The Silver Surfer is easily Galactus’ most well-known Herald, though that shouldn’t suggest he’s the most powerful. Norrin Radd was the first Herald of Galactus readers were ever introduced to, and even after he left Galactus’ side, Silver Surfer went on to become a major cosmic powerhouse in his own right. However, when considering Galactus’ strongest Herald of all time, Silver Surfer doesn’t even come close.
In the four-part limited series Hunger by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Leonard Kirk, Galactus travels through a rift in time and space from Earth-616 to Earth-1610 after the Avengers tore a hole in reality during the events of Age of Ultron. Upon arriving in this new universe, Galactus assesses his surroundings, immediately looking for a planet to consume as well as a new Herald to help him in that process. And then, mere moments later, Galactus finds the perfect Herald: his own variant, Gah Lak Tus.
The Gah Lak Tus swarm is a hive-mind collective consisting of countless android drones that were originally created by the Kree Empire eons ago. Gah Lak Tus isn’t a product of a Universal Renewal Cycle like Galactus, nor is it an agent of universal balance. The swarm is a crime against nature that shouldn’t exist – though the original Galactus is happy that it does. When Gah Lak Tus attempts to consume Galactus, Earth-616’s Devourer of Worlds simply merges with it, placing the swarm under his direct command, and turning Gah Lak Tus into his Herald.
Gah Lak Tus is a Far More Powerful Herald of Galactus than Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer Proves He’s Far Weaker than Gah Lak Tus in Hunger #3
While it may seem obvious that a swarm of planet-eating drones is stronger than a single entity – even one as powerful as Silver Surfer – Gah Lak Tus’ superiority over Norrin Radd goes a bit further than that. Silver Surfer isn’t just weaker than the entirety of Gah Lak Tus, he’s weaker than a single drone among the countless that make up the swarm.
In Hunger #3, Silver Surfer and the cosmically powerful Rick Jones team-up to fight just a handful of Gah Lak Tus drones that follow the two of them through a portal back to Earth after they retreated from Galactus. No matter what attack Jones and Radd threw at these Gah Lak Tus drones, they couldn’t even make a single dent, meaning Gah Lak Tus as a whole is almost infinitely stronger than Silver Surfer – especially once imbued with the Power Cosmic upon becoming Galactus’ Herald.
Gah Lak Tus isn’t Just a Stronger Herald than Silver Surfer, It’s All-Around Better
There are many factors Galactus looks for in an ideal Herald, and in every regard, Gah Lak Tus is far better than Silver Surfer. Gah Lak Tus is directly linked to Galactus’ mind when they merge, making the swarm a literal extension of the Devourer of Worlds. That means Gah Lak Tus can never turn on Galactus the way Silver Surfer did in Earth-616. Plus, since they’re connected, Galactus can actually use Gah Lak Tus to consume worlds as opposed to simply finding them, as all the energy Gah Lak Tus collects is fed directly to Galactus himself remotely.
Gah Lak Tus may be the lesser ‘Galactus’ between itself and its Earth-616 counterpart, but it’s still strong enough to claim its place as Galactus’ most powerful (and useful) Herald of all time. So powerful, in fact, that the Ultimate Universe’s Galactus variant makes even the Silver Surfer himself look weak by comparison.
