Stan Lee seemed to see a certain nobility in Norrin Radd and a number of religious analogies appear to be employed in Lee’s later stories revolving around the Surfer.
Kirby felt that a character of Galactus’ prodigious power would employ a herald, an advance scout of sorts, to search for suitable planets with enough energy to satiate his endless hunger. The Silver Surfer was created by Jack Kirby as a supporting character added to the story of The Fantastic Four's first encounter with the world-devouring Galactus. Creation First Cover Appearance - Fantastic Four #49 Knowing Norrin Radd would resist taking a life, Galactus deliberately altered Norrin's mind to repress his moral compass, allowing Norrin Radd to more efficiently carry out the grim task of finding suitable planets to feed upon.Ī decidedly introspective character plagued by the sins of his past, Norrin Radd forever seeks redemption, endeavoring to carry out justice throughout the universe. Over time it became more difficult to find planets without life on them. The Silver Surfer's main task was to find planets with the energy to satisfy Galactus's hunger. Given a fraction of the Power Cosmic, and shaped by fantasies Norrin Radd entertained as a child, Galactus transformed Norrin Radd into the Silver Surfer. Seeing the hopeless situation of his home planet, Norrin Radd volunteered servitude to the Devourer of Worlds in order to spare Zenn-La from obliteration. The Council of Scientists let Norrin use a spaceship to approach Galactus and plead on behalf of the planet. One day, their peaceful existence was threatened by the presence of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, who subsists on the energies provided by entire planets. She believed they had all they could ever want together, but Norrin always dreamed of more. This often troubled his girlfriend, Shalla-Bal. He was filled with discontent and often went to the museum to watch holograms of Zenn-La's past that revolved around their wars and space travel. He believed that no goals were left to be achieved on Zenn-La. Much like his mother and father, Norrin also dreamed of a society that had more substance. Depressed by his indiscretion made public and the apparent lack of support from his son, Jartran committed suicide. Disgusted by his father's actions, Norrin completely withdrew from him. When Norrin confronted his father, he admitted negligence. When Norrin entered manhood, his father was implicated in the theft of ideas belonging to another scientist. Norrin always blamed himself for this.Īfter his mother's passing, Norrin was nurtured by his father to become a great man. Unable to cope with what Zenn-La had become (a society that had devolved into hedonism and, in essence, become directionless), Norrin's mother Elmar committed suicide when he was very young. Jartran was a scientist, and Norrin followed in his footsteps, constantly studying. Norrin's parents were Jartran and Elmar Radd. The result of their quest for advancement and scientific discovery, in effect, created a Utopian society.
The Zenn-Lavians effectively eliminated the plagues commonly associated with human life on Earth, such as hunger, disease, crime, and war. Norrin Radd lived on the peaceful planet Zenn-La (Deneb System, Milky Way Galaxy).
Origin Norrin Radd, a herald of Galactus now known as the Silver Surfer.