Synopsis
Silver Surfer Rebirth: Legacy #5 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Mephisto hatched 1 of his schemes against Silver Surfer which caused the hero to get lost in time. He ended up at the end of time with his old boss Galactus and his old love Nova (Frankie Raye), Big G's Herald. But G sent him back into the timestream again.
Now he finds himself in a dark void outside time and space. But he breaks out on his cosmic surfboard and heads for the source of his current problem Mephisto. Big Red intended that he be lost forever in time, but he's just as happy to have him here in his own realm. SS attacks but the demon reminds him that he has the Time Gem. And he uses it to revert the Skyrider Of The Spaceways to his vulnerable Norrin Radd form to be overwhelmed by a horde of minions. But Norrin changes himself back to the Surfer and blasts them away. Surfer attacks again and gets a blow in with his board. Then they exchange power blasts. But Mephisto causes his realm itself to rise up to crush his opponent. Then he switches from his humanoid form to his larger, more demonic 1 (1st seen in Daredevil #279) which seems to have SS at his mercy because his soul is tainted (by all the planets he led Galactus to consume when he was his Herald).
But then Legacy (Genis-Vell) and Eve Warlock drop in. Genis complains that Mephisto used him to get the Time Gem (#1) and now he's here to set things right. He attacks the demon with the power he inherited from his father Captain Marvel, while Eve rescues Surfer. (SS doesn't know who she is because he wasn't there with Legacy in the Warlock: Rebirth mini-series where she was created by the High Evolutionary. She met up with Legacy again last issue.) Mephisto is able to overcome Legacy because Genis too has a tainted soul (not least because he was tempted into taking the Gem in order to go back in time to see his father in #1).
Eve Warlock then attacks him. He dismisses her as a soulless artificial being. But she contends that she *does* have a soul, and because she is only recently born it is pure. And Mephisto can't stand the light of such a soul and reverts back to his humanoid form. But it is a shrivelled version of it. Surfer easily removes the Time Gem from the demon's brow. The 3 heroes discuss who should take on the burden of using it to banish him. They agree that Eve as the purest will do it. Meanwhile Mephisto has shrunk to a snake. She takes the Gem and does the deed and they both vanish, leaving the Gem behind. The remaining 2 heroes leave on Surfer's board to return the Gem to where it belongs.
The issue ends with a triple epilogue.
In the beginning we see the serpent and a woman's hand reaching for an apple. And the serpent says "You will not surely die".
In the present on Monster Isle Legacy returns the Time Gem to its guardian Gamora. She understands his temptation and forgives him. Adam Warlock apologises to Silver Surfer for himself, Gamora and Pip The Troll attacking him in #2 (because Mephisto had been disguised as SS when they stole the Gem in #1). Adam and Surfer agree that they cannot sense Eve Warlock anywhere in the universe. Surfer swears to find her some day. Then he and Legacy leave Earth.
At the end of time we see Eve Warlock meeting Nova.