taint him with one of the parasitic organism destined to evolve into the Venom symbiotes . To outlive , the Silver Surfer once again introduces light into the dark cosmos , using his waning Power Cosmic to bear a unexampled maven .

Wounded , the Surfer finds aid and counsel from a young Ego the Living Planet ( who ’s surprisingly less egotistic than hisolder MCU twin ) , Uatu the Watcher , and even a still - bear Galactus . While the Surfer weigh killing Galactus and saving innumerous future worlds , both the Watcher and Galactus convince him otherwise . Nevertheless , the Surfer takes a more active role to kill Knull , give his waning Power Cosmic and his body to give birth raw stars and empower “ galactic seeds ” that go on to give lifetime to new planets , including Zenn - La. Over the millennia , the Surfer ’s dead body reconstitutes and he re - come out , hissilver sheath now put back with black .

signally , the Silver Surfer ’s actions this fourth dimension around redeem his preceding genocidal deeds as a Herald of Galactus . Where before he felt dandy guilt about lead Galactus to planets the Devourer of Worlds destroy , he now realizes he make those same worlds ( including his home planet ) , which equilibrate the scales of his conscious greatly . More significantly , however , as someone who has made multiple mark on the universe and lived an unimaginable farsighted life ( close to over 27.4 billion years ) the Silver Surfer is no longer just a Marvel superhero with god - like abilities . He is , in effect , the god who bring the first lightandlife into the Marvel Universe .

Far Side, cowboys with hands in the air (foreground) Union soldier giving general

While theSilver Surfer ’s hereafter from this tip on is still unrevealed , his position as Marvel ’s oldest ( and now likely greatest ) superhero will likely play a self-aggrandizing part in stories to come .

Next : The Silver Surfer Has Changed His colour To [ SPOILER ]

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Silver Surfer embracing Dawn in front of many Marvel characters

Silver Surfer Black New Comic

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