I have felt it, Traveler. This new power of mine... I can... feel the universe pulling me toward a purpose of its own design. I know... too many things. Soon I will outgrow this form... and I grow... hungry. So do what you must. But as one who has gazed into it and yet lived... I know but one thing about the nature of universal balance. You cannot defeat the dark... with darkness. 
Appearing in "Black: Four of Five"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Ego the Living Planet (Egros) (Past)
- Uatu the Watcher (Past)
- Galactus / Galan (Past; psychic projection)
Antagonists:
- Symbiote Hive (Past; shadow only)
- Knull (Earth-616)
- Unnamed symbiote-dragon (First appearance) (Past; shadow only)
Other Characters:
- Shalla-Bal (Only in recap)
- Council of Watchers (Mentioned)
- Norrin Radd (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- Norrin Radd (Mentioned)
- Norrin's wife (Mentioned)
- Norrin's children (Mentioned)
- The Fallen One (Norrin Radd) (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- King Thanos (Mentioned)
- Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) (Mentioned)
- Galactus (Mentioned) (Deceased)
- Death (Mentioned)
- Black Winter (Vision or hallucination) (Name revealed)
- Sentience of the Universe (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Zenn-Lavians (Main story and recap)
- Genius Loci (Past)
- Alien Gods (Past; vision and shadow only)
- Watchers (Past)
- Cosmic Beings / Taa-ans (Past; psychic projection)
- Snakes (Vision or hallucination)
- Eagles (Vision or hallucination)
- Dolphins (Vision or hallucination)
- Giant Squids (Vision or hallucination)
- Wolves (Vision or hallucination)
- Deer (Vision or hallucination)
- Symbiotes (Past; shadow only)
Locations:
- Prime Marvel Universe (Main story and recap) (Mentioned as Earth-616 of the Sixth Infinty and Seventh Cosmos)
- Timestream
- Black Galaxy (Past)
- Apollo System (First appearance) (Past)
- Helios-Ra (First appearance) (Past)
- Apollo System (First appearance) (Past)
- Andromeda Galaxy
- Milky Way (Only in recap)
- Deneb System (Only in recap)
- Zenn-La (Only in recap)
- Deneb System (Only in recap)
- Archeopia, Archeonos System (Referenced)
- Black Galaxy (Past)
- Astral Plane
- Timestream
- Unidentified reality (Mentioned) (Norrin dies alone)
- Zenn-La, Deneb System, Milky Way (Mentioned)
- Unidentified reality (Mentioned) (Norrin grows old)
- Millions of years from now (Mentioned)
- Unidentified reality (Mentioned) (Norrin kills the infant Galactus)
Items:
- Lifebringer One (Past)
- Power Cosmic
- Mjolnir (Mentioned)
- Knull's Symbiote (Earth-616)
Vehicles:
Events:
- Big Bang (Referenced)
- Thanos Wins (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "Black: Four of Five"
Grabbing the Lifebringer One, the time-displaced Silver Surfer senses his once-and-future master growing inside it, recapping how the Taa-an explorer Galan became the cosmic entity Galactus. Sensing his power waning as the darkness infecting him grows, the Silver Surfer decides to make his final act destroying the Devourer of Worlds.
The Silver Surfer lifts the Lifebringer One free of Ego, the Living Planet thanking him and saying he owes the Surfer a debt. As the Silver Surfer says that he is the one who owes Ego a debt, he senses Knull coming for him. Saying he will not battle the King in Black in Ego's home, the Silver Surfer wraps a chain around the Lifebringer One and prepares to tow it away. Ego vows to make good on his promise to help the Silver Surfer, but the Silver Surfer says he thinks he knows another way. Ego asks what Norrin intends to do with the nascent Galactus, and the Silver Surfer says he's going to kill him.
Towing the Lifebringer One to Helios-Ra, a white dwarf in the Apollo System, Norrin prepares to change all of history by erasing Galactus from existence before he is even born. As he prepares to cast the Lifebringer One into the stellar inferno, Uatu the Watcher appears and tells him to come with him. The Silver Surfer asks what he is doing, and Uatu says he is observing... and stopping him. The Silver Surfer retorts that the Watchers are forbidden from interfering with the skeins of the Multiverse, but Uatu replies that the Council of Watchers has decreed that Galactus must live so as to provide a balance between creation and destruction, light and dark; and that Norrin is not supposed to be here. Norrin snaps that Galactus will kill untold numbers of innocents if he is not destroyed, but the Watcher replies that taking revenge on Galactus will not alleviate his grief or guilt. Uatu explains that every action results in new timelines being born - such as one where Norrin dies alone on Zenn-La, one where he and his wife have children and happily grow old together, one where he takes up Mjolnir and fights Thanos to the death at the end of time, and one - born of the choice now before him - where he destroys the unborn Galactus. Uatu warns Norrin that killing Galactus will not erase him from existence and that he will have to live not only with the deaths he's already caused as a Herald of Galactus but the as-yet-unknown ramifications of destroying the Devourer of Worlds. Despairing, Norrin tells Uatu that he doesn't know how he'll survive the coming battle against Knull, Uatu acknowledging that if left unchecked Knull's horde will devour all of existence and that he would be powerless to do anything except watch; suggesting Norrin confer with someone who already survived the death of the universe.
Touching the Lifebringer One with his blackened hand, Norrin's consciousness is connected to that of the nascent Galactus and witnesses the destruction of the sixth iteration of the universe: a Black Winter that annihilated everything in existence save for the Lifebringer One. Horrified by the trillions of lives brutally extinguished, the Silver Surfer finds himself face-to-face with Galactus. As Galactus attacks him, Norrin realizes that his once-and-future master does not yet know him and sees him as a threat come to steal his Power Cosmic - which he contemplates doing to heal himself. Evading Galactus' attacks, the Silver Surfer shouts at the Devourer of Worlds to show him his true self. Galactus disappears, revealing Galan the Taa-an; who asks the Silver Surfer why he attacked him. The Silver Surfer says that he wants to kill Galan to stop what he will become and to take his Power Cosmic to heal himself and stop a god of destruction. Galan pensively asks to know his future crimes before he is executed, and the Silver Surfer tells him that he will become a cosmic entity that devours worlds in the name of balancing an unseen scale. Ruminating on this, Galan remarks that Silver Surfer is a hypocrite for trying to kill the Light to defeat the Dark, saying he is just as guilty of seeking to balance unseen scales with death. Galan states that he can feel the Power Cosmic changing him into the cosmic entity the Silver Surfer described and that he is already growing hungry. Telling the Silver Surfer to kill him if he must, Galan lays a compassionate hand on his shoulder and says that he knows from personal experience that the Dark cannot be beaten with darkness. Recognizing the wisdom of Galan's advice, the Silver Surfer finds himself back in his own body and sends the Lifebringer One in the direction of Archeopia - setting history back on its proper course.
As the darkness infecting him spreads to cover his right arm, the right side of his torso, and the right half of his head, the Silver Surfer returns to Ego and says that he requires the Living Planet's help after all. Reading Norrin's mind, Ego hesitantly asks if the Silver Surfer is sure of the course he is going to take. Norrin replies that this is the only way to stop Knull, so Ego uses his psionic powers to connect the Silver Surfer to all life in the cosmos. Imbued with the power of the Light and infusing it into his left fist, the Silver Surfer tells the confused Ego that he will no longer curse the darkness and instead will burn it away as the shadow of Knull's symbiote-dragon falls across the Living Planet's surface.
Solicit Synopsis
• The Surfer’s power is fading!
• Is this the end of Norrin Radd as the all-consuming darkness descends upon him?
• Or will help come in the form of an unexpected ally?Notes
- This issue contradicts Adventures of the X-Men #12 in which the Dweller-in-Darkness was the one who destroyed the prievious universe using the M'kraan Crystal.