WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Silver Surfer: Black#3 by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart and Clayton Cowles, in stores now.
Donny Cates and Tradd Moore's Silver Surfer: Black has been exploring the ramifications of the black hole bomb Thanos' Black Order set off in Guardians of the Galaxy #1. While the Surfer used his great powers to save all of the cosmic heroes from a grim fate, he was unfortunately swallowed by the black hole. As a result, he was transported billions of years into the past of the Marvel Universe.
Trapped in the abyss of space, Norrin Radd came across Knull, the ancient god of the symbiotes. Unfortunately, Norrin's power cosmic is currently fading, which means that he's not exactly a match for Knull. In issue #2 of the series, the Surfer had no choice but to go on the run from the malevolent deity -- and his path led him to meet a young Ego, the Living Planet. But Knull and Ego aren't the only cosmic giants the Surfer meets in the past. In Silver Surfer: Black #3, Norrin Radd comes face-to-face with his maker, Galactus... before he's ever even born.
In Ego, Norrin sees a powerful ally, someone who can help turn the tide in his battle against Knull. While Ego doesn't join Norrin's cause immediately, greater circumstances bring them together. In fact, Ego has a problem, one that the Surfer can help him out with. If he does, then the Living Planet will help him fight Knull in return.
This being the distant past of the Marvel Universe, Ego is not yet fully formed. He's still a young planet coming into his own, learning and growing. However, he's in great pain. He explains that a meteor crashed into him not too long ago. Worse still, this meteor is somehow growing and if it keeps going, it will kill him. The bargain struck, Norrin journeys deep into the crust of Ego, drilling until he finds his way to his core. And there, he finds what has crashed into Ego: Lifebringer One, the cosmic incubator of Galactus.
The Incubator is essentially the womb in which Galactus grows. When fully developed, the being once known as Galan will emerge from Lifebringer One as Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, a cosmic force of life and death as old as the universe itself. Therefore, the Silver Surfer has just met his creator, thousands of years before he will be born. By the time we reach this shocking reveal, it becomes clear why Silver Surfer: Black #3 opened with a flashback dream sequence depicting Norrin's final moments before Galactus would come to devour his planet. It brings a sense of doom, of inevitability as the Surfer comes across the one responsible for his plight before he even exists.
In Galactus, the Surfer has two options: life or death. If he were to destroy the Devourer of Worlds before he's ever born, Norrin could perhaps change his fate. Then again, if he wakes him, then he could have another powerful ally that would undoubtedly help him defeat Knull. The Surfer has the choice to either break the chain, or do something he was perhaps strangely always meant to do: wake his creator at the dawn of the Marvel Universe.
Silver Surfer: Black #4 releases September 11.