The Silver Surfer was initially little more than energy residing within the Tesseract. However, after being sought out and used by many beings, their intelligence imprinted onto it, and it realized that it needed protection. Thus it spawned forth a silvery metallic liquid that soon morphed into a humanoid being. Its mission: protect the Tesseract at all costs. The Surfer would adapt more powers as necessary, and between saving the Tesseract, he would act as a guardian of the cosmos as a whole, bringing him into contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy.