History Recap / DeathBattleS10E08MartianManhunterVSSilverSurfer

After an advertisement for Series/OnePiece2023, the hosts journey from our solar system to the faraway planet of Zenn-La, home to Norrin Radd. Born into a veritable utopia, Radd was destined to live as a genius scientist until the arrival of the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus. Rather than see his home world destroyed, Norrin made a deal with Galactus: to become his Herald and seek out other, uninhabited planets for him to consume. Galactus agreed and bestowed upon him the almighty Power Cosmic, transforming Norrin into the Silver Surfer. The Power Cosmic grants the Surfer all of the power of his god-like master, albeit on a lesser scale. Such powers include nigh-unlimited energy, matter manipulation, phasing, SuperStrength, SuperSpeed and invulnerability. These powers made the Silver Surfer adept at travelling the cosmos and finding uninhabited worlds for Galactus to consume.

After an advertisement for Series/OnePiece, the hosts journey from our solar system to the faraway planet of Zenn-La, home to Norrin Radd. Born into a veritable utopia, Radd was destined to live as a genius scientist until the arrival of the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus. Rather than see his home world destroyed, Norrin made a deal with Galactus: to become his Herald and seek out other, uninhabited planets for him to consume. Galactus agreed and bestowed upon him the almighty Power Cosmic, transforming Norrin into the Silver Surfer. The Power Cosmic grants the Surfer all of the power of his god-like master, albeit on a lesser scale. Such powers include nigh-unlimited energy, matter manipulation, phasing, SuperStrength, SuperSpeed and invulnerability. These powers made the Silver Surfer adept at travelling the cosmos and finding uninhabited worlds for Galactus to consume.

'''Boomstick:''' ComicBook/TheSilverSurfer, Marvel's Sentinel of the Spaceways.\\

Norrin decides to go on the offensive, phasing through his imprisonment and giving chase to the now fleeing Martian. The two use their powers to soar through the stars, phasing through asteroids and planetoids alike while the Surfer tries to shoot the Justice League founder down with his energy beams. To his shock, he discovers that J'onn has created duplicates of himself that all try to shut down his mind. Norrin's attempts to repel them are in vain, but he resists long enough to use his extrasensory abilities to find the real Martian Manhunter, grabbing him by the neck.

J'onn retaliates by blasting the Surfer with his eye beams, knocking him off of his board. He then proceeds to grab it and snap in half while transforming into a gargantuan space dragon. Silver Surfer recovers from his surprise in time to summon a new board and dodge a moon-destroying rake of the now monstrous Martian's claws. Once again, the roles of the chase are switched as J'onn bites and claws at Norrin, before finally connecting with a tail swipe. But the Surfer is quick to recover, flying towards his foe and freezing his dragon form forcing J'onn to return to normal. The Surfer capitalizes on the opportunity to snag his opponent's foot and drag him closer to a nearby star. The Manhunter tries to stop him with his eye beams, but Norrin is prepared this time, absorbing the energy and shaping it into an orb. He then hurls his opponent before immediately following up with the energy ball to force J'onn into the star.

The Martian Manhunter growls in pain from the heat and flames but manages to compose himself just as the Surfer also steps into the star while praising J'onn's willpower. The two grapple in the center of the star, before Norrin breaks the hold by intensifying the Martian's pain. As J'onn reels back, the Surfer fires a massive energy beam at his vulnerable opponent who reverts to his true Martian form. He attempts to regain control of the situation by probing his opponent's mind one more time, but finally realizes that, like him, the Surfer does not know what is driving them to fight. Accepting his imminent demise, J'onn can only pray that Norrin will be able to live with the aftermath. Having heard his opponent's concession, the Surfer sheds a single tear and intensifies his attack, creating a supernova that begins to engulf the surrounding planets. The Manhunter's body scorches and melts and he calls out to his lost love once more before finally the star erupts. Alone in the void that follows is the victorious Silver Surfer, kneeling on his board out of respect and grief for his fallen fellow alien.

J'onn retaliates by blasting the Surfer with his eye beams, knocking him off of his board. He then proceeds to grab it and snap in half, while transforming into a gargantuan space dragon.

After an advertisement from Series/OnePiece, the hosts journey from our solar system to the faraway planet of Zenn-La, home to Norrin Radd. Born into a veritable utopia, Radd was destined to live as a genius scientist until the arrival of the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus. Rather than see his home world destroyed, Norrin made a deal with Galactus: to become his Herald and seek out other, uninhabited planets for him to consume. Galactus agreed and bestowed upon him the almighty Power Cosmic, transforming Norrin into the Silver Surfer. The Power Cosmic grants the Surfer all of the power of his god-like master, albeit on a lesser scale. Such powers include nigh-unlimited energy, matter manipulation, phasing, SuperStrength, SuperSpeed and invulnerability. These powers made the Silver Surfer adept at travelling the cosmos and finding uninhabited worlds for Galactus to consume.

For nearly a century, all was well until Norrin made a miscalculation and accidentally gave his master a world inhabited with life. Consumed by guilt, the Surfer allowed Galactus to suppress his emotions and memories in order to ease the pain of his mistake, giving him an indifference to the planets he would offer until he reached Earth. With some help from the Fantastic Four and Alicia Masters, Norrin's true personality reemerged and he rebelled against his master, saving the planet. Despite that, Galactus chose to leave the Surfer with all of his powers intact, out of respect for his first Herald. Afterwards, Norrin ensured that he would be more resilient to mental threats, even those on the scale of Psycho-Man and a Mind Stone-empowered Supreme Intelligence. Now free to roam the universe, the Surfer spent his days saving lives across the cosmos and contemplating existence, a freedom afforded to him by the Power Cosmic. The Surfer has used the Power Cosmic to achieve all sorts of improbable feats, including rearranging molecules as he pleases, forcing anyone to feel pain, manipulating the elements and even creating stars bright enough to light an entire universe. His iconic silver surfboard acts as an extension of himself, able to change into weapons or energy, reform if it is broken and of course, fly across space at immense velocities. On it, Norrin is able to outpace Thor, time travel through speed alone and even outrace a literal wave of universal destruction.



''[This recap is a work in progress]''

Yet, the Martian Manhunter is not invincible. Martians possess a very real weakness to fire, courtesy of the Guardians of the Universe, that can cause them to lose the otherwise perfect control they have over their bodies and even powerful mental suggestions of fire can induce a similar effect. Still, J'onn has fought plenty of fire-based foes in his lifetime and has developed a significant resistance, even if the vulnerability is always present. It is this weakness that led to the Martians' near extinction when J'onn's evil brother, Ma'alefa'ak, weaponized it into a curse that spread between the minds of psychically linked Martians and set them ablaze with a mental flame.

->'''Boomstick:''' On a planet packed with other incredible heroes, J'onn really has set himself apart. He's risen through the ashes, and emerged the heart and soul of the Justice League.

Yet, the Martian Manhunter is not invincible. Martians possess a very real weakness to fire, courtesy of the Guardians of the Universe, that can cause them to lose the otherwise perfect control they have over their bodies and even powerful mental suggestions of fire can induce a similar effect. Still, J'onn has fought plenty of fire-based foes in his lifetime and has developed a significant resistance, even if the vulnerability is always present.

All of this incredible power unfortunately gave Doctor Erdel a heart attack, and in the aftermath, J'onn disguised himself as a human detective named "John Jones", solving cases on Earth from the shadows for many years. Though, he eventually publicly revealed his alien identity by helping found the Justice League of America and proved that he could hold his own many times over. J'onn has helped pull the Earth around and his skill and power makes him so fearsome, Superman considers him the being he is most afraid of having to fight.

As the Surfer lies despondent at his victory - still unsure what drove him and the Manhunter to battle, Boomstick expresses horror at how the hosts forced such an encounter to occur given the strong moral character of both combatants, only for Wiz to try and bring things back into focus. Both the Martian Manhunter and Silver Surfer possessed similar enough strength and speed along with many shared abilities such as precise molecular control and phasing, but the Herald of Galactus had several edges over the Justice League founder. While J'onn could employ his telepathy to mess with his opponent's mind, the Surfer has shown resistance against top-tier telepaths in the Marvel universe before, making mental attacks a moot point. Both have absurd healing factors meaning their battle would take a while to conclude, but the Power Cosmic meant that only Silver Surfer had the means necessary to destroy every single trace of the Manhunter's being. Outside of Galactus himself, trying to remove the Power Cosmic from the Surfer only serves to fail as the Power replenishes him near immediately; Martian Manhunter attempting to steal it from him would still leave enough for Norrin to replenish his supply, continue and ultimately end the fight considering that the Power Cosmic is quite literally capable of anything the user wants. Lastly, while both heroes have tremendous respect for life and would never unleash their full repertoire unless provoked - much less actually kill, Death Battle's removal of such preconceived notions means that when push comes to shove, the Silver Surfer's near-infinite might meant that he had enough power needed to vanquish his incredibly talented yet ultimately outclassed foe.

In this trip to the outer reaches of the cosmos, Wiz and Boomstick return to the rivalry between comic book juggernauts in order to examine two extraterrestrial heroes whose travels throughout the galaxy have imbued them with such an immense respect for all life that both are ready to lay their lives down to protect it at all costs. J'onn J'ozz and Norrin Radd have been heralded as being two of the strongest individuals to wander their respective worlds, and now, Death Battle seeks to test how strong they really are. While neither man would prefer to take a life if it can be helped, the hosts prepare to analyze the might shown from the survivors of Mars and Zenn-La to see whether the founder of the Justice League or the first herald of Galactus will have what it takes to survive a [[TitleDrop death battle.]]

'''Wiz:''' The depths of space hold secrets beyond out comprehension, but these sage superheroes have seen more of it than any of us could ever hope to.

* AndIMustScream: By the end of the fight, both combatants realize that something is compelling them to try and kill each other even though neither of them want to, with both admitting that they have no idea why they’re even fighting in the first place. Silver Surfer’s [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horror over his]] [[PyrrhicVictory “victory”]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone speaks volumes]].

As the Surfer lies despondent at his victory - still unsure what drove him and the Manhunter to battle, Boomstick expresses horror at how the hosts forced such an encounter to occur given the strong moral character of both combatants, only for Wiz to try and bring things back into focus. Both the Martian Manhunter and Silver Surfer possessed similar enough strength and speed along with many shared abilities such as precise molecular control and phasing, but the Herald of Galactus had several edges over the Justice League founder. While J'onn could employ his telepathy to mess with his opponent's mind, the Surfer has shown resistance against top-tier telepaths in the Marvel universe before, making mental attacks a moot point. Both have absurd healing factors meaning their battle would take a while to conclude, but the Power Cosmic meant that only Silver Surfer had the means necessary to destroy every single trace of the Manhunter's being. Outside of Galactus himself, trying to remove the Power Cosmic from the Surfer only serves to fail as the Power replenishes him near immediately; Martian Manhunter attempting to steal it from him would still leave enough for Norrin to replenish his supply and continue the fight, enough for him to end the fight considering that the Power Cosmic is quite literally capable of anything the user wants. Lastly, while both heroes have tremendous respect for life and would never unleash their full repertoire unless provoked - much less actually kill, Death Battle's removal of such preconceived notions means that when push comes to shove, the Silver Surfer's near-infinite might meant that he had enough power needed to vanquish his incredibly talented yet ultimately outclassed foe.