Silver Surfer is frequently labeled as one of the most powerful beings in Marvel Comics but we very rarely see his full cosmic power in action. So is the character really as strong as the comics have made out? Or are the Silver Surfer’s displays of great power just outliers?
A brief look at the character’s abilities shows that they’re a force to be reckoned with. The Silver Surfer is a Herald of Galactus, meaning they are tasked with seeking out planets suitable for the gigantic space god to consume. Being a Herald meant that the Surfer was imbued with the same power as Galactus, allowing access to the Power Cosmic which provides super strength, healing abilities, and faster-than-light travel.
How powerful is the Silver Surfer compared to other Marvel characters
So we know that the Surfer has some pretty great abilities, but how does the character stack up when you consider all of the other powerful heroes and villains we’ve seen before? Well, having access to the Power Cosmic is not something to be overlooked, as that alone makes them more powerful than a huge chunk of the Marvel universe.
There’s a long list of characters that the Silver Surfer has been able to beat, including Mephiso, Hulk, and Cable. Arguably one of the greatest displays of the Surfer’s power was when they were able to defeat Galactus, the very being that granted them their power. Galactus frequently appears near the top of the list for most powerful Marvel characters, so beating this guy is no small feat.
Furthermore, the Silver Surfer has also used the Power Cosmic in many other ways, such as literally accelerating the evolutionary process of a planet by a billion years. In another instance, they were able to survive inside a black hole.
But the Silver Surfer also loses a lot of fights
As with any comic book hero, the Silver Surfer is pretty inconsistent. In some cases defeating a galaxy-level threat is nothing, other times regular low-tier villains can be a challenge. This is a power scaling problem and it is present in almost every comic, that’s why Spider-Man can single-handedly save the universe in one issue and then be knocked out by a petty criminal in the next. Over on Reddit, some fans pointed out that the Silver Surfer may not be all that powerful.
“I always hear about how he’s “the best” at jobbing and stuff, but when you “job” all the time wouldn’t that just be your base power and the bigger feats be outliers?
Like, if someone blew up a star in one issue, then lost to city-level beings in a hundred others, wouldn’t their power be city-level and the star be an outlier?”
For context, “jobbing” refers to a character frequently losing fights they should have won. Accusing the Silver Surfer of being a “jobber” is saying they lose all the time. This is a good point, why does the Silver Surfer lose so often? Are they actually as powerful as we’ve been led to believe? Te answer to that is pretty simple, the Silver Surfer prioritizes peace, so they often choose not to fight.
So to sum it up, the Silver Surfer isn’t a massive threat due to their peaceful nature, however, if the Surfer weren’t holding back, you definitely wouldn’t want to be the one fighting them. The question we have to ask now is, how powerful will the newly announced MCU Silver Surfer be?
