Marvel vs DC · Cosmic
The Flash vs Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer rides faster than light. The Flash runs on a force that powers all motion.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | Tier | Cosmic |
| The Speed Force: he thinks and moves faster than light | Strength | The Power Cosmic: near-limitless energy, speed and durability |
| Burns energy fast and needs to eat constantly | Weakness | Gentle by nature and slow to anger |
| 2–1 | Record on Versus | 1–3 |
The Arena
Barry Allen was running through space on a mission when he noticed a streak of silver keeping pace with him, then overtaking him. He sped up. The silver streak sped up too. Barry grinned and pulled up beside it, and the Silver Surfer looked at the red-suited man running on nothing, impressed.
“You are fast,” said the Surfer. Barry laughed. “You too. Wanna race?” The Surfer considered. “I do not race. I travel.” Barry pointed at a galaxy far in the distance. “Travel to that, then. First one there wins.” The Surfer almost smiled. Something in him remembered being young, on a distant world, before Galactus.
He crouched on his board. Barry dropped into a sprinter’s stance on a piece of cosmic dust.
Round One
They shot off at the same instant. The Surfer rode a stream of cosmic energy faster than light, crossing star systems in seconds. Barry ran on the Speed Force, his feet striking nothing, his body vibrating so fast that space bent around him. They passed planets, nebulae, black holes, neck and neck.
The Surfer pulled ahead at first. He had crossed galaxies for Galactus for centuries. Barry fell behind, then grinned and tapped deeper into the Speed Force. Lightning crackled around him, and he caught up, then drew level again.
Then a rogue comet crossed their path, and the Surfer swerved and Barry went straight through it, phasing his molecules, and pulled ahead.
The Turn
The Surfer did not like losing. He fired a blast of the Power Cosmic past Barry, not to hit him, but to block his path with a wall of energy. Barry vibrated through it. The Surfer created a field of asteroids in front of him. Barry ran across them like stepping stones.
The race became a chase, then a fight, the Surfer hurling cosmic energy, Barry dodging and phasing and running faster. Barry landed a few blows too: a thousand light punches in a second, each one carrying the momentum of his speed. The Surfer was knocked off his board twice.
The galaxy they were racing toward grew larger. The Surfer was ahead again, by a hair.
The Finish
Barry reached into the Speed Force deeper than he ever had, the place where all motion in the universe comes from, and for a moment he was not running through space. He was running through the idea of distance itself. The Surfer felt a gust of wind, and then Barry was already standing on the edge of the galaxy, waiting for him, panting, grinning.
The Surfer arrived a fraction of a second later and stepped off his board, astonished. “How?” he asked. Barry shrugged. “The Speed Force doesn’t just make you fast. It makes everything move. Even you, technically.” The Surfer was silent for a long time.
“I have not raced anyone since I was young,” he said finally. Barry sat down on an asteroid. “Feels good, right?” The Surfer sat beside him. It did. It felt better than anything had in centuries. They raced back, just for fun. The Surfer won that one, and Barry insisted on a rematch.
The verdict
The Flash wins
The Silver Surfer travels faster than light with the Power Cosmic, but the Flash draws on the Speed Force, the source of all motion, and at his limit he can outrun distance itself.
- The Speed ForceIt powers all motion in the universe.
- PhasingBarry vibrates through the Surfer’s blasts and walls.
- Speed ceilingThe Flash’s top speed exceeds the Surfer’s.
How the rematch could go differently: In a straight fight rather than a race, the Surfer’s Power Cosmic and matter manipulation would make him the favourite.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between The Flash and Silver Surfer?
The Flash wins. The Silver Surfer travels faster than light with the Power Cosmic, but the Flash draws on the Speed Force, the source of all motion, and at his limit he can outrun distance itself.