HERO OF THE WEEK: SILVER SURFER (Marvel)Real Name: Norrin Radd
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #48 (March, 1966)
Fight Club Ranking: #33
Featured Fights:
- vs RONAN THE ACCUSER: Silver Surfer #13 (Jul 1988)
- vs NEBULA: Secret Defenders #10 (Dec 1993)
- vs DOCTOR DOOM: Silver Surfer #107 (Aug 1995)
- vs GREEN LANTERN: Marvel versus DC #3 (Apr 1996)
- vs THANOS & DARKSEID: DC versus Marvel #4 (Apr 1996)
- vs SUPER-SKRULL: Fantastic Four #6 (Apr 1997)
- vs ZOMBIES: Marvel Zombies #3 (Apr 2006)
- vs HULK: Incredible Hulk #95 (Jul 2006)
- vs BETA RAY BILL: Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #2 (Sep 2009)
Typically Hero of the Week is reserved for the big stories, or topical curios of the moment. I could try to connect Silver Surfer to the conclusion of Dan Slott and Mike Allred's impressive Marvel Comics run -- but that isn't really what's been on my mind.
Every now and then HOTW is a purely self-indulgent exercise, and I'm putting on my tin foil hat to speculate whether the impossible might actually be plausible! It's been a simmering thought for a while, but now seems like the time to lay it down.
I was recently reading Jim Starlin's space epic The Infinity Gauntlet and thinking about how it relates to Marvel Entertainment's hugely anticipated 2018 sequel: Avengers: Infinity War.
The big appeal of the movie is its gathering of characters and plot threads from the last ten years of successful Marvel movies. Thanos first threatened movie-goers after the credits of 2012's Avengers, and he's expected to take possession of gems scattered throughout the various films before, and after, to create a version of The Infinity Gauntlet story.
One of the most important heroes throughout the comic book is the Silver Surfer. He crashes into Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum to announce the threat to the heroes of Earth -- and he stands solemnly with Adam Warlock when they make their final stand against Thanos in space.
Admittedly, there are other characters who could stand-in for The Surfer, but he's the new addition I'd most like to see. A more integral inclusion, I would argue, than Spider-man was in the 2016 big screen retelling of Civil War. The only problem is: Silver Surfer's film rights are presumably still tied up with 20th Century Fox, who made 2007's disappointing Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
It's popularly understood that Disney have mandated a cold shoulder approach toward the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties held by FOX. The FF have implausibly been out of print since 2015, and in most merchandise and media, the characters have been an expressed no-go zone for licensers.
Yet, if I didn't know better, I'd say Marvel was starting to warm up to both franchises! We've already seen the confirmed return of a Thing & Human Torch led Marvel Two-In-One, which may or may not return the Fantastic Four to Marvel Comics. The X-Men are also slowly repopulating across multiple major and publicized series, including a Sabretooth crossover covered a few months back.
There's also the unlikely confirmation that The Skrulls will play a major role in Marvel Entertainment's 2019 Captain Marvel movie.
The Skrulls are inseparable from the Fantastic Four, which suggests at least some sort of deal between the two major studios. Rights to Ego The Living Planet were relinquished by FOX in exchange for permissions to change the powers of Negasonic Teenage Warhead in last year's Deadpool.
A partnership like the one forged with Sony seems unlikely, but a broader deal to revert the Fantastic Four and related properties back to Marvel doesn't sound quite so strange. FOX's efforts with the FF have been mediocre to downright disappointing. Maintaining the rights may prove to be more trouble than its worth, especially if Disney is willing to offer monetary compensation!
Most other heroes involved in The Infinity Gauntlet are already under the Marvel umbrella, with Sub-Mariner reportedly reverted back to Marvel from Universal Pictures. Wolverine and Cyclops could be missing from the action, although Hugh Jackman did make it known the one thing that could bring him back to the role he retired earlier this year is an Avengers team-up.
The one I'd really like to see is Silver Surfer, and dare I say, I'm not ruling out the possibility!
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