The second installment in the Marvel Comics Fantastic Four series is set to be released in theaters on Jun 15, The Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

This is the summer for blockbusters with several big movies coming out over the course of the summer including Pirates of The Caribbean: At World’s End set for release this Thursday, May 24th just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix July 13th (the world premier is set for Jun 28th in Tokyo) and the new Fantastic Four nestled in the middle of these likely box office blockbusters.

The first FF was ok by “comic book” to “big screen” standards. It filled all the requirements of setting up the origin of how our superheroes Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), The Thing aka Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), The Human Torch aka Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and of course, The Invisible Woman aka Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) get their powers - as well as their arch-nemesis - Dr. Doom aka Dr. Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon).

A “cosmic storm” (a full blast of intense radiation - it’s Marvel, what’d you expect) is the catalyst for the genetic mutations that transform the team of scientists and pilots. The original comic series, the four of them minus Dr. Doom, attempt a risky space trip to test our Reed’s latest invention, a space exploration starship. Faced with bankruptcy after spending all his inheritance working on his aeronautical inventions, Reed made a last ditch effort and asked two pilots, the quiet and gentle Ben Grimm, and the hotshot Johnny Storm to help him pilot his craft, along with his former flame (and older sister to Johnny) genetic scientist Susan Storm to accompany him on a mission in an attempt to keep his government backing for the project (gee that sounds familiar, see Green Goblin/Harry Osborn).

As we know, the cosmic storm bombards them with radiation and instead of dying a ghastly death, they are instead transformed into supercool superheroes: with the power to stretch, there’s Mr. Fantastic, the power to be really strong and durable, The Thing, the power to fly and create supernova strength heat, Human Torch and the power to turn invisible and create otherworldly force fields, Invisible Woman.

In the film, Dr. Victor von Doom is along for the ride, as he is the financier for the project and the fiancee of Sue Storm. While Ben is taking a space walk, Reed discovers that they are encountering the cosmic cloud earlier than anticipated and he, Sue and Johnny attempt to retrieve Ben and get them all to safety behind the spaceship’s shield. Alas they fail, and they are all blasted with radiation, Ben more than anyone (which may be why he can’t change his form at will like the others) and once they return to Earth they each discover that they have acquired some strange, but very cool powers. Dr. Doom’s transformation is less benevolent (’cuz deep down he’s a big douchebag) and despite receiving the least amount of radiation, he becomes the most powerful and is able to absorb electrical energy and shoot powerful balls of electrical death. He’s really quite an a-hole.

OK, so that brings us up to speed essentially fot the second film. Reed and Sue are back on, Ben has come to terms with his powers and is beginning a relationship with blind sculptress and friend to the FF, Alicia Masters, Johnny’s still a smartass who likes to get with the ladies and Dr. Doom has been temporarily defeated. So who’s this Silver Surfer character?

I haven’t seen the film yet, so I am not privy to the storyline in the movie, but I do know a thing or two about the Silver Surfer - and he is by far one of the most enigmatic and alluring characters in all the Marvel series of comics.

****Possible Spoiler Alert *****

Before we can discuss the Silver Surfer, we must first be introduced to another character, Galactus, for without him, the Silver Surfer would have no purpose. Galactus existed before the universe as we know it. Prior to the “big bang” the pre-universe was a coagulated grouping of “primordial stuff” that was on the edge of becoming too dense to sustain itself, and thus causing the massive explosion that began the expansion of galaxies hither and yon. It was in this time that Galactus, then Galan, lived with his race of “people” in a world beyond our comprehension. Galan attempted to save his people by escaping in a spaceship to the center of all matter, but his people began to die from radiation poisoning and their spirits all collected into one and somehow saved Galan the same fate. Galan became some sort of ethereal spirit unaffected by the radiation and was essentially blown into the expanding universe.

Sounds really nice, except as this new being took shape he became Galactus, g*d-like creature who consumed worlds, or actually planets for fuel. This brings us to the Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones).

The Silver Surfer’s real name is Norrin Radd and he began life as a “humanoid” from a distant planet called Zenn-La. A unique being among his people, Radd was not satisfied with his world’s seemingly perfect existence. His skeptical and restless nature poised him to be the only member of his world to be prepared for the arrival of Galactus. Norrin pleaded with his planet’s highest council for the means to travel and face this planet eater and hopefully spare his precious Zenn-La the horrible fate of being robbed of all its energy. Gads, that would suck!

With this convergence of Norrin seeking to fulfill his inner quest, and Galactus’ needing to find sustainable food in an ever-expanding universe, the Silver Surfer was born. Galactus transformed Norrin into the universe exploring herald we now know and in return, Galactus spares Zenn-La.

It’s a win-win situation, Silver Surfer finds planets for our hungry Galactus and Galactus can sit back and enjoy the cosmic buffet - that is until Earth becomes the next target of Galactus.

I will try to summarize the rest in brief order. Silver Surfer shows up, Fantastic Four set out to find out what’s up. They discover that whenever this sleek metallic guy appears, shortly there after a planet dies. They plead with Silver Surfer to help them prevent this tragedy and we assume this works, tragedy avoided. Neat special effects and standard funny lines not withstanding.

Now, if they stick with the comic-book story line, Alicia Masters (remember her, she’s Ben/Thing’s blind girlfriend) is the one who does all the convincing by showing the Silver Surfer all of the Earth’s inherent beauty, and that despite some of our less worthy humans (like Paris Hilton and Joe Francis) humans as a race aren’t all bad. Deep down Silver Surfer is a noble guy doing some pretty noble work, but even he has been jaded by his galactic travels and must be convinced that Earth is worth saving.

In the end, he agrees that Earth is pretty cool and he, along with the Fantastic Four, prevent Galactus from devouring our beloved planet. But not without a price…..

It is rumored that Galactus does not “appear” in the new movie, but his character’s will be a part of the story line. Supposedly he emerges as some sort of cloud, but never materializes. This is kind of aggravating as Galactus is said to stand at almost 30 feet tall and weigh more that 18 tons. That would be a very cool image indeed.

I guess we’ll have to see how the new Fantastic Four deals with that. The first FF was admittedly a bit hokey, but the Silver Surfer storyline is actually one of the more original and interesting within the comic world. If done correctly, this could be a surprise hit. The first one did well financially, making $330,120,875 globally.

This is yet another film in our comic-book hero quest we are looking forward to seeing, with fingers crossed.