Marvel’s hit revival of X-Men ’97 has fans clamoring for other classic cartoon revivals that should come next. The easy answer is Spider-Man: The Animated Series, but another long-lost show might deserve a second chance even more and that’s 1998’s Silver Surfer.
Silver Surfer aired on Fox Kids for just 13 episodes before disappearing that summer. The series came from longtime TV writer Larry Brody, who had worked on several dramas and even a few episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The short run didn’t stop the show from trying something ambitious: a mix of deep-space morality, classic Marvel lore, and early digital animation that still looks bold today.
Silver Surfer fights Thanos part 1 | Silver Surfer Animated Series Easter egg (1998)
The first few episodes retold the hero’s origin. Norrin Radd, a man from the peaceful planet Zenn-La, became Galactus’s herald to save his world from destruction. When he learned what his master planned for Earth, he turned against him. The Fantastic Four were missing from the story, likely due to rights issues, which made the whole setup feel hollow. But for kids in 1998, it was still an introduction to one of Marvel’s strangest and most powerful heroes.
Once the series left Earth, it hit its stride. The Silver Surfer wandered the galaxy searching for Zenn-La, visiting new worlds and getting caught in battles that echoed Westerns and lone-ronin tales. Along the way, he met familiar names like Drax, Adam Warlock, Beta Ray Bill, and the Watcher, and faced off against cosmic heavyweights such as Thanos and Ego. Seeing these characters in animation years before the MCU made them famous is part of the fun now. They look and act completely different from the versions moviegoers know.
The voice acting gave the show unexpected weight. Canadian actor Paul Essiembre made the Surfer calm but thoughtful, never robotic. He sounded like a man carrying guilt and hope in equal measure, which helped the quiet moments land just as hard as the action.
Norrin Radd becomes the Silver Surfer part 2 | Silver Surfer Easter egg (1998)
Silver Surfer also stood out for how it looked. It blended hand-drawn animation with early 3D modeling, keeping the Surfer in 2D while rendering Galactus and his machines in 3D. The mix was unusual for its time and still gives the series a unique texture. It’s rough in places, but the ambition shows in every frame.
Most of all, the show paid direct tribute to artist Jack Kirby. The characters followed Kirby’s bold, curved lines closely, and the cosmic backgrounds popped with his signature “Kirby Krackle.” The result looked like pure comic-book energy brought to life. Every glowing planet and star field screamed Kirby’s imagination, even when the story pacing didn’t quite match it.
Silver Surfer: The Animated Series (1998) - Intro | 4K | Remastered
A modern take could finally give this idea the scale it deserves. Projects like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and What If? have shown that Marvel can use stylized animation to capture the spirit of the comics without losing modern polish. A new Silver Surfer could easily build on that, either on its own or as part of Marvel’s growing cosmic corner.
It would also give longtime fans what they missed when The Fantastic Four: First Steps replaced Norrin Radd with Shalla-Bal as the Surfer. There’s still room for the classic version to return. Whether that happens in a movie or on streaming, the potential is there for a rebirth of one of Marvel’s most ambitious animated experiments. More than twenty years later, Silver Surfer still feels like a show that never got its full orbit.
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