Pretty much everyone who has a passing familiarity with the character knows the Silver Surfer was a Herald of Galactus, but he wasn't the first and was hardly the last. Over the years, the planet eating being who roams the cosmos has had dozens of Heralds helping him out. Whenever he bestowed his powers onto another being, they became powerful characters unto themselves, but not every Herald of Galactus stood as powerful as the rest. Every now and again, a new Herald would be created to fill a void or for a specific purpose, but it turns out the person gaining the power often has a lot to do with how powerful they ultimately become. Turning someone like Norrin Radd into a Herald doesn't have the same affect on someone like the She-Hulk who already had powers of her own.

Because of this, there are plenty of Galactus' Heralds who aren't as strong as the others. Over the years, this fact has been played out thanks to various battles between former Heralds, which have shown exactly who is the strongest of them all. We dug through the books and found the 20 Heralds of Galactus deserving a ranking to see precisely who was the strongest. Some of these may have been in one-shot books while others were dropped into canon as regulars who roamed the cosmos in search of life for their master to devour. Shout out in the comments and let us know who you think is the most powerful Herald of Galactus as we rank them in this list of Heralds of Galactus ranked by power.

20 WILLIE LUMPKIN

You may not immediately recall the name Willie Lumpkin unless you've been reading The Fantastic Four from the very beginning. Lumpkin is the U.S. Mail Carrier who serves the famous superhero family by delivering their fan mail. He was even played by his creator, Stan Lee in one of the Fantastic Four films.

Back in 1982, he popped up in his very own What If...? aptly titled, "What if Willie Lumpkin Were Herald To Galactus?" As far as the story where he became a Herald, all he did was show up in a single panel delivering a letter to the superhero team.

19 GOLDEN OLDIE

No, this isn't an example of an issue of What If...?, Marvel really did make Peter Parker's old, doddering Aunt May into a Herald of Galactus in the pages if Marvel Team-Up #137. Granted, this was during the publisher's so-called "Assistant Editor's Month," but it truly did happen with the cover noted as "Not a Hoax! Not a What If! Not an Imaginary Story!"

After Galactus came to Earth looking to make Franklin Richards his Herald, his powers are deflected by Richards onto May. She dubs herself "Golden Oldie" and finds Galactus a planet shaped like a familiar Hostess treat. She then located a cosmic baker named Dough Boy who made planet-sized delicacies for the World Devourer and suggested he be his new Herald. It all wrapped up with Richards hugging the powers out of her and life moved on.

18 AIR-WALKER

Getting into a bit more serious territory, we have Air-Walker, formerly known as Gabriel Lan, a member of the Nova Corps. Lan was taken by Galactus to become his Herald and the two got along rather well, even going so far as to become one another's friends. Unfortunately, Air-Walker was destroyed when he tried to bring his boss to a planet somewhat disinclined to sustaining him, but that wasn't the end.

Galactus transferred his pal's consciousness into an android's body, but didn't take to him much anymore. He sent him to Earth to try and bring the Silver Surfer back into the fold. He ended up getting into a fight with Thor and had a hammer thrown through his chest, but he was rebuilt a few times after that.

17 TERRAX THE TAMER

Terrax the Tamer was once Tyros, the dictator of his home planet where he ruled with an iron fist and had the power to move rocks about with his mind. The Fantastic Four defeated him and gave him over to Galactus as part of a deal they had with him and he became his new Herald. Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy to do the work and attacked the FF to make up for his previous defeat.

He later hid from Galactus to try and avoid doing his Herald work, which resulted in him becoming weakened. He then called the FF to take out Galactus who weren't ready to rid the cosmos of such an important entity. In terms of power, he did wield a cosmic axe and could move whole planets around so he wasn't the weakest of Galactus' Heralds.

16 THE DESTROYER ARMOR

During a time when Firelord is looking to find new work, Galactus sets him out to find a replacement. He first tries to sway Thor into becoming the new Herald, but that was never going to happen so the two decide to hand over the Destroyer Armor to Galactus who then imbues the enchanted armor with sentience and makes him his new Herald.

The armor was already incredibly powerful, but with sentience and the Power Cosmic, it became a significant presence in the cosmos. Loki ended up taking a shine to the armor and he goes about stealing it while Galactus is dealing with other things. In the end, the armor ended being his Herald and he had to once again set about the universe looking for another replacement.

15 DEADPOOL

Deadpool is a fairly practical guy... once you look beyond his fourth wall breaks and relative insanity. When the country is dealing with an economic downturn, even the mercenary superhero community takes a hit. With little work and no money coming in, Wade decides it's time to look for work elsewhere. Fortunately, Galactus is on the lookout for a new Herald and Deadpool offers his services.

This all went down in Deadpool Team-Up #883 and it played out as silly as you might think. Deadpool takes the job and offers planets full of Pokemon, Ewoks, and everything else in-between. Unfortunately, Wade's incessant blather annoys Galactus into threatening him and a fight with the Silver Surfer pushes him to resign. The last panel shows Wade talking at a "Heroes of Galactus Anonymous" group where he is getting the help he needs.

14 RED-SHIFT

Red-Shift first appeared in 1999's Galactus: The Devourer as a new Herald of Galactus. There wasn't much known about this new Herald when he showed up on the scene, but he was helpful in feeding his master's growing need to subsist solely on intelligent life. This brought him into conflict with the Silver Surfer who attempted to talk him out of helping Galactus, but the two fought.

Unlike the Surfer, Red-Shift possesses two cosmic swords he used to cut the fabric of space to create portals. He used this to travel the cosmos, but also to throw people into black holes or hurl comets at them. He joined forces with the other Heralds when the Annihilation Wave threatened reality and is believed to have perished when he thwarted a significant Wave created by Thanos' imprisonment of Galactus.

13 JOHNNY STORM

There was a time when Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, swapped powers with his sister and redubbed himself the "Invisible Boy." During this time-period, a group of aliens found a way to turn planets invisible and undetectable by Galactus. To combat this duplicity, he recruited Johnny to become his new Herald so he could uncover the planets and feed on their tasty treats.

Johnny was never on-board the whole "eating planets teeming with life" thing so he tried to connect with Galactus by reminding him of the entity who he once was, Galan. When Galactus is distracted by a sucker punch from Quasar and the rest of the Fantastic Four, Johnny blasts all of his Power Cosmic back into his boss and reverted him to his original form.

12 THE FALLEN ONE

Long before Galactus converted Norrin Radd into the Silver Surfer, he had another Herald named The Fallen One. The biggest difference between the two was their power base. Radd was imbued with the Power Cosmic while The Fallen One was given power thanks to Dark Energy. Another distinguishing factor between the two was that The Fallen One was about as evil as someone could possible be.

The Fallen One was incredibly powerful, but he became little more than a nuisance to Galactus who preferred not to put up with his former Herald. After sending him away, he found himself a Herald of Thanos: The Mad Titan. Their partnership worked out for a while until The Fallen One was destroyed while fighting a couple of gods for his new boss.

11 DAZZLER

Dazzler has never been the most powerful character in the Marvel Universe, but she did have her own book at one time. During that run, there was a period when Galactus' Herald, Terrax The Tamer, was hiding from him in a black hole. This annoyed the World Devourer such that he sought out the one person who could shed some light on the situation: Dazzler.

He found her on Earth and empowered her with the Power Cosmic. The only real purpose for this was so that she could use her powers to light up the black hole so he could find Terrax. Normally, her powers wouldn't land her this high in the ranking, but once she was boosted by Galactus, Dazzler was super-charged. It didn't last long and once he found his Herald, Dazzler went back to normal.

10 SABRETOOTH

When the Exiles hop to another reality, they find one in which Galactus restored worlds instead of consuming them and the Silver Surfer is absolutely evil. When the Surfer tries to force Galactus to restore life to his homeworld of Zenn-La, Galactus refuses and a fight erupts between the two. The Exiles moved in to provide aid, but they were no match for the Silver Surfer.

Sabretooth asked Galactus to give him a power boost, which he quickly does. Sabretooth then calls himself "Silver Sabretooth" despite being golden in color and puts it to the Surfer. He even offers to return the Power Cosmic back to Galactus who humbly accepts and the Exiles go on about their business.

9 NOVA

Johnny Storm once dated a nice, young woman named Frankie Ray. Ironically, Frankie was doused in the same chemicals that created the Human Torch, but instead of becoming a superhero, her father established a mental block that made her fear fire. That put a bit of a damper on her's and Johnny's relationship, but she eventually breaks the block and becomes Nova, a superhero with pretty much the same powers as the Human Torch.

Eventually, she finds herself alongside the Fantastic Four dealing with Galactus. When the option arises that she become his Herald, she gladly accepts and sets about the cosmos finding new worlds for her boss to devour. She even led him to the Skrull homeworld, but eventually grew wary of her work and was let go for passing over planets he would have enjoyed snacking on.

8 FIRELORD

Shortly after Galactus took Gabriel Lan and made him into Air-Walker, his best buddy in the Nova Corps, Pyreus Kril makes it his life mission to track down Galactus and learn what happened. When he finally does, Galactus offers the knowledge he sought in exchange for becoming his newest Herald. Kril accepts and becomes Firelord, a being imbued with the Power Cosmic and a nifty staff that emits fireballs from its ends.

Eventually, Firelord asked Galactus to be released as his charge. Galactus agreed so long as a replacement could be found, which is when Firelord and Thor convinced Galactus to take on the Destroyer Armor as his newest Herald. After that, Firelord fell into superhero work across the cosmos as one does when imbued with amazing powers by a space god.

7 STARDUST

Stardust was once known as the Ethereal Lambda-Zero, but became a Herald of Galactus and was bestowed with the Power Cosmic. She already possessed numerous powers as an Ethereal so her empowerment by Galactus made her one of the most powerful cosmic beings in the universe. She was immensely brutal and would slaughter any being who tried to escape the planets her master consumed.

This wasn't something that bothered Galactus all that much, but it gained the attention of Beta Ray Bill who was attempting to save the Korbinites on New Korbin, which Galactus was consuming. That paled in comparison to her actions during Annihilation. When she finds that the Silver Surfer returned to his post, she offered the remnants of her own race to regain her position, which is something no Herald had ever done before.

6 MORG

Morg was Galactus' choice to succeed Nova, but he was far more brutal and evil than his predecessor. He had already committed genocide against his own people before becoming Galactus' new Herald and this brutality only continued in his new position. When the Surfer shows up looking for Nova, the two fight and Morg nearly defeats him. Frightened of the prospect of such a dangerous Herald, the Surfer sets out to find friends to take him on.

He recruits Nova, Firelord, Terrax, and Air-Walker to fight Morg who succeeds in destroying Nova during the fight. This infuriates Galactus who removes the Power Cosmic and allows his Herald to be destroyed by Terrax. Morg may not have lasted long, but he was horrifically strong and powerful during his short time as a Herald of Galactus.

5 IRON MAN

Over in animation, Tony Stark, aka Iron man, found himself in a situation where he became a Herald of Galactus. In an Avengers Assemble episode titled, "Guardians and Space Knights," Iron Man becomes Galactus' Herald to keep him from eating Earth. With the Power Cosmic, he shoots off into the cosmos to find a planet for his new master to consume. When he does find a world he believed is uninhabited, he leads Galactus to it.

Unfortunately, the planet was under the protection of the Guardians of the Galaxy who attack him in defense of the world. The Avengers get involved and it's a giant brouhaha before everyone realizes they are all good guys and turn things around. Iron Man shakes off his newfound brainwashing and everyone turns on Galactus as the planet explodes and ruins the World Devourer's lunch.

4 SHE-HULK

Another animated appearance involving Galactus and his constant need to fill his ranks with new Heralds popped up ion an episode of Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. The superheroes find Terrax the Tamer mucking about Las Vegas with instructions that Galactus was on his way to consume the Earth, which isn't something the team is too keen on letting happen.

In the fight, She-Hulk whomps Terrax and impresses Galactus so much, he swaps the Power Cosmic out of his Herald and into She-Hulk. She doesn't take to her not position and offers to once again fight Terrax to prove she isn't the right lady for the job. She ends up throwing the fight to a depowered Terrax who is once again given the Power Cosmic and everything wraps up with Galactus off to find other uninhabited planets to eat.

3 THOR

Throughout the Marvel Universe, there aren't many characters who stack up in power next to Thor, which makes him an ideal choice as one of Galactus' Heralds. We finally got to see this happen in "What If Thor was the Herald of Galactus?" In this issue, Thor joins up with Galactus to spare his realm from destruction, but when Asgard becomes threatened, Thor asks to be released so he could protect it.

Eventually, he lets him go, but Asgard is in ruins when he arrives. Despondent, Thor finally agrees to let Galactus consume the remnants of Asgard and chooses to remain by his side as his Herald. He determines that if Mjolnir continues to grant him the powers of Thor, he must be doing something right and sets off to find more worlds for his master to devour.

2 SUPERMAN

DC and Marvel have been known to crossover from time-to-time, but it may surprise you to learn that Superman himself was once the Herald of Galactus! It all unfolds when Cyborg Superman tricks the Last Son of Krypton into thinking that Galactus had destroyed his world. He then teleports to the Marvel Universe where he meets up with the Fantastic Four, but it isn't long before Galactus appears and takes Kal-El to become his new Herald.

He takes Galactus to an uninhabited world and gives him his much needed sustenance, but it doesn't sate him. He then takes him to an inhabited world, but breaks through his brainwashing and works with the FF to stop Galactus. They then turn his planet-eating machines back on him and reverse everything back to normal with Galactus agreeing to eat only uninhabited worlds from then on.

1 SILVER SURFER

It wouldn't' be possible to rank the many Heralds of Galactus without giving the top spot to the silver man himself, the Silver Surfer. The Surfer has proven himself time and time again as one of the leading contenders in Marvel's cosmic universe. He has battled the likes of Thanos and Galactus himself time and time again and while he may not have held powers before becoming the Surfer, Norrin Radd became one of the most powerful characters in the universe.

When the Silver Surfer first appeared back in Fantastic Four #48-50, he and Galactus brought with them the Marvel Cosmic Universe. That expanded Marvel's storytelling beyond Earth and opened up the Marvel Universe into a truly expansive one. We can thank the Surfer for that, which is why he ranks at the top of this list of Galactus' Heralds.