WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Silver Surfer: Black #4 by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart and Clayton Cowles, in stores now.
In Donny Cates and Tradd Moore's Silver Surfer: Black, the titular character has found himself transported back in time billions of years after going through a black hole, where he found himself hunted by Knull, the god of the symbiotes. On the run from the cosmic lord of darkness, the Silver Surfer eventually met a young Ego, the Living Planet, who he saw as a potential ally in his battle against Knull. But before Ego could lend a hand, he needed help of his own, with something growing inside his core.
When the Surfer found his way to the Living Planet's core, he was shocked to find Lifebringer One, the cosmic incubator of the being who would one day become Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. Therefore, Norrin Radd is now faced with an impossible choice: change his fate, or ensure the correct progression of the timeline.
In Silver Surfer: Black #4, Norrin makes his choice and, by doing so, he completely alters his relationship with the Devourer of Worlds... forever.
As Issue #4 begins, Norrin Radd upholds the promise he made to Ego. Using his fading cosmic powers, the Silver Surfer hauls Lifebringer One out of the Living Planet and back out into space. What's more, it appears there is no hesitation to be found in the platinum hero: He means to dump the incubator into a white dwarf to kill Galan before he becomes Galactus -- before he kills billions and transforms Norrin into his personal cosmic herald.
However, before he can push Lifebringer One to its doom, the Surfer is interrupted by Uatu the Watcher. The Watcher, sworn to never interfere, warns Norrin that his actions will not change his fate. Instead, it will simply create an alternate timeline that won't affect his own. His pain and the horrors Galactus inflicted will still have happened in this reality.
What's more, Uatu gives Norrin some surprising advice in figuring out how to defeat Knull: Ask Galan, the sole survivor of a prior universe, for guidance. And so, Norrin uses his power to commune with Galan inside his cosmic incubator. There, the Surfer warns his future master of the destroyer he will become. But Galan is not the Devourer yet. He is but a man, growing into the cosmic force he is destined to become. And he explains something he has learned throughout his life: The dark can't be defeated by more darkness.
These words are all the Surfer needs to hear to know what must be done. Thanks to the wise words of his future master, he now knows to fight Knull, ruler of the dark, with the light of the universe. Choosing to be the hero he has always been, Norrin opts not to destroy Lifebringer One. Instead, he throws it deep into the depths of space, in the quadrant that is home to the first planet to ever be destroyed by Galactus in the Marvel Universe.
With his focus now set on battling Knull and not altering the course of history, the Surfer's actions have actually completely altered his relationship with Galactus. After all, he is now the one who sent the Devourer of Worlds towards the very first planet he will one day consume. It's a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario: What came before, Galactus or the Silver Surfer? Galactus created the Surfer, but now we know that, in the past, it was actually the Surfer who sent the Devourer on his path.
What's more, the interaction between the two characters may also alter the relationship even more. It's unclear how much of Galan remained in Galactus after he was born, but it's possible he recalls part of his exchange with the Silver Surfer. This would mean that the cosmic entity was aware of his future herald eons before he would ever create him.
To paraphrase the Hulk's words in Avengers: Endgame... that's "time travel!" for you.
Silver Surfer Black #5 releases October 16.