SILVERBACK SURFER
Earth-95019

Real Name: Unrevealed (possibly Norrin Radd - see comments)

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Reality-95019) extraterrestrial (unidentified race - possibly Zenn-Lavian? - see comments) simian mutate

Occupation: Space traveler

Group Membership: Prime Eight (Black Bolt, Chuck, Cleook, Dr. Doom, Nick Furry 2099, Hulk/Bananner, Iron Mandrill/Tony Stark) 

Affiliations: The Prime Eight

Enemies: Marvel Zombies of Earth-21050 (Captain Rectitude, Iron Man, Wasp, others)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Shiny Monkey," "the Simian Sentinel of the Spaceways," "Surfer"

Base of Operations: Mobile through outer space

First Appearance: Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#1 (September, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: The Silverback Surfer possesses vast cosmic power, allowing him to survive unaided in the vacuum of space and project cosmic energy for a variety of effects including propulsion and the powering of dimensional portals. He can also sense temporal energy in his general vicinity such as particles from the future on another person or remaining dimensional particles in the air from a closed portal to another reality.

The Silverback Surfer can also fly through the air using his Banana Board, a banana-shaped silver surfboard.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'5")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 527 lbs.)
Eyes: White (no visible irises)
Hair: None

History:
(Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Silverback Surfer sought not to dominate any ape or monkey but rather, wished only to ride his cosmic Banana Board across the universe in peace. During his travels, the Silverback Surfer became familiar with the scent of days yet to be, allowing him to somewhat sense the temporal energy of things yet to occur. One day while flying through space, the Silverback Surfer experienced a vision of death in the form of human zombies on Earth-95019 and flew to Earth to investigate.

(Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#1) - Arriving on Earth as the Iron Mandrill flew out to stop a rampaging Hulk, the Silverback Surfer helped calm the Hulk, reminding the Hulk that Iron Mandrill had once fought by his side during the Gorilla Secret Wars. When the Surfer explained the vision he had received that had drawn him to Earth, both Iron Mandrill and the Hulk admitted they had the same dream and as they left to investigate, they were confronted by the female Nick Furry from Earth-95019's future year of 2099. Thinking she was claiming to be the present day, male Nick Furry, Iron Mandrill refused to believe Furry and Hulk wondered if he should smash her but the Silverback Surfer sensed that Furry was telling the truth about being from the future.

(Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#2) - The Silverback Surfer accompanied Iron Mandrill, Hulk and Nick Furry 2099 to an undisclosed location, where she assembled the Prime Eight primates who would theoretically decide the fate of the world from that particular temporal divergent point. After Furry 2099 introduced the eighth member of the Prime Eight, Dr. Doom, she explained how zombies bite and infect others and the shocked Silverback Surfer was appalled at the never-ending circle of death spread by zombies. Furry then explained that Doom had to protected at all costs, as the worst possible divergence would occur if Doom became a zombie himself, at which point the Silverback Surfer exclaimed that even the vast reaches of space would not be if safe if Dr. Doom became a zombie. Doom then suggested that the best way to ensure his survival would be to add the Silverback Surfer's vast cosmic power to his own and he offered up a machine he had designed for just such a purpose. The Silverback Surfer looked at Doom untrustingly as the Iron Mandrill asked why Doom had such a device and Doom replied that it seemed like a good idea at the time. When the sorceress Cleook sensed a tear in the fabric reality and announced that the zombies had arrived on Earth-95019, Silverback Surfer and the rest of the Prime Eight ventured out to confront Earth-21050's Marvel Zombies. A battle quickly ensued and during the fight, Silverback Surfer rescued Black Bolt by literally flying through a zombie Inhuman.

(Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#3) - After the telepathic Chuck tricked the Marvel Zombies into thinking they were devouring Dr. Doom, the Prime Eight discussed options on how to send the zombies back to their own reality and Silverback Surfer revealed that there was still sub-atomic remnants of the portal that brought them to Earth-95019. He then suggested using his cosmic powers to coalesce but noted that they would need raw force to successfully bridge the dimensional void. Doom suggested the Surfer siphon off the Hulk's gamma energy to power up but Doom's voice alerted the zombies to the fact that they were not truly eating Dr. Doom. As the zombies again attacked, the Silverback Surfer siphoned off the Hulk's gamma energy and successfully reopened the portal to Earth-21050, creating a vortex that forced the Marvel Zombies back to their own reality. Following the fight, a weakened Iron Mandrill agreed to let Doom walk away this once and when Doom scoffed at the idea that Iron Mandrill could even stop him in his current state, the Silverback Surfer noted that Iron Mandrill wasn't the only one Doom would have to contend with, warning that he could give Doom a personal demonstration of his full cosmic power.

As Doom departed, Nick Furry 2099 asked who had been bitten and the Prime Eight realized that she had come from the future to ensure the zombie infection occurred so that her future would remain. Silverback Surfer and the others soon realized that Furry herself had been bitten and Iron Mandrill quickly destroyed her as the infection began to take hold. While Dr. Bananner noted that another of the Prime Eight had to have been bitten for Furry's future to even exist and it had to still occur if she was alive to even travel to the past but Iron Mandrill quickly brushed off the idea as Furry simply being wrong before flying off to "celebrate." Silverback Surfer and the rest of the Prime Eight simply watched in confusion as Iron Mandrill flew off, unaware that he had been bitten by the zombie Wasp.

Comments: Created by Karl Kesel, Todd Nauck and Jaime Mendoza.

    While we know that this reality's Silverback Surfer travels the spaceways, we have no confirmation that he originated in space like Reality-616's Zenn-Lavian Silver Surfer. It's very likely this character did originate from Reality-95019's equivalent to Zenn-La but we simply don't have confirmation either way.

    The Silverback Surfer's real name was never revealed but, given that Iron Mandrill's real name is Tony Stark, it's very possible that the Silverback Surfer's real name is Norrin Radd, much like his Reality-616 counterpart.

    Interestingly enough, Earth-95019 has often been mentioned as a divergent Earth from Earth-8101, in which the main Marvel Apes stories occur, diverging at the point when the Marvel Zombies invaded. However, the Earth-8101 counterpart to the Silverback Surfer is the Silver Simian and that counterpart appears to be a different type of simian than the Earth-95019's silverback gorilla. With that in mind, it's possible Earth-95019 might actually be an alternate reality in which a different type of simian received the Power Cosmic instead of a silverback gorilla.

    BIG thanks to Mike Fichera for helping approximate the height and weight of a silver-covered gorilla with cosmic powers!

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-95019's Silverback Surfer should be distinguished from:

• Silver Simian of Reality-8101 - this character's Reality-8101 counterpart--Marvel Apes I#1
• Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) - this character's Reality-616 counterpart--Fantastic Four I#48
  
• Silverback of Earth-691 - agent of Ubiquitor--Galactic Guardians I#1
• or any other "Silverback" or "Surfer" characters
  

Banana Board

Appearances:
Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#1 (September, 2009) - Karl Kesel (writer), Todd Nauck (pencils), Jaime Mendoza (inks), Thomas Brennan (editor)
Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#2 (October, 2009) - Karl Kesel (writer), Todd Nauck (pencils), Jaime Mendoza (inks), Thomas Brennan (editor)
Marvel Apes: Prime Eight#3 (October, 2009) - Karl Kesel (writer), Todd Nauck (pencils), Jaime Mendoza (inks), Thomas Brennan (editor)

First posted: 03/03/2023
Last updated: 03/03/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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