During a battle with the Black Order, the Silver Surfer and other cosmic heroes get sucked into a black hole. While he uses his Power Cosmic to save the rest of the heroes, the Surfer gets dragged deeper into the abyss.
He is hurled 14 billion years into the past to the dawn of creation. The ordeal severely drains him, and an encroaching, cancerous darkness begins consuming his body, turning his signature silver sheen black.