Marvel Comics has just killed off one of its most powerful heroes. In many ways, this is unsurprising, given a giveaway title. However, the hero in question, long associated with the Fantastic Four, did die a worthy death.
The death came in the closing pages of Death of the Silver Surfer #5 by Greg Pak, Sumit Kumar, and Tiago Palma. The series has centered around the growing madness of billionaire Dennis Harmon. A tech magnate, Harmon had used his fortune to outright purchase the American agency B.A.N., the Bureau of Alien Neutralization.
Under Harmon’s direction, B.A.N. began trying to forcibly remove all aliens from Earth rather than fighting hostile alien invaders. However, while hating all superhumans, Harmon held a special hostility for the alien hero Norrin Radd. This culminated in him attempting to open a cosmic rift that he hoped would disintegrate the Silver Surfer. However, the rift threatened to devour the whole Earth in the process as the Fantastic Four and Avengers watched helplessly.
What Fantastic Four character was killed off by Marvel?
With a title like “Death of the Silver Surfer,” it was a foregone conclusion that Norrin Radd would meet his end by the series’ close. The only question was just how he would die. Ultimately, Radd died by sacrificing himself to close the rift from the inside. However, with his final act, he bequeathed the Power Cosmic to B.A.N. Agent Kelly Koh.
Koh had shared Dennis Harmon’s hatred of aliens and superheroes. However, she lost all faith in the righteousness of her mission when faced with Radd’s endless compassion for his enemies and Harmon’s indifference to random people dying in the pursuit of his vendetta. In the end, she joined with Norrin Raad to save innocent lives. However, the series’ ending makes it clear she is not ready to join forces with the Fantastic Four or Earth’s other heroes.
There is a symmetry in Norrin Radd’s death. Once, he sacrificed all he was to save his home-world of Zenn-La. As the Silver Surfer, he defied Galactus to save Earth and became a cosmic hero. It seems fitting then that he should die defending the world that made him a hero. It is also worthy that his final act was changing a former enemy into a hero that would follow his example.
Death of the Silver Surfer #5 arrives in comic shops everywhere.
