Who Are Galactus and the Silver Surfer? Taking a Look at the Devourer of Worlds and His First Herald - Beyond the Snap

The Marvel Universe is a vast one, with many places and people to pick from. In this series of guides, we'll take a look at the less known ones in Marvel Snap. In this guide, we're doing a double feature on the Silver Surfer and Galactus. These characters are fairly well known, but their exact origins may not be.

Table of Contents

• First Appearance
  • Setting the Scene
  • All Are Insignificant Before Galactus
• Galactus Wakes... And He Hungers
• The Surfer Is Born So His Home World May Live

First Appearance

Both the Silver Surfer and Galactus first appeared in Fantastic Four (1961) #48-50, as part of the 3-issue The Galactus Trilogy. Well, "trilogy", the Galactus stuff is really only 2 issues worth of content. The first half of #48 focuses on tying up the Inhumans story-line that started in #44 and will continue as a B-plot throughout the FF comics. The second half of #50 sets up future story-lines for the Fantastic Four (makes sense, 50 is a nice milestone for that).

Setting the Scene

Ongoing: Adjacent locations have +2 Power. Once this is in your hand, you can see unrevealed locations. When this moves, double its Power.

Before we get into the comic proper, let's talk about some characters that appear in the story:

• The Fantastic Four -. A group of 4 super-heroes that act like a family and who got their powers from a cosmic energy wave during a mission in outer space. Get used to them, a lot of characters show up during their comics. The members are:
  • Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic - Leader and brain of the team, specializes in all sort scientific stuff (1960s comic, a scientist was basically a wizard). He can stretch an mold his body like a piece of play-doh.
  • Susan Storm/Richards, a.k.a the Invisible Woman - Married to Reed and... uhm... look, it's a 1960 comic, she's basically "the girl" who is always scared and is obsessed with her husband paying attention to her, she's not the best character during this period. She can turn invisible and create invisible force fields.
  • Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch - Susan's younger brother and the literal hothead of the team, also a bit of a womanizer until he starts obsessing over Crystal (we'll get to her). He can set his body on fire and fly, acting as the "eyes in the sky" of the team.
  • Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing - The muscle of the group, he's a great pilot and a bit of a bigot with a short of temper and self-loathing issues that gets him into trouble often. His body is covered in a hard orange rock and massive physical strength.
• Alicia Masters - A blind sculptor that's in a relationship with Ben Grimm. Ben is constantly worries that she doesn't want to be in a relationship with him or that she dumps him for someone else. Yes, it's as annoying as it sounds.
• The Inhumans - A group of people with various superhuman abilities. Members include Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Lockjaw, and Maximus, but there are others that aren't in Snap.
• Uatu the Watcher - A member of an alien species whose purpose is to observe the universe without interfering with whatever events transpire. He'll interfere in this story. First appeared in Fantastic Four #13 where the titular four go to the moon and fight a communist scientist and his 3 super-powered apes (I love comics!).

All Are Insignificant Before Galactus

Jack Kirby experimented with collages for a while to depict more out-worldly scenes.

The first appearance of the Silver Surfer was in Fantastic Four #48, though, as mentioned, only a little over half of the issue is focused on him and his master. While the FF are wrapping the Inhuman business (for now), the Silver Surfer is... uhm... surfing across the galaxy. A few alien species are shown to hide their planets from the Surfer, for he brings bad omens.

Meanwhile, on Earth, the FF return to New York after a less than stellar encounter with the Inhumans (if you want to read more, that storyline begins at issue #44, though Medusa appeared earlier). Their thoughts are quickly interrupted when they notice the sky is on fire, though Johnny notes that there's heat. It turns out that was the doing of The Watcher, who was trying to hide the planet from the Silver Surfer.

The Watcher, using his machine and being really big.

Seeing as the comic is called "The Coming of Galactus", that doesn't work. The Surfer stops on the edge of the FF's building and contacts his master. The Thing takes advantage of the Surfer focusing on his task to punch him and knock him off the building (he'll be fine), but it's too late. Galactus has arrived...

... And he's sporting a Christmas color scheme! Yes the Devourer of Worlds was initially red and green with visible, human-like skin. Marvel quickly realized their mistake, thankfully, and swapped to purple and green the very next issue. Reprints of this saga have the big G in his famous full-purple look, but Marvel Unlimied (which is where we got this screenshot from) keeps it intact. 

Should SNAP add this Variant to the game? Discuss in the comments.

The Fantastic Four try to fight off Galactus, but they're no match for the cosmic being. They retreat, trying to figure out what to do next and taking care of personal hygiene (really, Reed shaves and tells Johnny to take a shower). Eventually, the Watcher tells them he has a plan to stop the Devourer of Worlds.

No longer bothered by what are basically insects to him, Galactus starts working on building his machine, which will drain the Earth of its resources and turn it into energy for him to consume. The Silver Surfer, meanwhile, falls into the apartment of Alicia Masters through her skyline. He'll spend some time with her contemplating on the value of human life and questioning weather bringing his purple master to this planet was a mistake.

Back to the FF, The Watcher sends the Human Torch on a dangerous mission across space and time to retrieve an object from the Worldship, the home of Galactus. The rest of the group, in the meantime, will sabotage Galactus' machine and get into a fight with his Punisher (not this guy, those are robots Galactus uses for menial combat).

Johnny Storm, breaking an entering villain lairs since 1966 

At last, Galactus finished his machine, and all seems lost, as the Fantastic Four Three are no match for the World Ender. But, in the nick of time, The Silver Surfer comes in defense of the Earth, and does battle with his soon-to-be-former master. It looks like Galactus has the upper hand, until the Human Torch returns with the key to their victory.

The object the Torch was sent to get is the Ultimate Nullifier, a device that can eradicate the entire universe. Afraid at what such a primitive species might do with it, Galactus agrees to leave the planet alone in exchange for the Nullifier's return, and the word of Galactus is law. However, before leaving, he strips the Surfer of the ability to travel the stars.

"To limit your powers, I must zap you with lazers."

At this point, the Silver Surfer leaves to explore the Earth and get accustomed to his new home. He becomes a recurring character in the Fantastic Four book, with his next appearance being in issue #55 and sticking around until #61. He gets in trouble with The Thing, who gets jealous of him (because DRAMA!), and with Dr. Doom, who tries to steal his power, among other things.

Galactus Wakes... And He Hungers

The origin story of Galactus is explored in the Thor comics, in issues #160-162 and #167-169, though only 162, 168, and 169 are relevant to the origin itself. There's a lot happing in these issues (and that's ignoring recurring characters and ongoing story-lines happening at the time), so we'll just retell the origin itself in this guide.

The being who would become Galactus was a scientist on the planet Taa, who remains unnamed in this issue. This is a utopic world, where no need of the inhabitants goes unfulfilled. However, there's one thing that threatens the idyllic peace of Taa: a plague from which one cannot run, and for which there is no cure.

The world of Taa. Very bubbly.

Sensing their end approaching, the last few inhabitants of Taa decide, if they're to go, they'll go out in a blaze of glory. As such, they all get aboard a ship and fly towards the hottest sun in the galaxy, where the radiation kills all those on board. All... but one.

After the crew perished due to the radiation, the vessel went on a collision course with a nearby planet, where [Snap Card (The Watcher) Not Found] happened to be. Upon approaching the ship, he discovered that all aboard were dead, save for he who would become Galactus

The future World Devourer was absorbing energy around him at a breakneck speed, and The Watcher knew what kind of being would result from the process. This was the only chance to stop it, but he could not, would not interfere. If galaxies were to die as a result of Galactus living, then so be it (good call, Uatu).

Uatu, being useful.

Eventually, Galactus-to-be became conscious, and started to learn how to use his new powers, even making the iconic purple costume (what red and green?) as a form of containment for his great power. Eventually, he encased himself in a stasis pod, where he would mature and become the force of nature he's known as.

He would stay in that pod until it stumbled across two warring worlds. Those losing the war figured that whatever was in the pod couldn't be worse than those they were at war with, and so released the being inside. That was a grave mistake, as they would become the first world to be devoured by Galactus. The first of countless.

Nothing like a good breakfast after waking up.

The Surfer Is Born So His Home World May Live

After his appearance in The Galactus Trilogy, the Surfer becomes somewhat of a recurring character in the Fantastic Four comics. He makes his first reappearance in issue #55, and sticks around until issue #61, followed by another appearance in #72 and a 4-iussue arc between #74 and #77 where Galactus tries to retrieve him. The character proved popular enough to get his own series in 1968, which lasted for 18 issues. We get the Surfer's origin story in issue #1.

Before becoming the Herald of Galactus, the Silver Surfer was a man named Norrin Radd, living on the utopic planet of Zenn-La. The residents of this world once explored the galaxy, but are now content on staying on their home world, free of war, crime, illness, or any sort of want. Norrin Radd doesn't like it, as he is bored of the perfect world he lives in and wants to live a more adventurous life. Truly, a tortured soul.

Norrin Radd, going for a leisurely Jetson walk.

Unfortunately for the people of Zenn-La, Galactus is hungry. And he has decided Zenn-La is his next meal, approaching the planet in his sphere. The people of Zenn-La, realizing they might be under attack and with no way to fight back due their pacifist ways, consult with their super computer. It tells them to use The Weapon Supreme (no, I don't know why or how they have one), which they do.

Not only does this completely ravage their planet, it doesn't even put a dent into Galactus' craft, who escaped to the 4th dimension to avoid it. In a last ditch effort to stop the World Devourer, Norrin Rad makes a space-craft... like, on the spot, in a very short time... and travels to the sphere, where he discovers the true nature of the invader.

The destruction of worlds has never looked this colorful.

Norrin pleads with Galactus not to destroy his planet, pointing out that there are other, unpopulated worlds that could satiate his hunger. However, Galactus says that he hungers now, and doesn't have time to find another planet, but the situation would be different if he had some sort of Herald to find these worlds for him. It is here that the two strike a bargain: spare Zenn-La, and Norrin Radd will be this herald.

And it is here where Norrin Radd ceases to be, as Galactus turns him into the Silver Surfer, his first herald. And the Surfer did his job dutifully for a very long time, until the events of FF #48. It's noticeable that the Surfer joined Galactus to spare populated worlds form the former's hunger, but somehow signals Earth as good to eat. This is something that gets explored later, but we won't go into it.

 
Norrin Radd nailing his job interview.

What do you think of the origins of Galactus and the Silver Surfer? Who would you like us to cover next? Let us know in the comments below!