Death Battle Predictions: Martian Manhunter VS Silver Surfer

 

“Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive... to live now... to have the courage to confront each day.” - Bernie Siegel

J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter and sole survivor of Mars from DC Comics.

Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer and former Herald of Galactus from Marvel Comics.

Throughout the vast and unknown macrocosm of space, the neverending cycle of life and death can be as beautiful as it is cruel. One minute, you could be prospering alongside your people and world in peace and the next, everything you love is taken away from you and you are powerless to stop it. To some, such an event may warp and transform them into becoming the very thing that ruined their lives. But in the case of these two saviors of the cosmos, they sought out those to overcome their trauma, help give them a new sense of belonging, and motivate them to defend those they care about to prevent those atrocities from happening again.

So, when the last Martian member of the Justice League faces the silver-skinned master of the Power Cosmic, which of these two extraterrestrial heroes will live to fight another day? Will J’onn lack the Spirit to survive this Manhunt, or will Norrin get Wiped Out by his opponent and served on a Silver platter? Prepare yourself for lift-off as we gaze upon the stars and see who will win in this out of this world DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

We just finished the nightmare that was the Phoenix vs Raven blog two weeks ago (at the time of writing this) and thought we were safe. Ben Singer is keeping us captive in his basement. Please send help.

(No need for help, there are cookies down here. No, they’re not J’onn’s cookies. We’re not that crazy.)

Jokes aside, we do feel the need to say that having just come off the heels of Phoenix vs Raven, which by itself was draining, none of us were too enthused to jump back into this sort of analysis. As such, while this blog still serves as a solid concise rundown of our findings, we simply couldn’t get through everything on even just the media guide in time, so the details might be a bit lacking compared to past blogs. Between the aforementioned burnout and other announcements taking focus away from this matchup, we weren’t able to provide as absolute a covering as usual, but we hope you enjoy it regardless.

Background

Martian Manhunter

“The future is worth it. All the pain. All the tears. The future is worth the fight.”

Mars; the fourth planet in our solar system, coming after our own planet Earth, and currently where we’re trying to go next! In pop culture and media, aliens are often thought of as these green space-men with beady black eyes and technology far beyond our own, many times dubbed as ‘Martians’. DC Comics on the other hand… actually ran with this idea. The planet Ma'aleca'andra was home to the Green Martians, and centuries ago it was a haven of engineering and peaceful prosperity. Somewhere in their history was an uncommon occurrence, a birth of a pair of twins, something not thought of in their people, as such the twins were named J’onn J’onzz and Ma’alefa’ak, which in English means “Light to the Light”, and “Darkness in the Heart”. J’onn came what may in his Martian life, growing up to be a Manhunter (equivalent of an Earth policeman) and settling down in marriage with a Martian woman named M’yri’ah, who gave birth to their daughter K’hym. He really made a life for himself. Unfortunately, he is under the jurisdiction of DC Comics so you already know how this story ends… while J’onn lived a peaceful life, his brother Ma’alefa’ak grew to despise everything regarding their Martian culture, and sought extermination of all of them save himself, which led him to engineer a contagious virus known as the H’ronmeer’s Curse, which was a direct chemical reaction that affected the telepathic minds of Martians, responding to their innate fear of fire, triggering it to unconsciously combust their bodies and minds into flames, and the Martians were now at the mercy of J’onn’s sinister brother. Unfortunately, he could not save any, let alone his own family from the virus, and he bore the pain of watching everything he loved slowly burn away from him.

This was a life that happened centuries ago. Mars then was nothing but a dot in the sky. In the present, people looked to it with larger scopes wondering if there was life to be contacted there. One such scientist named Dr. Saul Erdel was trying to do just that, with his transmitter machine he developed based on a lead it was ancient martian technology. Striking through space and time itself, he aimed the beam towards Mars, which struck J’onn J’onzz at a point centuries before Dr. Erdel would even be born, bringing J’onn to the era where Dr. Erdel would be where J’onn would be found outside the laboratory. In an effort to nurse him back to health, he formed an accidental telepathic link with the Martian, and peered firsthand into the reason for his mental anguish; he saw the atrocities committed by his brother, the loss of his family and people, and in an effort to heal him, the good doctor in good intentions fabricated a new history for J’onn J’onnz, one inspired by his favorite science fiction novelists like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Ray Bradbury, planting the thought in J’onn’s head to become a champion, a hero called… the Martian Manhunter. 

But just as his previous life, he would enter this new world tragically. Upon attempts to blend into normal human life, Dr. Erdel had a heart attack upon seeing his shapeshifting ability turn him into a human, going into shock. Before his death, Dr. Erdel knew what would come next, and asked the Martian Manhunter to forgive him for making him a prisoner of the Earth. Dr. Erdel then died, and the telepathic link disappeared… and Martian Manhunter remembered everything. The genocide. The death. The loss. It all came back to him. Yet somehow… he continued. He moved forward, fitting in with human society as a policeman for the town of Middleton named John Jones. Eventually his Martian Manhunter alias was leaked to the public, but his double-life remained a secret thanks to his shapeshifting abilities. Eventually, he put an odd ending to his policeman life. When the Idol-Head of Diabolu expelled a deadly gas cloud, ‘John Jones’ saved a child’s life but was presumed dead by his fellow policemen, and J’onn took this as an opportunity to abandon his double life, and attended his own funeral… and everything started to add up to him about these humans. He wondered why he continued to live, and through his own resolve and dedication to helping people and being accustomed to their life, he realized that through getting lost in the service in others, you find your greatest joy, which for the Martian Manhunter, was to serve the common good and defend Earth, the planet that gave him a home when he lost his own. And he would find more opportunities in that, joining the Justice League of America to embark on even more strange adventures. Nonetheless, in all of those, he would never lose his way to help those who cannot help themselves. 

Silver Surfer

“Treasure each moment with her, and tell she was right... we do have a choice.”

Imagine, if you will, a world similar to our own, but truly perfected. Crime and poverty a thing of the past, technology advancing at a rapid rate, hunger and illness a worry no longer. In the far reaches of the universe, this world does in fact exist. And its name is Zenn-La! But out of its many inhabitants, one was not satisfied with living in a perfect world, instead wishing to embark on adventures, like those present in history books from before Zenn-La’s current state. This man was known as Norrin Radd, and he dreamed to one day reach out for the stars and explore the endless cosmos. But until then, he lived life with his beloved Shalla-Bal, living a normal life in spite of his desire for challenge. Until that fateful day. The Devourer of Worlds himself, Galactus, had come to Zenn-La, wishing to consume Norrin’s home for his own nourishment. Despite being so perfect, the planet lacked any defense against the threat of the Devourer, but Norrin would not let his home die so easily. Taking a spaceship, he flew towards Galactus’ ship, and confronted him directly, questioning why Zenn-La had to die, when there were so many other worlds across the cosmos. Galactus replied that while that was true, it was difficult for him to seek out those that could properly satiate his hunger by himself, which gave Norrin an idea. If Galactus cannot find worlds to devour, he would become a Herald that would seek them out for him. He would travel the stars as a harbinger of death, but only if Galactus let his world live. The Devourer accepted such a request, and from that moment forward, Norrin had become the Silver Surfer, Herald of Galactus!

But after several years leading Galactus to worlds, some of which were inhabited by civilizations like the home he fought to once spare, Norrin would eventually find his way to Earth. Though he engaged in battle with the Fantastic Four, the Surfer had an encounter with the blind Alicia Masters that changed his outlook on the value of human life. Now willing to stand up against Galactus, the Surfer assisted humanity in their attempt to drive the Devourer away, and they succeeded! However, Surfer was to serve as his Herald no longer, and was trapped in Earth. Despite having finally fulfilled his wish to venture out through the cosmos, Norrin threw it all away in order to protect a race of beings that would eternally hate him for his past actions. He went on many adventures throughout the globe, and became a founding member of the Defenders, assisting those who needed it in spite of their hatred for him. Until ten years after that fateful day, he broke out of the barrier and made peace with Galactus, being free to roam the stars once more.

Norrin’s journey continued on, with him being involved in many of the universe’s cosmic conflicts, but eventually one of his many adventures led to him meeting an Earth girl named Dawn Greenwood. After saving her (or in her view, being saved by her) in a conflict against a madman named the Incredulous Zed, the two formed a strong bond with each other, traveling together through the endless universe, making friends, defeating enemies, and getting closer and closer. Eventually, the people of Zenn-La came to Earth, having entered a universal quest for conquest, turning every other world into exact copies of Zenn-La’s culture. Being torn between his many human connections and the home he fought so hard to protect… the Surfer did as he did long ago with Galactus, and stood with Earth! Defeating his former lover Shalla-Bal and ending Zenn-La completely, Norrin had proven himself one of the Earth’s greatest heroes, and would forever be remembered as such. Though Surfer’s life with Dawn ended with her death as they witnessed the end of the universe (a really long story), he remains out there in the cosmos, anywhere and everywhere, aiding all life that needs his assistance. Truly, one of the universe’s greatest Marvels.

Experience & Skill

Martian Manhunter

As a founding member of the Justice League, J’onn has been in countless battles and situations. He’s incredibly intelligent, serving as a voice of wisdom and counsel for the Justice League, as Martians are highly advanced in problem solving and logical capabilities. On Mars, J’onn was skilled in the law, possesses an eidetic memory, and has understandings of various complex concepts and ideas such as higher-dimensional mathematical formulas, the Algebra of Ethics, the Life Equation, etc. Despero, one of his mortal enemies, admitted that Ted Kord, who has an IQ of 192, was only second in intellect to the Martian Manhunter.

Another part of his Martian background is his combat experience and ability. On Mars, J’onn was stated to be the best of the Manhunters and the Well of Souls, who are Martians of the past, claim J’onn is the best among them. He’s faced off against numerous supernatural threats, and has shown his combat skill against large groups of enemies such as Parademons and White Martians, beings who are capable of taking on multiple members of the Justice League at once. He’s trained in sparring with Wonder Woman, one of the most capable fights on the planet, and has even been a trainer in his own right, teaching the Justice League members such as Kyle Rayner both in combat and how to defend against mental attacks. He is also skilled in weaponry such as wielding a trident and is adept in swordsmanship, impressively defeating the New God Kanto in swordplay and facing against a mind-controlled Superman in a sword fight.

On Earth, J’onn also picked up a wide variety of skills and abilities, some of which are correlated with his mimicry abilities. In his life, J’onn has taken up many careers such as a policeman, school teacher, detective, farmer, and businessman. He has taken up guises of entire new identities and names, such as John Jones, Goldie Johnstone, or Yuchiro Takata, showing skill in the ability to mimic the mannerisms of those he disguises as, along with being able to replicate the skills and abilities they too can do, furthermore showing the Martian Manhunter’s adaptability. His telepathy has allowed him to learn and absorb information about Earth culture across all hemispheres, learning new languages such as Portuguese and Japanese, making detailed files on Earth’s residing superheroes, or learning how to pilot space and aircrafts. 

Silver Surfer

It’s no surprise that a herald of the might Galactus has had many adventures and ways to grow throughout their cosmic lifespan. Naturally, Norrin Radd is no exception. Radd originally hailed from the planet of Zenn-La, which was noted to have been a very advanced civilization that was a complete utopia and blessed with grand technology. Of course, Radd long had an interest in knowledge, so it would be no surprise that a great deal of the advanced knowledge available to him on Zenn-La was attained, even before becoming a herald of Galactus.

Obviously, becoming a herald of Galactus just led to even more experiences and chances to grow, though this would also come now with experience and ability in battle. Norrin would learn much from his travels across the cosmos with Galactus, and over time would engage in battles with and against all sorts of powerful forces throughout reality. He has worked with numerous noteworthy groups throughout Marvel history, such as the Fantastic Four, and also the Avengers. And on top of all that, the Silver Surfer has consistently battled against numerous powerful villains in the universe, such as Ego the Living Planet, the Mad Titan Thanos, and even Tyrant, a force created by Galactus himself.

As such, there’s really no shortage of experiences and battles for Silver Surfer. He has faced many of the greatest warriors within Marvel and triumphed, and with the knowledge of both his home world and gained from his adventures and heralding, there shouldn’t really be any problems beyond his knowledge or understanding.

Not to mention, Norrin is old. Really, really old. He’s at least over 13.7 billion years old, having lived through the creation and subsequent entire history of the universe up to his creation as the Silver Surfer on two different occasions due to time travel shenanigans, meaning he’s accumulated billions of years worth of experience watching the grand events of the universe.

Equipment

Martian Manhunter

Kuru Pendant

The Kuru pendant acts as a repository for Martian history and knowledge, the symbol representing the most intimate connection with a Martian and their heritage. To pull from this mystic encyclopedia, Martians use telepathy to interface with the pendant, both to have information present before them and additionally, they are able to store new information that they have acquired.

Silver Surfer

Sky Board

Yes, a sky board, not a surfboard. A gift from Galactus to travel through the endless cosmos; an indestructible flying silver board that Norrin can control and call upon with a simple thought, even when he's not in physical contact or present. The board is composed of the same cosmic-powered silver material as its master, most likely due to it being a part of the surfer's body. Even on rare occasions it's been damaged, Surfer is able to repair or even re-create the board. Surfer has also shown to be able to shape and shift his board into a long sword, pretty cool honestly.

Should his board sustain any major damage, his connection to it shall be severed, however, he can easily heal it with his Power Cosmic or create a new one out of absolutely nothing.

It should be noted though, that Surfer is not useless without his board, as his powers do not come from it, and he can even fly without it.

Abilities

Martian Manhunter

Martian Physiology

Martians come from the planet Mars, and in DC, it was an advanced civilization that thrived a millennium ago, and due to his origins, J’onn still retains the same traits and attributes as all Martians, as many if not all of their abilities are common between Martians. What lies under the skin by way of explanation is a resemblance to polymer bonds in the form of a complex molecular bond that can be shaped and altered at will, allowing the Martian Manhunter to have full control over the texture, density, mass, length, color, and shape of his body.

Telepathy

Martian Manhunter is one of the strongest telepaths in all of DC, capable of reading, scanning, and affecting the minds of human beings with ease, in a variety of ways. He can read minds over great distances, scan for memories, look down into the subconscious, induce post-hypnosis effects on those he peers into, and project their mental essences on a whim. With telepathy comes many ways of affecting the mind of someone, and the Martian Manhunter has many ways of doing so. His telepathy has regarded him as one of DC’s greatest telepaths, comparable if not superior to the likes of…

• Aquaman, who was capable of giving a White Martian a seizure via telepathy.

• Despero, who destroyed Superboy mentally and mind controlled Batman. 

• Doctor Destiny, who nearly killed Superman in the Dream world.

• Mageddon, who can drive nearly all of Earth’s population into mindless violence, drove Superman through agony, and overwhelmed Orion mentally.

And J’onn himself has incredibly powerful feats of telepathy, being able to stretch out his mind across the entire Earth and temporarily outracing Perpetua (Perpetua has control over the Black Apple which is the complete opposite of the Collective Unconscious which grants all telepaths in the omniverse their mental abilities) in the process. But he’s not just limited to Earth! He can also use his telepathy across entirely different universes and dimensions. J’onn has kept Vishnu, the Hindu God of Preservation, asleep as waking him up would destroy all of creation. Furthermore, he was able to… 

Mind Reading

He can peer into the innate and instant/current thoughts, intents, or motivations of an individual in order to obtain certain information from thoughts or memories. 

Mind Control

Of course, you can’t be one of the greatest telepaths in DC without having mind control. J’onn, despite being unconscious, was able to possess John Stewart and was able to use his ring to open a portal. 

Telepathic Link

He is able to read minds over great distances and has been known to scan the mind of every person on Earth within a matter of moments, and by doing so creates a telepathic link or tether that allows the Martian Manhunter to access or feel their minds. It is not known whether there is any limit to the number of people he can be attuned to or whether there are any special requirements to being attuned to him.

Telepathic Relay

As a telepath, the Manhunter is able to use his telepathic prowess as a relay station for a group of minds, who can then "speak" to each other through him. This relaying ability seems to be limited to the same range as the Manhunter's normal telepathic range.

Telepathic Assault

The Martian Manhunter can also use his telepathic abilities in an offensive manner. He has the ability to cause mental shutdown in a target using his psionic powers. The Manhunter does not use this power often due to the invasive nature and harshness of such a telepathic attack.

He can also guard himself and others from telepathic assaults.

Mental Probing

He can access the psyche, essence, and memories of others to gain valuable information in different ways. And because J’onn is a wholesome and polite fella, he prefers to ask before doing so.

Memory Manipulation

This ability allows him to literally reprogram the mind of a subject into believing whatever he wants them to. He can use this ability to help subjects forget things that he does not want them to remember as well as set up post-hypnotic attacks. J’onn has also utilized memories as a punishment to those sent to the thought stream, where they will have their subconscious torn apart into every human on earth. J’onn can also absorb the memories of others.

Psychic Illusions

J’onn can create psycho illusions to make himself and others appear as whatever he wishes. Mainly using this for stealth and blending in among humans or enemy territory.

Astral Projection

Due to his abilities surrounding the psyche, Martian Manhunter has shown the ability to astrally project himself, meaning he can, if his body is destroyed or if he chooses to freely, move as an essence, or his spirit, primarily a way to enter others’ minds if he cannot initially or to also remove someone else's' psyche from their bodies

Retrocognition 

Martian Manhunter also has the ability to peer into or perceive events that have taken place in the past, able to perceive someones’ psionic memories and project mental images of events that have/had occurred. 

Empathic Manipulation

J’onn has also shown the ability to influence and affect the emotions of others, altering them or outright controlling them. 

Sleep Manipulation

One of the lesser utilized abilities of the Martian Manhunter. He’s able to use his powers to cause people to fall asleep, ranging from one person to an entire airplane.

Telepathic Augmentation

Martians can also project their mental essences into a gestalt community known as the "Great Mind". Through this, the community can enhance the telepathic strength of other Martians. This power can also enable them to reverse the effects of amnesia or psychological torture. He can also augment the minds of others, such as when he gave Firestorm a telepathic scanner, and can use the help of others to augment his mind if it is weakened, like when he used Cyborg as a boost to connect himself to nearly all of humanity to counter Sinestro's hold over them (shown above).

Soul Removal

Manhunter has shown the ability to forcefully remove souls from their bodies, using that to remove Harley Quinn from a woman she was possessing at the time.

Flight

Much like most other superheroes, J’onn has the power of flight, being able to soar through space at high speeds.

Shapeshifting

Given the incredibly precise control Martians have over their own molecular structure, Manhunter has the ability to shapeshift to a near unlimited extent. He’s been able to warp his brain to become as crazy as the Joker and to make him even more resistant to telepathic attacks than he already is. Not to mention that it was once stated that Manhunter would gain the abilities and weaknesses of whoever he shapeshifts into. However, it’s likely that this is reliant on whether said person gained their abilities and weaknesses via their own body. And given that Manhunter can literally change his own DNA, it’s more than likely that this statement is pretty damn accurate!

• Can wrap himself around someone to negate their defenses such as force-fields by robbing them of oxygen

• Turned into a large dragon.

• Transformed himself into a large squid creature.

• Disguised himself as Catwoman.

• Create extra limbs and weaponry.

• Turns his limbs into snakes.

• Transform into fictional Martians such as Mars Attacks, Marvin the Martian, etc.

• Make himself appear as an Atlantean soldier.

• Grow much larger in size.

• Do this again and create buzzsaw blades for his arms.

• Basically whatever he wants his body to do/become, it’s possible.

Size Manipulation

J’onn’s shapeshifting has allowed him to shrink as small as blood cells and also to morph into creatures far bigger than J’onn’s “normal” size such as the dragon shown above. Even shapeshifted himself into an enraged Hulk-esque form when Blue Beetle and Booster Gold played a prank on him by taking away his Chocos, a sweet treat that is very addictive to Martians.

Regeneration

Thanks to his control over his molecular structure, J'onn possesses great regenerative powers. Coming back from just his limbs, being turned into a puddle of goop, etc. Batman claims J’onn can regrow millions of brain cells with ease, but it has also been implied that the limits to his regeneration are that you would need to take out every single one of his atoms to permanently kill him.

Invisibility

Pretty obvious power for our favorite Martian, if he so chooses he can become invisible to the human eye and even the superhuman eye. As Wonder Woman herself said, “no military force can cope with an invisible man.” Batman has also stated that the only reason he knew a White Martian wasn’t in the room with him was because he was still alive which speaks volumes about both a martian’s ability to shapeshift as well as their invisibility.

Intangibility

J’onn has the power to make his entire body intangible, allowing him to move through objects as if they were never there. This intangibility being so effective that even Superman’s heat vision (and by extension Superboy Prime) cannot bypass it, even when it has worked on intangible threats before. This isn’t the first time J’onn has shown that his phasing is far more complex than traditional intangibility. Manhunter can focus his intangibility through people and attack foes behind. His phasing is remarkably impressive, being able to bypass shields not even Superman could break through, as well as Green Lantern constructs. 

Martian Vision

Martian vision allows J’onn to fire bolts of telekinetic force or fire laser beams from his eyes, or even through his body in an enraged state. These beams are even being comparable to Superman’s own, which have harmed several powerful foes in the past as well as burned through intangible enemies. Given J’onn’s Martian vision is comparable to Superman’s heat vision and that J’onn can see down to the subatomic level, it’s entirely possible that J’onn himself can burn you down to the subatomic level with this specific ability. 

Telekinesis

As you would expect with all of Manhunter’s mental capabilities, he also has the power of telekinesis to move objects with his mind. He can also generate them so potently that they can blast back several opponents at once with just a thought. Even being strong enough to restrain powerful threats to the entire League like Black Adam.

Enhanced Senses

J’onn has extraordinary senses far above any average person or even superhero, it even has been stated that he has nine different senses. He has extraordinary super hearing capabilities at great distances. 

Resistances

• Mind/Mental Manipulation: Nine extremely amplified White Martians couldn't break through J'onn’s telepathic defenses. They were amplified a "millionfold", i.e, a million times stronger than normal, but J'onn could still resist them.

• Matter Manipulation: J’onn has full control over his own molecular structure, which should allow him to counteract matter manipulation.

• Biological Manipulation: J’onn can resist pathogenic mutagens which can bypass even the Flash’s phasing.

• Fire: While this may often be portrayed as one of J’onn’s biggest weaknesses, he does resist it very often from enemies with flame powers, napalm blasts, reentering the atmosphere, and just himself saying that fire is no longer a threat towards him.

Silver Surfer

Power Cosmic

The source of all of Silver Surfer's incredible abilities, a cosmic energy given to him by Galactus himself. The Power Cosmic is a nearly infinite amount of energy, and while Norrin is far from holding the same amount as his former master, he still has enough to perform several incredible feats and abilities, sometimes even described as "doing the impossible." We are going to refer to it a lot, so prepare yourself. Surfer has described the Power Cosmic as not just being in touch with everything in the universe, but also to be the universe itself. And Tony Stark on the other hand has stated that the Power Cosmic is the primary substance of omniscience and omnipresence… anything and everything.

Energy Manipulation & Absorption

The Silver Surfer is capable of draining energy from others, and was able to disable several giant spaceships in the process. Surfer was capable of absorbing Hulk’s gamma radiation, turning him back into Bruce Banner. Doctor Doom, while wielding Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was capable of absorbing the Human Torch’s fire blasts.

Energy Projection

One of the primary uses of the Power Cosmic is forming powerful energy that can be used as projectiles or as a medium for the Silver Surfer's abilities. Typically it has a blue or yellow color, but Norrin has shown the ability to alter the energy's appearance at will, such as in the 2016 run, where he alters it to red with black spots in memory of the passing of Dawn Greenwood. He's also shown to be able to shoot laser beams from his eyes.

Matter Manipulation

Due to the Power Cosmic, Surfer has shown to be capable of controlling matter. He has several instances of this such as, creating a bouquet of flowers out of thin air, creating a weapon capable of manipulating cosmic energy molecule by molecule,… He’s also manipulated the matter of pre-existing things in the past, such as re-arranging the atoms of his surfboard, fixing a broken Jet Cycle via molecular reconstruction, transmuting the molecules of objects into rigellian gold (it was a running gag), transmuting a magic staff to it's very atoms,. He also manipulated his own body to appear as if he was aging every day for 64 years straight.

Doctor Doom, using Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was capable of manipulating air molecules to absorb all light, clouding the sky in darkness.

Dimensional Travel

Norrin can create portals to different dimensions. He has showcased this on several occasions such as the time he followed Mephisto into his Mephisto’s dimension of dread which has been described as an infinitely-transcendental surreality. Surfer has also traveled into the Microverse within a nanosecond.

Enhanced Senses

On several occasions, the Silver Surfer has shown the ability to detect the bio-life readings of other beings, able to sense how far away from him they are, or to the point of even sensing the sparks of electrons on fingertips and the dopamine rushing through a person’s blood. He has sensed the pain of creatures that were assimilated. He can sense specific types of energy, as well as their qualities, and even where they originate from, or even sense shifts in the pattern of space. He was able to track a human across the planet from a single strand of hair, and was able to detect the path of a breeze from half a galaxy away. In addition to this, he has shown to be able to see enemies and objects that are supposed to be invisible just fine. As seen above, he can also sense on multiple levels, from the spectroscopic, to electromagnetic, to subatomic, and even unheard of “spectro levels.”

Cosmic Awareness

Norrin was granted an incredible Cosmic Awareness once he was given the Power Cosmic, allowing him to be aware of things on an immense cosmic scale. Surfer can find a single piece of dust across the infinite universe, he can track his path throughout the infinite planes of reality, he can instantly sense the abilities of his opponents, and even their weaknesses. He can see into alternate planes of reality, and can even track Mephisto from his own dimension, while Surfer was on Earth. Surfer can even tap into the Implicate Order, which allows him to see all moments of the past, present, and future at once, and he’s done so more than once. This cosmic awareness has also likely netted him a form of omnilingualism, as he can understand ancient tongues with ease.

The High Evolutionary, when wielding Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was capable of looking across the entire Universe. Johnny Storm, when in possession of said power, could also look into the pasts of every member of the Fantastic Four, meaning Surfer could just as easily observe the pasts of his opponents as well.

Surfer can even grant levels of this power to others, such as when he gave Alicia Masters the ability to see on a quantum level into the Implicate Order.

Phasing

Surfer’s phasing is absolutely insane. Besides having the basic phasing applications of being able to phase through regular matter (such as what’s pictured above), but can phase to even further degrees. He has phased through a matrix of pure consciousness (though he notes it takes utmost focus), and was once capable of “shifting out of phase with existence itself,” to the point that he was undetectable by the Watchers and even Eternity himself. Another weird thing is once others phase through Surfer, he would be able to read their consciousness.

Regeneration

Surfer has absolutely incredible regenerative capabilities. He’s healed from being blasted apart, liquified, and smashed into tiny pieces by the Uni-Lord. In a more impressive showing, Surfer was able to pull himself back together after having his atoms completely torn apart and crushed, despite being weakened. Surfer was even able to come back after his “death” at which point not only was his physical atomic structure dispersed across the entire cosmos, but so was his consciousness and his Power Cosmic. However, this took a few million years to do so which means that if Surfer were to be completely neutralized physically and mentally, it may be difficult for him to return quickly. 

It’s also possible that Surfer could come back from a mere thought as Mephisto once completely destroyed Surfer’s physical body until a mere thought remained which was soon after absorbed into Mephisto. Surfer’s return may imply that he can regenerate from just a thought, however it’s also possible that destroying Mephisto’s spell was able to reverse its effects. 

Power Stealing

Surfer was capable of stealing the Power Cosmic from another Power Cosmic wielder. He also absorbed Hulk’s gamma radiation, transforming him back into Bruce Banner. However, we soon learned that Surfer also gained Hulk’s ability to increase his strength with his rage.

Space Manipulation

Surfer was able to rip open a hole in space to return from the Inciters’ realm hidden in a rift in space, and can also create quantum bubbles which warp the very fabric of space themselves, and can travel across the universe with a thought. He has also bent space itself in order to create wormholes.

Time Manipulation

Norrin has a wide variety of time manipulating abilities, ranging from the basics of pulling a Luna Dial and stopping time (as seen above), to more unusual abilities, such as peeling the fabric of the universe to look back in time, seeing events that have occurred in the past, and he can even enter a higher dimensional plane where all of time intersects.

Time Travel

Surfer has time traveled on a multitude of occasions (with varying results). He can time travel through sheer speed, as surpassing the speed of light can allow him to time travel. He’s capable of entering the timestream to travel to any point in time as well using the Power Cosmic.

If he is not careful however, he can become trapped in the time currents.

Telepathy & Mind Manipulation

The Power Cosmic granted Norrin a variety of telepathic abilities. He can telepathically communicate with others, even with his body transformed into snow. He can also share his memories with others and absorb the thoughts of others, being able to project these thoughts through hyperspace or as physical holograms.

Surfer goes beyond basic telepathy though, and has shockingly robust mind manipulating abilities on top of it. Surfer can channel the Power Cosmic into his own consciousness in order to release a blast of pure consciousness that swept through an entire Matrix of Pure Consciousness, and reduced the beings of pure consciousness (the aliens) within to nothingness, and dissolved the Matrix as well. 

On another occasion, Surfer encountered the Mergence, a transcendent group mind which cannot be seen by humans, which was absorbing the collective consciousness of everything on Earth, no matter how minor, from humans, to animals, to plants and even rocks, down to the quantum level. Surfer proceeded to use his Power Cosmic (while potentially channeling his pure soul into it) in order to damage the Mergence, severing its connection with its host.

Surfer has been able to telepathically affect the minds of entities as powerful as Galactus, whose mental barriers are potent enough to keep out the abstract entity Oblivion, who represents the concept of non-existence and the void that’ll be present after the destruction of Marvel’s omniverse.

Memory Erasure

Norrin has the capacity to affect the memories of others, making them forget what they’ve seen and even cloud their mind for a period of time.

Telekinesis

Surfer’s telekinesis can apply a variety of effects. He was able to telekinetically lift someone (as seen above), and could telekinetically lift and wrap an entire car around Spider-Man. To more grand applications, such as allowing himself to surf on an entire moon, moving it telekinetically. Doctor Doom, while utilizing Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was able to telekinetically toss around large boulders as well.

Even while in a comatose state, Surfer’s telekinesis is powerful enough to generate a massive wind storm, lift Reed Richard’s house out of the ground, and nullify gravity to the point of eventually threatening the planet.

Transformation / Transmutation

Surfer can transform himself into pure energy, as well as transform his body into earthly elements, such as snow. 

Doctor Doom, while wielding Surfer’s Power Cosmic, transmuted the components of his body into a “diamond-like crystalline substance”. He also transmuted the Thing’s body into brittle stone.

Power Amplification

Surfer can intensify his energy buildup in order to increase his strength, allowing him to battle more powerful opponents, stating he can increase his energy to almost any degree he desires. He once meditated to build up power for a full year, and was able to break a barrier Galactus formed around Earth to prevent the Surfer from escaping (though it fully drained him in the process)

He can also absorb the ambient energies of space, such as photons, in order to sustain and empower himself, or call upon the stars for energy. Other Power Cosmic wielders can also do this.

Force Fields

Surfer can generate force fields and barriers in order to protect himself from oncoming attacks (in pic above, he’s blocking a blast from a Power Stone empowered Thor). These force fields can be made large enough to surround his entire body and the space around him as well, and even create protective energy cocoons.

Doctor Doom, while wielding Surfer’s Power Cosmic, also created an “impenetrable cosmic current” that protected him from attacks.

Surfer is also stated to have an environmental containment field surrounding his body, presumably to protect himself. If this field is majorly disrupted or destroyed, it's implied Surfer would die with it.

Biology Manipulation

Surfer was capable of purging the DNA altering Cascading Genetic Virus from the bodies of hundreds of Moloids, freeing them from Terminus’ assimilation. He was also capable of surging the Power Cosmic through his own body to purge himself of the cosmic virus Hlavac’s disease.

Dr Doom, while in possession of Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was able to disrupt a creature’s hormone balance, causing sudden biological mutation.

Organ Removal

Surfer was capable of instantly pulling out his partner Dawn’s tonsils from her body. He used the Power Cosmic to ensure it would be painless, but he doesn’t necessarily have to make it not hurt.

Life Manipulation

For redemption, Surfer used the Power Cosmic into every atom of the Planet; Zenn-La to bring the dead world back to life and also restore the people, creatures and nature. However, the Silver Surfer lost control and accidentally gave too much life to the planet, which caused the water to get crowded with new life, caused all the lifeforms to mutate and gain billions of years worth of evolution in seconds, which caused all of them to literally grow to death. A few seconds later the planet itself died as well, due the amount of life it gained, great job Norrin.

Vision / Illusion Creation

Surfer was capable of giving Skaar, Son of Hulk a vivid illusion / vision of the future should he continue down the path he’s going.

Light Manipulation

Surfer once flashbanged the absolute fuck out of Sue Richards by using his Power Cosmic to create a light brighter than a sun going supernova. He’s created cosmic flares multiple times in the past as well.

Elemental Manipulation

Surfer has a wide variety of elemental manipulation abilities granted by the Power Cosmic. Funnily enough however, nearly all of them were used by Doctor Doom after he had stolen Surfer’s Power Cosmic and went on a massive troll fest across the globe. Doom used many abilities Surfer otherwise never really pulls during this timeframe, so be prepared to see Doom be mentioned a lot throughout this blog. In this time, Doom:

• Freezes an entire island for 24 hours (Ice Manipulation)

• Vaporizes the Human Torch’s flames 

• Transforms a cloud into a massive wind vortex (Air / Wind Manipulation)

• Manipulates a tree to rapidly grow and grab the Fantastic Four’s ship (Plant Manipulation)

• Unleashes a torrent of flame across a canyon (Fire Manipulation)

• Blasts a “cosmic frost” which puts out the Human Torch’s flames (Ice Manipulation)

Gravity Manipulation

Doctor Doom, while wielding Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was able to trap the Thing within an Anti-Gravity Stasis Field, rendering him helpless.

Surfer, using his telekinesis, also completely nullified gravity.

Size Manipulation

Doctor Doom, while using Surfer’s Power Cosmic, was able to manipulate the size of his own limbs in order to make himself even more physically powerful (the Thing still btfo’d him anyways, cause he’s built like that). Surfer has also been able to travel into the Microverse by shrinking which is impressive as the Microverse exists below quarks, neutrinos, and planck length as well below the entire multiverse.

Summoning

Doom was able to briefly summon his Mother’s spirit from her exile in the Netherworld in order to communicate with her while he was in possession of the Power Cosmic.

Resurrection

Doctor Doom was capable of resurrecting creatures from their dead remains (which he had just made… because he just killed them.)

Radiation Manipulation

Utilizing the Power Cosmic, Doom released a blast of light/radiation which blistered, seared, and cracked the skin of all people within its radius.

Resistance/Immunity Negation 

Doom, while using Surfer's Power Cosmic, was able to remove Human Torch's immunity to his own fire, making his own flames hurt him. He was also able to return this immunity to Johnny later on in the same issue. Norrin, being much more experienced with the Power Cosmic, should be able to do the same and remove someone's immunity to their abilities.

Healing

Surfer has healed the wounded on many occasions, being capable of pulling the bullets out of a recently shot woman, healing her organs and wounds in the process, and once did the same for a tiger as well, and even healed Reed Richards from a fatally wounded state. He was able to heal his board with a touch.

While questionably healing, Doom was able to use the Power Cosmic to undo everything he had done while wielding the Power, which included brutally wounding Sue Richards and Reed Richards, and transmuting the Thing into brittle stone back to his normal state and reconnecting his arm. Doom obtaining the Power Cosmic also healed his facial deformity.

Immobilization 

Surfer was able to bind the physical body and consciousness of the manifestation of the planet Euphoria in place with the Power Cosmic.

Technology Manipulation

Surfer has been able to disrupt and disable tech on multiple occasions, such as when he disables all the weapons on a massive warship with his Power Cosmic, or when he disabled control disks that were keeping Hulk and other gladiators enslaved. He also once “infected” an entire space-ship with the Power Cosmic.

Temperature Manipulation 

Norrin can use the Power Cosmic to manipulate temperature in multiple ways.  He can superheat metal with a touch and a small amount of cosmic energy. With a touch of his hand, he could make the Ocean (or at least the area of the Ocean they’re at) boil.

Vibrational Manipulation

Surfer can manipulate atoms to the point that he can prevent their vibrations, canceling out sound itself. This can also help him rob someone of their speed to a certain extent, as the kinetic energy generated by the vibrations of every molecule is canceled out, completely immobilizing a person in place. Doctor Doom was able to do this to the Thing when he was in possession of the Power Cosmic.

Sealing

Surfer was capable of sealing a cosmic virus into a crystal of “pure Power Cosmic” that it would be unable to escape from. Surfer’s board is also capable of sealing entities within itself, such as when he sealed Captain Marvel within his board to protect him.

Soul Manipulation

Surfer was capable of using his board to absorb millions upon millions of souls, to drain the power of the almighty Uni-Lord. Surfer himself was shown to have incredible spiritual resilience, being able to fight against Mephisto’s spirit in the Astral Plane as a soul. Surfer has also shown the ability to destroy souls. Surfer was also able to control his own soul within the Soul Gem, even overcoming the Supreme Intelligence in control of it, traversing the depths of the Soul Gem, and then escaping it.

Astral Projection 

Surfer can fight in his astral form, even against opponents as powerful as Mephisto which shows incredibly potent spiritual resilience. Not only this, but Surfer can take others to the Astral Realm which he describes as “the source of the Power Cosmic.” Here, Surfer is far more powerful than he is within the normal multiverse and cannot be harmed whatsoever by traditional means.

Existence Erasure

Surfer has displayed a couple feats of erasing things from existence, such as when he released a blast of cosmic energy which erased some soldiers’ guns from existence, or when he seemingly erased the existence of bands which grant incredible power. He also arguably erased the body of someone who killed themselves in fear of him. Surfer’s erasure has been shown to work down to the conceptual level as shown below. 

Conceptual Manipulation

Surfer, in a desperate gamble to save Earth from having its culture erased by the invading force of his homeworld, Zenn-La, touched the device that was rewriting Earth, the Illuminatrix, and discharged all the Power Cosmic he had within him, and even his life force, into the device in order to save the Earth. He launches a wave throughout the cosmos, said wave containing a destruct code, which precisely erases all traces of Zenn-La’s culture, “no matter how deeply embedded.” Every aspect of Zenn-La’s history, culture, and even its existence are erased from the universe, with even the memories of Zenn-Lavians being wiped, and even the in-universe comics detailing Silver Surfer’s origins having been altered to remove all traces of Zenn-La. 

However, doing this feat on a universal scale required all his Power Cosmic and his life force, killing him. He only survived as he had temporarily lended out portions of his essence to the Thing, Dawn and Alicia, and they returned them to him.

However, it's reasonable that this feat only required so much of Surfer as it was PRECISELY erasing an entire culture and its history across the entire infinite universe. Affecting the concepts of things on a lesser scale should reasonably be much more manageable for him.

The Silver Surfer has also been able to manipulate the heart of the Never Queen, and was able to remove it from the Impericon and take its place. This is impressive because the Never Queen’s heart is purely conceptual, representing the core of all possibility and fate in creation.

Fate Manipulation

When trapped in an unending time loop where thousands of souls were fated to die of an otherworldly sickness, Surfer was able to manipulate destiny itself to create a new possibility in which Surfer could escape the time loop and take all the aliens with him to a safe world. The Never Queen, who represents all possibilities in the totality of Marvel stated that Surfer was fated beyond her control.

Resistances

• Power Absorption - Rogue is explicitly unable to use her absorption powers on the Silver Surfer, and doing so caused a burst of energy that knocked her out. His Silvery Coat protected him from having his powers absorbed by Mrrungo-Mu’s Siphoning Powers. Surfer also reflected a blast from all 6 Soul Gems, which were siphoning Galactus’ power.

• Mind Manipulation - Surfer has resisted mind haxx by many opponents on many different levels, including:

• Cosmo the Space Dog claims that even Surfer’s surface thoughts are difficult to read, stating his mind seems armored.

• Resisted the Illuminatrix’s ability to restructure minds. 

• His silvery coat protects him from the mental effects of the planet Euphoria. 

• He was unaffected by the passive mindhaxx of the Inciters, who assimilated Surfer’s entire home planet, and even near instantly affected Rouge’s mind.

• Most notably, he withstood a blast from Moondragon while she was using the Mind Gem, and resisted any attempt of mind control she made, as well as broke free from the Goddess' influence. Moondragon at this time was able to shut down even Professor Xavier’s mind. For reference, Professor Xavier has been able to fight the Dark Phoenix across infinite planes of existence in a mental battle. The Mind Gem also represents the Collective Unconscious, implying that it’s the source of all mental energy in the entire cosmos and potentially beyond.

• Heat Manipulation - His Silvery Coat protects him from any temperature. Silver Surfer can regularly take dips through stars and be completely unaffected. Dr Doom using Surfer’s Power Cosmic even stated that he would be able to withstand heat up to 1 Million Degrees by altering the elements of his body. He was also completely unaffected by Nova’s Cosmic Flames due to his coat.

• Matter Manipulation - Due to his Zenn-Lavian heritage and his control over his atomic structure, Surfer was unaffected by the Illuminatrix’s ability to restructure your atomic structure. Surfer’s board was also unaffected by any of the Kree’s attempts to reduce it to its elements.

• Soul Manipulation - Surfer was capable of fending off the In-Betweener’s attempt to steal his soul. He also resisted his soul being erased when entering the Zone. Surfer has also resisted spiritual attacks from Mephisto who found his soul too pure to harm. 

• Existence Erasure - Norrin resisted his body (and soul) being erased from existence while entering the Zone.

• Reality Warping - Took a blast from the reality warping Reality Gem and broke free from its reality warping effects.

• Illusions - Surfer can see through illusions from entities as powerful as the Stranger.

• Unconventional Resistance to Life Manipulation - Surfer’s natural lifespan due to his Zenn-La heritage means he can survive for centuries, meaning his life-force being absorbed isn’t ultimately too detrimental. However, if he were to be faced with life absorption abilities of incredible potency or be subjected to them for a longer period of time, it's questionable how long he could hold up.

• This only applies to Norrin Radd without Power Cosmic, however. With the Power Cosmic, he’s lived for at least 13.7 Billion years, meaning he’s likely immortal to some degree.

Resistance Granting

Norrin can grant all (or most of) his resistances to others by giving them a small portion of his being, such as a ring made of his silvery body. This allowed The Thing, Alicia Masters, and Dawn Greenwood to be unaffected by the Illuminatrix.

Forms

Martian Manhunter

Fernus

There’s a few common misconceptions about Fernus, but it’s not actually a standard form J’onn can take. That said however, J’onn bested and killed Fernus in battle, and would reasonably scale to the same feats he performs. So while not a “form” he can take, it is relevant enough to mention.

Silver Surfer

Black Surfer

After traveling to the beginning of time itself and entering battle against the God of Darkness Knull, the Silver Surfer used all of his power and lost his life. However, his essence was scattered throughout the universe, seeding life across the stars, and after millenia had passed, he was reformed with a new, blacker look. In this state, the Surfer is almost like a ghost, visible yet intangible to any physical forces he encounters, only being able to interact through use of his Power Cosmic. He can also use this ghost-like state to merge with other living beings, sharing control over their body and being able to see their memories. 

Feats

Martian Manhunter

Overall

• One of the core and founding members of the Justice League of America

• Has fought Superman, Flash, Ma'alefa'ak, Doomsday, Black Adam, Fernus, Spectre, Marvin the Martian, Superboy-Prime, White Martians, the entire Justice League, and many more!

• Acted as the “Superman” of the southern hemisphere for some time

• Stopped Darkseid’s invasion of Mars in DC One Million

• Took part in the mission to stop the Omega Titans

• Defeated the Omega Knight 

• Helped the Last 52 stop the assault on the Multiverse, later becoming apart of the Totality project

• Overcame his psychological weakness to fire

• Before this, he survived being set on fire for eight hours straight

• Pretty good detective

Power

• Lifted a massive iceburg

• Punched this unnamed entity through several floors of a building

• Threw Blockbuster through a wall

• Lifts up a building

• Helps Wonder Woman lift a structure she couldn’t lift alone

• Along with the help of Superman, J’onn stops Brainiac’s Mothership from colliding into Earth

• The Brainiac Mothership is HUGE-

• Physically overwhelms the forces of Aquaman, Mera and Atlantis

• Restrains both Superman and Flash at once

• Knocks Despero’s teeth out with a punch

• Smashed a large boulder against Shazam

• With the help of Wonder Woman and Superman, they pulled Earth (298.4 Yottatons each)

• States he’s stronger than Superman while absolutely beating the shit out of Sinestro

• Sinestro is a match for Hal Jordan who can fight Superman on even terms and travel fast enough to accidentally create a Speed Force singularity. 

• Sinestro’s ring has the power to shake a universe.

• Hurts a Superman infected by the Doomsday Virus

• For context, the Doomsday Virus pretty much turns Supes into a version of Doomsday.

• Fought Superboy Prime in a physical bout 

• Can tangle with Darkseid and do just fine

• Darkseid can tank an infinite-multiversal attack from Alan Scott.

Speed

• Catches a missile and speed-blitzes the robot that was specifically designed to take him out

• Blitzes a group of White Martians who could outspeed Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern

• Moves faster than thought along with fellow Leaguers

• Brought Superman into his mind mansion in a sixth of a second

• Jumps into an old man’s brain in a split second

• Moves across the world in moments 

• Kept pace with a bloodlusted Flash 

• Can read the mind of Flash, who thinks in Attoseconds (fucking ATTOSECONDS)

• Spread his telepathy across Earth within the span of planck time (788.371 duodecillion c)

• Can fight Supergirl quite evenly

• Supergirl can fly through time (immeasurable)

Durability

• Punched in the face by Shazam

• Flies closer to the sun than any living being has

• Gets slapped around by Aquaman through pillars

• Robot Superman bashes a tree into J’onn

• Punched through stone by Lex Luthor

• Endured getting smashed in the face by Hawkgirl’s mace

• Gets blasted by Amazo

• Atrocious slams J’onn through a metal wall

Silver Surfer

Overall

• Saved several worlds from Galactus and his Heralds

• One of the original members of the Defenders

• Has fought Kyle Rayner, Morg, Hulk, Thor, Loki, Beta Ray Bill, Thanos, Mephisto, Galactus, the Griever At The End of All Things, and many more!

• Created his own home planet, and made life flourish on several others

• Assisted in the war against the Annihilation Wave

• Is a citizen of every nation on Earth.

Power

• In a combined effort with several superheroes, lit up the far reaches of the Dark Dimension (1.3 quadrillion FOE at least)

• With his board, destroyed a planet sized construct, dispersing its atoms across the cosmos and creating a shockwave felt across the universe

• Able to catch and then redirect a star

• Claims that he has enough power to destroy an entire galaxy

• Casually created a weapon with enough power to destroy the universe

• Has the power to contain two universes

• Surfer’s power, combined with Khatylis and Kismet, created an “infinite wormhole” that would have destroyed the entire dimensional plane. 

• All three of them proceed to combine into one entity in order to prevent said destruction. 

• Matches the power of the Infinity Gems

• Activates a device keyed to Thanos’ power level while weakened

• Combined his Power Cosmic with a singularity to bridge the infinite universes together

• Manipulated the Big Crunch while weakened, though was severely wounded

• Accidentally brutally maimed Tyrant while wielding the Reality Gem

• Tyrant is one of the few beings in the universe that can rival Galactus.

• Takes Alphex and Omegron, two pieces of Eternity when the Seventh Cosmos was created, to the edge of Eternity

• Reed Richards believes the Silver Surfer is the most powerful being in the galaxy

• Battled with and made Knull bleed

• Was also able to one shot Knull’s dragon, while weakened

• Fought The Griever At The End of All Things for sixteen minutes and four seconds

• The Griever At The End of All Things was said to be an abstract embodiment of the concept of entropy that could bring an end to all of the multiverse

Speed

• His speed impressed the Stranger

• Saved Shalla Bal in a span of a second

• Regularly flies across massive interstellar distances to the point we stopped documenting it

• Exceeds the speed of light and time travels into the future (immeasurable)

• Possesses microsecond and nanosecond reaction times

• Can fly from Earth to Titan in seconds

• The Surfer's speed has been described as "defying description in human terms" and being "incalculable" (immeasurable)

• Surfer flies from Overspace back into the physical universe (at least immeasurable)

• Outsurfs the destruction of the Never Queen which represents end of all realities and possibilities in existence, including the possibility of Surfer and Dawn escaping total omniversal destruction (at least immeasurable)

• While performing this feat, he also manages to outraces himself while his past self was outracing omniversal destruction (ok buddy)

• Superior to Ares

• Ares can keep up with Nate Grey who can react within planck time (20 Duodecillion c) 

Durability

• Was completely unharmed by physically flying straight through several walls of pure Vibranium

• Endures the force of a planet’s gravitational force gripping his throat.

• He also one-tapped the guy who did this to him btw

• Is able to ride on the explosion of a supernova

• Taken multiple attacks from Hulk 

• Takes a headbutt from Thor and a hit from Mjolnir, remaining relatively fine

• Can survive within Ego, fighting off antibodies capable of killing "tectonic cancers" and "deep Celestial hyper-light viruses" all while resisting heat capable of burning most living beings down to atoms

• Survives the clash between Thanos and the Abstracts which ravaged entire solar systems

• Managed to barely survive manipulating The Crunch

• Galactus states that even he could not channel those energies for long.

• Crashed into the Big Bang that created the 7th iteration of the cosmos that is Eternity

Scaling

Martian Manhunter

Superman

J’onn has proved time and time again to be a match for the man of steel. Having battled him on several occasions and even battling against the Justice League all on his own in base and as Fernus, a form he has since described that he has surpassed in power. Clark himself even called J’onn the most powerful being on Earth and one of the few people he is afraid to fight. This would make him and Clark at least relative in power, which makes all of Superman’s feats applicable to the Manhunter as well, such as…

• ​​According to Batman, can halve distances in planck time.

• Flew so fast he broke time and space in pursuit of Supergirl, traveling out of the universe and beyond “the very bounds of infinity,” eventually flying into the Spectre after he had been dispatched by the Presence to stop him from bypassing the veil into the afterlife (immeasurable)

• Supergirl, who Superman scales to, can fly through time (immeasurable)

• In moments he can cross distances that cease to be distances (immeasurable)

• Can react to and destroy reality blitzing missiles which were traveling from conceptual Monitor nanotechnology into the multiverse before Lois’ heart could beat once (at least immeasurable)

• Can escape a prison of weaponized Hypertime, which is the temporal equivalent of the “omniverse” (immeasurable)

• With the help of Shazam, lifted a book full of infinite pages of every piece of writing possible

• The fight between two Supermen was shattering the boundaries of space and time and putting their universes in peril.

• Superman was able to breach the essence of Mageddon and absorb its warhead, which was causing God’s angels to abandon creation in order to create a new universe.

Wonder Woman

As said before with Superman, the same should apply for Wonder Woman. Both Superman and Martian Manhunter have fought Diana before with varying results, implying that all three of them are, for the most part, very relative in stats. This would make Manhunter comparable to her feats of…

• Diana was able to block pieces of the Shattered God which flew from the edge of the DC universe in seconds (52.594 - 315.569 quintillion c, likely infinite)

• Diana has thrown her lasso into the Speed Force (immeasurable)

• Tagging Zoom as he was blinking in and out of time (immeasurable)

• The Lasso of Truth has the power to recreate entire timelines…

• One-shots Hal Jordan’s shield who has shown the power to create a universe.

• Diana is superior to Donna Troy who can tank an attack from Monarch who was stated to have power on par with the Big Bang itself.

• Diana should be comparable to, if not superior to Shazam who can lift a book of infinite pages.

• Shazzy has flown to the Rock of Eternity which exists beyond time and space (immeasurable)

Flash

You probably get the idea by now of the scaling chain between the Justice League, as J’onn would scale to Clark and Diana, he should also be relative to the Scarlet Speedster. Barry should be superior to Jay Garrick and roughly on par with a standard Wally West who are capable of…

• Wally West ran so fast that he broke the Force Barrier (immeasurable)

• Jay was able to momentarily run through the timestream alongside Barry Allen and Wally West while they were outpacing Death (immeasurable)

• In a race between Barry Allen and Wally West, they were stated to be threatening the fabric of the multiverse, with their race causing energy that the Highfather mistakes as coming from the Source Wall.

Doomsday

As you may expect, as J’onn can keep up with Superman, he should similarly be comparable to his mightiest of foes, namely Doomsday. Manhunter himself even fought Doomsday very well, this monster even acknowledging his own power in their battle. 

• Casually endured the full force attacks of a Justice League until they were exhausted

• Doomsday slaughtered hundreds of Green Lanterns. For reference, Kyle Rayner could contain the energies leaking from Imperiex, which is worth the destruction of entire galaxies 

• Kyle is FAR superior to rookie Green Lanterns who are capable of creating universes with a few months of training.

• Kyle should also be superior to Lanterns that could send probes across the universe within a heartbeat (9.409 duodecillion c) and traverse the universe within hours (87.6 Quadrillion c) 

• Survived a Guardians’ full power blow, sending him several lightyears away

• The same Guardians can threaten the infinite multiverse with their power

• Punched out of the Phantom Zone

Despero

Manhunter has fought Despero on several occasions, while he may have struggled at first against him, eventually J’onn had surpassed his power and beat him physically and mentally, being put in a condition that would leave him unable to move for days to weeks.

• Dominates Lobo in a fight.

• Takes on an entire team of heroes including Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Flash.

• Took on the Justice League and the Justice Society at the same time.

Superboy-Prime

Superboy Prime is one strong threat to the entire League itself, but J’onn has held strong and faced him off on a few occasions. Restraining, harming and even reacting faster than he could blast his heat vision. Making it a fair assessment that J’onn should at the very least be relative to Superboy Prime at his moderate level of performance. The same Superboy Prime that could…

• Destroyed an alternate Earth.

• Endured blasts from the Anti-Monitor after he absorbed the energy of a universe. 

• Bashed through a weakened Anti-Monitor.

• Battles and slaughters several Lanterns.

• Battles off the Teen Titans, Doom Patrol, and Justice Society all at once.

• Keeps up with several Flashes rushing him at once. 

• Gets hit by two Supermen through a red sun.

• Beat Golden Age Superman to death.

• Severely injured Mr. Mxyzptlk.

• Survived Monarch exploding and Monarch stated that his power was like the Big Bang itself.

• Killed a Guardian of the Universe.

• Punched apart the barrier between the universal nexus and the “real world.”

Silver Surfer

Thor

Pre-Annihilation, while Silver Surfer is shown to be slightly weaker than Thor overall, he has feats of matching the prince and holding his own on several occasions, and even clashed evenly with Loki, who’s matched and harmed Thor before. Post-Annihilation, Norrin’s feats operate on a scale far above Thor’s usual paygrade, to the point where he should comfortably scale higher than any feats he’s done considering that he fought the God of Thunder to a stalemate.

• Shattered a root of Yggdrasil

• Shook the 9 realms as a baby (each realm being a universe)

• "Ripped the fabric of the universe." banishing Ymir and Surtur to another dimension

• Lifted a book of infinite pages as a child; Donald Blake does this afterwards as well

• Mjolnir moved far faster than the mortal mind can conceive, with it progressing in speed until it transcended the boundaries between time and space, opening a dimensional rift (immeasurable)

• Mjolnir flew back to Thor and Odin casually after it was sent to “the farthest place from here beyond the farthest point of known existence where it is an endless abyss beyond the eyes of even the most ancient, abstract primordial gods” by Sif (at least immeasurable)

• Comparable to Valkyrie, who searched the ten realms and every point in between in the blink of an eye. (1.5768 undecillion c, likely immeasurable)

The Hulk

Silver Surfer has defeated Abomination before while weakened, who’s shown to be a match for the Hulk on several occasions. Later on, Hulk would try to fight Silver Surfer and destroy his hands in the process of punching him.

• Savage Hulk can shake the infinite multiverse.

• Physically matched Onslaught and cracked his armor, who easily contained Franklin Richards inside of himself, the same Franklin whose powers are so great that he made pocket universes and his abilities have been described as equal to Celestials.

• Resisted an attack that was capable of warping the reality of the crossroads of infinity.

• Doing the deed with Umar could warp time and space and threaten the entirety of the multiverse.

Thanos

Surfer, after gaining a power boost during the Annihilation run, activated a device that was keyed to Thanos’ power level while in a weakened state. He continues to get stronger after this, meaning he should be well above the classic iteration of Mad Titan as of now. 

• A weakened Thanos endured being blasted by the Cosmic Cube, the same type of cube that Reed Richards used to defeat Dr. Doom who had previously absorbed Galactus’ power.

• Thanos takes attacks from a weapon implied to have completely torn apart Celestials.

• Thanos has momentarily fought Odin and took many attacks from him, even when Odin summoned Gungnir to better focus his attacks at Thanos.

• Odin was able to fight at speeds beyond space, time, and thought (immeasurable)

• Odin, while weakened, could fight on par with Seth, threatening infinite planes of reality and tearing apart the fabric of the multiverse. Seth was even planning to tear out Yggdrasil by its roots. Yggdrasil grows in directions beyond conception and contains liquid in its roots that embody all of space and time.

Ego

​​

Surfer has battled with and even wounded Ego in the past.

• A weakened Lifebringer Galactus admits Ego could kill him.

• Stated to have, off-panel, defeated Odin

Mephisto

One of the Silver Surfer’s earliest major adversaries was the demon Mephisto, who sought to break Norrin’s will and take his soul. Currently, Norrin has reached levels of power that exceed Mephisto’s, but even during that early period he still had several battles against him being capable of evenly matching against him in power, occasionally being said to be on his level, despite the difference in power between the two being inconsistent between appearances.

• A fight between Mephisto and Hela would make Ragnarok pale in comparison and cause omniversal armageddon.

• Tanks a blast from Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange.

Galactus

While the Surfer was initially far weaker than his master, over the course of years he’s slowly but surely proven to be comparable to the World Eater. He clashed evenly with Galactus who just recently ate a planet, and more impressively, one shot Tyrant with the reality gem, who claimed he would be above Galactus himself.

• While hungry, could fight Mephisto

• Brawled with the In-Betweener whose M-Body represents the concept of concepts

• While plagued with a conceptual hunger, Galactus could consume the 8th iteration of the omniverse down to the First Firmament

• While satiated, could one-shot a Celestial

• Galactus’s battle with Scrier and the Other threatened to destroy the entire multiverse on a level beyond even the Chaos War

• The Ultimate Nullifier, which is a part of Galactus, can destroy the totality of Eternity

• Not the first time Eternity was erased by the Nullifier.

Weaknesses

Martian Manhunter

Like many comic superheroes, Martian Manhunter is immensely powerful. However, he is not invincible, and does have one particularly noteworthy weakness that can be a serious problem for him. Fire. Martians are noted to be more vulnerable to flames than the average human is said to be, and the Manhunter is no exception. Fire can severely weaken him, and if severe enough, cause him to lose control over his body and likely the ability to use his various powers. It is worth noting that Manhunter does have some level of defense built up, not just any little fire is going to cause him to shut down entirely and lose his capabilities. But a big enough inferno will be able to do the job. Should Martian Manhunter find himself backed against a sufficiently dangerous blaze, he is in serious trouble. As such, he does need to be careful on the battlefield, and to ensure that fire does not get in the way of his combat.

Also don’t steal his cookies.

Silver Surfer

If Surfer is ever to lose the Power Cosmic, his wide array of abilities, his obscene power, and sometimes even his silvery coat will be lost, leaving him as mostly helpless. It’s also heavily implied that if Surfer’s environmental containment field were to ever be majorly ruptured or destroyed, he would die with it. This was only stated once though. Also bro is a jobber, like, it's really bad.

Also his NES game sucks shit, how do you fuck up a Silver Surfer SHMUP that’s such a perfect idea handed over on a silver platter and they shit the bed. He’s lucky the soundtrack had Tim Follin on it.

Verdict

Stats

Without a doubt, both J’onn and Norrin are insanely powerful heroes. Thanks to J’onn’s Martian physiology, he’s been shown to match top tier Justice League members such as Wonder Woman, Flash, and Superman. Through this, Martian Manhunter is easily capable of immeasurable levels of speed such as the times Superman flew faster than infinity, Wonder Woman throwing her lasso into the Speed Force, and Flash who can rush fast enough to run through time. 

This also means that J’onn’s strength is among the upper echelon of DC heralds, such as the battle between two Supermen threatening multiple universes and two Flashes racing against one another and nearly tearing apart DC’s infinite multiverse. Similar feats of being able to hold his own against characters like Superboy Prime, Despero, and Darkseid further prove that J’onn is definitely not one to be messed with, as all of these characters have contended with universal and multiversal threats! For instance, an aspect of Darkseid was capable of taking hits from Alan Scott powered by the multiversal Green.

Specifically, this allows Martian Manuhunter to match the typical herald scaling that Silver Surfer has, such as matching Thor or Hulk, who also possess universal+ to multiversal+ feats that would cancel out with DC’s herald tiers given that they can destroy universes and even threaten the whole of Marvel’s infinite cluster of universes. However, Surfer would soon after gain an amp during the Annihilation event which would boost his cosmic power even further. At this point, Surfer would be able to surpass entities like Thanos, who can tank attacks from Odin and the Cosmic Cube. What’s most impressive however, is that Surfer only did this with half of his power. Surfer has also fought Knull while he was weakened and dying (Surfer, not Knull), and this is only made more consistent by the time he fought the Griever at the End of All Things, who is the abstract representation of entropy of the multiverse. He didn’t just fight her, he managed to hold her off for over 16 minutes! Which is so absolutely insane that even The Griever herself commended him for it.

Manhunter is no doubt insane, but these are threats that can threaten large portions of the Marvel cosmology all at once, far above the portions of DCs cosmology that J’onn can scale to. The fact that Surfer can at least hold them off should put him comfortably above Manhunter in raw power and durability. 

As far as Surfer’s speed is concerned, Manhunter should no doubt at least match him before he got the Annihilation amp. Surfer has on numerous occasions, traveled through time via raw speed alone which would grant him immeasurable speed. Surfer also possessed scaling to the likes of Thor who has plenty of immeasurable feats. This would cancel out with characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and even a few of the Flash’s feats. However, Surfer would have logically gotten faster after he was given the amp by Galactus. Surfer’s speed on his own has already been described as “defying description in human terms'' but after the amp from Galactus, he has feats such as being able to fly from Overspace to the physical universe and most impressively, outsurfing the destruction of the Never Queen who is the sole totality of all possibilities in existence. She is one of the most powerful abstracts in all of Marvel, and most skyfathers and abstracts are limited as mere possibilities inside of her. Surfer was able to outrace her destruction which means he was outracing the possibility of his own death, as well as all possibilities in which he couldn’t escape.

And hilariously enough, Surfer would actually surpass this feat in the future when he would time travel backwards and fly faster than his past self outsurfing the Never Queen, so he pretty much is faster than himself at that point. That’s just a level of speed pretty much impossible for Manhunter to keep up with and unfortunately, J’onn would get blitzed when Surfer starts to take the fight more seriously.

Arsenal & Abilities

While Manhunter’s abilities are extremely potent and wildly powerful, he simply falls short compared to the overwhelming versatility and might on offer by the Power Cosmic and what it grants Surfer. Manhunter simply doesn’t have the capabilities to resist some of Surfer’s more dangerous options, such as his power stealing and absorption, which could allow him to absorb many of J’onn’s attacks such as his Martian Vision or potentially even steal his powers. Or Surfer’s existence erasure, which could simply erase J’onn from existence. Or Norrin’s fate manipulation, which he could use to simply change J’onn’s fate to be unable to win the battle, or even twist fate in such a way to assure his victory. Most notably, however, would be Surfer’s conceptual hax.

Norrin’s concept manipulation may seem limited at first, by the sheer virtue that the major instance of him using it - killed him. However, there’s more nuance to it than that. The main reason it killed Surfer at the time was a multitude of reasons. The first being that he had lent out multiple portions of his being to the Thing, Alicia, and Dawn, which slightly weakened the amount of Power Cosmic he had, and forced him to tap into his Life Force in order to perform the feat. The second being the pure scale of the feat he performed. That culture erasure wave wasn’t erasing a single individual from existence, it was erasing an entire culture, the history of an entire planet across thousands of planets across the infinite universe. Affecting the memories of those who knew of Zenn-La, altering stories (entire narratives themselves!) that mentioned Zenn-La, the very idea of Zenn-La itself was erased, no matter how deeply embedded it was. There is no trace of an entire planet’s universe-spanning culture. Within this fight, Surfer wouldn’t need to use anywhere near that much Power Cosmic to erase a single individual such as J’onn. The conceptual erasure of a single individual just pales in comparison to the scope of an entire planet’s culture across the universe. Realistically, Surfer should have little issue sending out a destruct code which erases J’onn from existence.

Surfer’s potent phasing also gives him a huge advantage in this battle, as his ability to phase into and out of pure consciousness, as well as out of existence itself, means he could potentially phase through Manhunter’s telepathy, rendering his greatest asset… functionally a moot point. Surfer’s ability to channel the Power Cosmic into his own consciousness to release a massive blast of pure consciousness back at J’onn could potentially even overpower and destroy J’onn’s own consciousness, killing him and eradicating him into nothingness.

Surfer’s insane regeneration ensures that nearly any kind of damage that Manhunter could inflict upon him, he could bounce back from, and Surfer has more than enough destructive power to overcome J’onn’s regeneration, and even if it weren’t enough, he has the haxx to bypass it as well.

Surfer also has a variety of other random abilities that could assist as well. His board could potentially absorb J’onn’s soul. His obscene cosmic awareness means J’onn wouldn’t be able to evade his eye through his own invisibility or intangibility. The Power Cosmic’s ability to sense opponents abilities and weaknesses ensures he’ll know what J’onn is capable of, what he’s weak to, and the best course of actions to take against him. He has time manipulation and access to time travel, while J’onn doesn’t. He could use the Power Cosmic to rip out Manhunter’s various organs, such as… his brain. He can easily create and manipulate fire. He could potentially seal Manhunter within pure Power Cosmic or within his board. Use his vibration manipulation to anchor J’onn and his consciousness in place.

J’onn can surely resist Surfer’s own powers of any mind or mental powers, his matter manipulation, biology manipulation, and elemental manipulation (mainly that of fire), Manhunter definitely can last for a fair amount of time against the Silver Surfer, but he can’t last forever against his large variety of powers at his disposal.

While a fringe argument, Doctor Doom revoking the Human Torch of his own immunity/resistance to his own flames while in possession of the Power Cosmic, could potentially allow an argument for Surfer being able to affect some of Manhunter’s own resistances, which Power Cosmic’s Cosmic Awareness could make him aware of.

Tertiary Factors

Surfer’s staggeringly massive age of 13.7 Billion years does give him a potentially massive gap in experience. While it could definitely be argued how much of this time could be argued to connect to skill or anything of the sort, and that Manhunter’s experience could still match it, there is simply just a massive difference in how long these two characters have been alive for in their respective universes, with Surfer having experienced the entire current lifetime of his universe twice over, plus lord knows how long in servitude of Galactus.

Summary

"Our greatest power comes from your belief in us, as your allies and friends. We cherish your trust, and hope you will always find us worthy of it. That trust will allow us to preserve liberty for all people, and bring justice to those who would deny it. My partners symbolize the salvation my planet never received. Please accept us as part of your world, not apart from you."

Advantages:

• Can match Pre-Annihilation Surfer in stats

• Is a more skilled telepath than Surfer all things considered…

• Is a better tactician than Surfer

• Potentially a better fighter

• Amazing in the DCAU

• Has a cat named Double Stuff

Disadvantages:

• Inferior to Post-Annihilation Surfer in stats

• … but Surfer more than likely resists J’onn’s telepathy nonetheless

• His “weakness” to fire could be exploited by Norrin’s Cosmic Awareness

• Surfer can completely destroy his physical body, mind, and soul

• Has a crippling choco addiction

• Constant jobber in his verse

• Bueno Excellente

Silver Surfer

"I am not a god. I have never created life... but I have lived. That is enough. So I will fight to preserve that same opportunity -- to love, to dream, to soar among the stars -- for all those yet to come. Many lives will be lost in the battle ahead -- but their efforts will ensure that some remain to remember their deeds. And, like the gods, they will truly live forever… even after they are gone."

Advantages:

• Takes stat trinity Post-Annihilation

• Can likely match/resist J’onn’s mental powers, and possibly even phase through them

• Possesses superior regeneration

• More varied abilities granted by the Power Cosmic 

• J’onn has no resistances to Surfer’s power absorption, existence erasure, fate manipulation, vibrational hax, and concept manipulation

• Cosmic Awareness is helpful in determining J’onn’s weaknesses and strategies

• Is more experienced

• Neighbours with Hank Hill

• Tim Follin’s Musical Wizardry

Disadvantages:

• Manhunter is a more versatile telepath

• More than likely is an inferior fighter

• The Angry Video Game Nerd

• Constant jobber in his verse 

All in all Power Cosmic is fucking stupid.

Final Tally

Team Martian Manhunter (0) - No chocos…

Team Silver Surfer (17) - Akhil, Bang, Behemoth, Chris, Clockboxxer, greymerlion2, Hippo, ishi_yuki, Kirbonic Pikmin, ManofPower, Noah, Pasbros, Rina, Sneed, Soma, TManTheDefender, TMK