Evaluation #2 - The Silver Surfer

So this review is for Daniel and Patrick because you guys really like Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer is a lesser known character loosely associated with the fantastic four, but is indeed very original and cool.

The Silver Surfer

The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics character that wears only a "speedo" type garment as his entire body is covered in a silver colored protective metal coating that is the result of a power called the Power Cosmic. He also uses a vehicle similar to a surfboard to travel around which he controls with his mind telekinetically.

One of Silver Surfer's more interesting traits is his past. Before coming to Earth, The Silver Surfer (real name Norrin Radd) was working for Galactus destroying planets and other races. He came into this work to save his home planet of Zenn-La from Galactus himself. He then found himself about to destroy the planet of Earth when he noticed certain traits of humans that intrigued him. He found humans to be noble, valiant, and brave in times of great trial. Because he had never possesed such traits or even known of them, he decided to betray his old master, Galactus, and save the planet along with the help of the Fantastic Four. This first appearace was in The Fantastic Four #48 in 1966. Galactus was ultimately defeated but not before he put a restraint on The Silver Surfer binding him from ever leaving the planet Earth. Galactus did not however take The Silver Surfer's powers, so he then used them to continue to help Earthlings.

The Silver Surfer's powers are extremely extensive. The Power Cosmic is what Galactus used to consume and destroy planets and Silver Surfer has these powers as well. Some of his abilities include manipulating molecular items in any way, expelling beams of energy from his hands, or withstanding high amounts of heat. He can basically do anything to anything molecular and can transfer anything kinetically charged to other media.

Another notable trait of The Silver Surfer is that his comics usually had a deeper tone and meaning than most. He constantly went into in depth analysis of the nature of humanity and the things that were most important in life. He is known to have a strong connection with all that lives and is almost jealous of the human abilities that he may never be able to posess. The Silver Surfer has almost no weakness other than his shame of his past and jealousy of human characteristics that he cannot fathom.

So now for the evaluation.

Costume:The Silver Surfer doesn't really have a costume. He only wears a speedo and then his entire body is metalic in color. This is cool in itself but not as original as some costumes.6/10

Powers: These powers are pretty awesome to say the least. He can destroy an entire planet if he wanted, so it is therefore safe to assume that he won't have a big problem handling anything that can be thrown at him. His only setback is the fact that he primarily uses his energy beams and surf board as fighting impliments and doesn't execute his abilities in the most ideal way.8/10

Cool Factor:Silver Surfer has a very high cool factor because 1. He surfs 2. He actually has a dirty past and isn't this squeeky clean golden boy often found with other heroes, and 3. He surfs. 8.5/10

Versatility: Good skills here, but not as good utilization. As with his powers, his versatility is unused to a great extent and for that he will not score too greatly. 6/10

Weakness: With virtually no physical weakness, Silver Surfer is a formadable foe. He is however weak to his own insecurities and villians that exploit this weakness will have the upper hand. Because The Surfer values his Earthling friends so dearly, he will be virtually screwed if they are ever threatened, and along with his past being exposed, this could be fatal. 7/10

So that makes for an overall score of.........7.4

So as a side note, the Silver Surfer recently appeared in the newest Fantastic 4 movie. I was actually surprised that they did his story properly by making him a bad guy first. Good job Hollywood, you didn't fuck this one up like you did X-Men.

Opinions always welcome.

Further reading on this character can be found here.
Questions about my grading and overall score outcome? Read the Hero Evaluation Scale