Now, we all know SS can fly from point A to point B much faster then light, but
How good is his reaction time and combat speed?
Is it massively  FTL, just FTL, light speed, under light speed, high hypersonic, is it around Spider-mans level, or just peak human level?
It would be good if you could back up your statements with scans.
And i would like for this thread to remain here in Battles.

" @Mortein: Fast enough to effortlessly escape a black hole, move outside of time and space, and travel through time.

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"

" @Mortein: Like when exactly? "

" @Mortein: The only times I've seen him hit like that is when he couldn't be bothered to avoid the hit, was trying to avoid violence, was preoccupied by something else, or was not expecting an attack. "

His reaction speed isn't up to par with other characters

" I knew about all of this before, His flying speed is massively faster then light, but none of that proves that he has faster reaction time and combat speed then Spider-man. The most impressive feat there is searching thru the planet in matter of seconds, but I think that all he needed to do is to fly few times around the planet and his cosmic awereness would help him locate what he is looking for.  "

 Even if some of these scans actually could prove that he has FTL rection time and combat speed, what about 200+ times where he gets tagged by a characters slower then Spider-man?  

There is really nothing I can say that Morpheus hasn't covered. I do know there really aren't to many impressive scans concerning the Surfer's fighting abilities, because he really isn't much of a fighter (not hand to hand anyway). Most of his enemies are on par with him and I always like to assume the battle is taking place at much higher speeds then shown, such as the Surfer vs Thanos.  
  

" There is really nothing I can say that Morpheus hasn't covered. I do know there really aren't to many impressive scans concerning the Surfer's fighting abilities, because he really isn't much of a fighter (not hand to hand anyway). Most of his enemies are on par with him and I always like to assume the battle is taking place at much higher speeds then shown, such as the Surfer vs Thanos.  
  

This is a good example though. He was able to tag Nova (the human rocket) several times before he was able to do anything. This is before Worldmind could even notify him. I'm pretty sure he had the entire Nova Force at the time as well. When written correctly, the Silver Surfer is not to be messed with. But 90% of the time he is not willing to fight or is being used as a plot device.  "

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But 90% of the time he is not willing to fight or is being used as a plot device.

@Ferro Vida

" @Mortein: Like when exactly? "

I can easily show you 200+ times that Spider-man has been hit by people far slower than himself. By your train of thought, I guess that means he isn't really a bullet-dodger.

" 

 obviously even if he has FTL combat speed, he does not use that speed.

    I could put 100+ more scans like these

"
I honestly hope you have read the issues they originate from, though. "

" I know there are flaws, i was just using everything about hulk, namor and thing vs SS I could find. "

" @Mortein said:

" I know there are flaws, i was just using everything about hulk, namor and thing vs SS I could find. "

This is what I don't understand, though. Characters that possess super-speed get hit all the time. Fairly recently, Superman got slapped by an average woman. No more, no less. Yet he can fly around the world in half a second. That is not proof of low reaction speed. That is the writer making things interesting, and illustrating his point clearly. The Surfer is already very powerful as it is, turning him into the Flash in terms of average reaction timing would kill his stories entirely. Then you'd have a guy who can destroy planets, transmute them, absorb unlimited energy from any source, and manipulate it, match the Hulk in sheer strength, fly through black holes, supernovas, and suns, as well as read minds and destroy them, on top of being able to dodge everything, anyone would ever throw at him.
 
There are many examples of the Surfer getting hit by opponents of average, or low reaction timing. Take the Hulk, for example. And yet the Hulk has consistently been unable to hit Spider-man whenever they encounter one another. Why? Because Spider-man would die after a couple of punches. Same as Surfer vs Hulk. The Surfer's superiority is evident. Having him curbstomp the Hulk without getting hit once would be thoroughly uninteresting. Fights tend to bring balance without diminishing the abilities of either combatant. "

" @Morpheus_ said:

" 

I know there are flaws, i was just using everything about hulk, namor and thing vs SS I could find. Feel free to correct everything I put here.
And I do respect SS, just don't think he has very good combat speed. 
So as you said there are 10 legitimate scans there.
lets go on with scans
Spiderman
 

"

" Well then why do they create overpowered characters?? "

 
  So the conclusion is that SS has combat speed similar to flash,but in 90% cases he doesn't use it? So lets assume we have character A who once lifted million tons, then 50 times after that he struggled with 10 T. Would we treat him as Class 10, or as Class 100+

Idk, I just think that if character in over 90% cases doesn't have FTL combat speed, then we should treat him so.
 
Here you go some more scans to comment
 
Super-skrull
 

So the battle thread rule is that we always use just highest feats while completely ignoring low feats even if they outnumber high feats 50:1?
Wouldn't that be unfair toward characters with less appearances since obviously they would have less high feats, but they also have less low feats.
You've said few times that he gets hit because he doesn't want to fight. Well that is no reason for not dodging punches
Also, Marvel and DC comic book characters have lot of writers.
Lets assume we have character A.
One writer makes him slow and weak, but durable.
second writer makes him faster, weak, and less durable.
Third writer makes him slow and less durable, but stronger.
 Now, what some people here on CV do, is that they take only high feats from each writer, and create some fanboy
version of character, faster, stronger and more durable.
 
 
And to continue with scans :

"  

@Ferro Vida

said:

" @Mortein: Like when exactly? "

  I could put 100+ more scans like these, obviously even if he has FTL combat speed, he does not use that speed.

 "

"
And I do respect SS, just don't think he has very good combat speed. 
 

lets go on with scans
 
"

"  

Traditionally he was a peace maker and in character he wasn't a very skilled fighter
but he does have insane speed
 
You should post the next scan where he shakes off their attack as if it was nothing
surrounds them with solidified energy and turns Daredevil and Spiderman into stone statues 

The reason Surfer didn't fly in and speed blitz every enemy he meets is because his character is normally peaceful
but he can speed blitz when he wants to 
SPEED
"

@Mortein said:

" I knew about all of this before, His flying speed is massively faster then light, but none of that proves that he has faster reaction time and combat speed then Spider-man. The most impressive feat there is searching thru the planet in matter of seconds, but I think that all he needed to do is to fly few times around the planet and his cosmic awereness would help him locate what he is looking for.  "

 Why do you assume he used his cosmic awareness to do it? Had he done so, he wouldn't require to search the planet to begin with. His cosmic awareness would have pin-pointed Namor (since Namor was he who he was searching for) to begin with. And you most certainly cannot search a planet by flying in a straight line.   
 

 Even if some of these scans actually could prove that he has FTL rection time and combat speed, what about 200+ times where he gets tagged by a characters slower then Spider-man?  

 
I can easily show you 200+ times that Spider-man has been hit by people far slower than himself. By your train of thought, I guess that means he isn't really a bullet-dodger.
 
Characters don't use their abilities at their fullest all the time, especially in battles. The Surfer in particular, elects not to, 95% of the time. Simply because he doesn't use his speed in combat in order to blitz people, does not mean he has not reacted, and thought, in nanoseconds, and microseconds before. A scan where he is able to distinguish the passing of a nanosecond, and break free of his bonds before said nanosecond passes has already been posted. Here is him analysing a situation in a microsecond, and acting faster than that afterwards. Had his reflexes been peak human, or Spider-man level, I honestly doubt he would be capable of it.
 

@Ferro Vida said:

@Mortein: Fast enough to effortlessly escape a black hole, move outside of time and space, and travel through time.

Gallery

I know this is old, but above sums up fairly well. Some don't make the connection, but above, the scan from Galactus the Devourer 2, where the Surfer fights Red Shift in a black hole? Where gravity is so powerful it bends light? That would be considered a faster than light combat feat. The scans from Communion/Revelation are pretty awesome too. He literally travels outside known space and time to the singularity to reach some clarity. The Infinity Gauntlet "grab", from Infinity Gauntlet 3...Surfer was over a light year away. Before Thanos could even complete a punch against Captain America, he was on him...just a moments time. The Surfer is beyond fast

@Malevolent1: there is no feat better than Infinity Gauntlet's grab to describe Surfer's travel speed as well as reaction speed. if you make simple calculation you'll find that Surfer was moving at more than 32 million time the speed of light, and that's without entering hyperspace at all. the circular move of his hand shows also he has FTL speed reflex by far.

@All_Mighty_Beyonder said:

@Malevolent1: there is no feat better than Infinity Gauntlet's grab to describe Surfer's travel speed as well as reaction speed. if you make simple calculation you'll find that Surfer was moving at more than 32 million time the speed of light, and that's without entering hyperspace at all. the circular move of his hand shows also he has FTL speed reflex by far.

Indeed, it is one of the best feats to describe Surfer's straight line and reaction speed. Just be advised: on the battle forums, the idea that Surfer is FTL in terms of combat/reaction speed is not a popular one. You will find Flash fans are vehemently opposed to the idea (despite the clear evidence). Even some Surfer fans disagree that the Surfer has FTL combat/reaction speed. Just an FYI.

There are a number of incorrect notions on the Vine concerning the Silver Surfer's combat/reaction speed. Typically, he is classified at "nano-second" reaction time. A nano-second is billionth of a second. The distance light travels in a light nano-second is about 12 inches. The Surfer has two reaction feats designated as such. However, they are only the beginning of the Surfer's insane reaction speed.

With Jack of Hearts in tow, Surfer decides the best way to penetrate the craft's defenses? Blitz at over light speed! Again, clear evidence that the Surfer is able to seek and destroy at FTL speeds.

Starhawk is away at three times the speed of light...Surfer is able to track and intercept in only a moment.

Norrin's greatest reaction feats involve his ability to move and think and react while time travelling. Time was, when crossing the light speed barrier meant one was time travelling. The feats above indicate this to no longer be true. And while nano second reaction feats can be quantified by humans, they are still only quantifiable on this side of the time line. When one travels time, they are not travelling points in space. They are travelling points in time. From the standpoint of the character's perception, this becomes...strange. All the normal visual indicators become irrelevant when one time travels, because one is way, way beyond light speed at this point. For example, a bullet will strike it's target often before the sound of the gun reaches the ears of the person being hit. Same principle: all the normal visual cues that go along with traveling faster than light, or in this case, traveling fast enough to control time, are entirely different.

The scans above clearly show the Surfer is able to move and think and react at speeds fast enough to travel time. In Fantastic Four 156, realizing the life of (who he thinks is) Shalla Bal is in grave danger, the Surfer locks the Fantastic Four in a stasis beam and with breathtaking speed, literally freezes time with sheer speed, leaving New York and suddenly appearing on the horizon of Latveria to Dr Doom. In Mighty Thor 193, realizing neither he nor Thor are capable of dealing with Loki's creation Durok, he does the only thing he can: BFR's (battlefield removal) him...in a future time line no less. Incapable of dealing with the temporal buffeting, Durok loses consciousness and the Silver Surfer dumps him off thousands of years in the future. Therefore, as the scans clearly indicate, the Surfer is able to perceive his surroundings at time travelling speed and react during that time frame. Very few can equal The Silver Surfer in combat/reaction speed.

The Silver Surfer has fought the Runner, among the fastest characters in all of comics.

Here is the gist of Surfer's fight with the Runner:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Oddly, in the fight above, the Surfer appears to forget he can amp his own strength. Ironically, the Surfer loses the above fight not because the Runner demonstrated superior combat speed, but he over powered him with his own strength. It is entirely noteworthy, however that the Surfer was surprised by the Runner's presence in the first panel. The Surfer can sense energy signatures from light years away (the Runner's power comes from the power primordial). The Runner surprised him before he is able to react to this fact. Below, from X-Men Unlimited, the Surfer easily evades laser fire:

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The Surfer has also tangled with Gladiator, an immensely fast character:

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Above, from Fantastic Four 250, Gladiator demonstrates his speed. Below, during a time stop from Fantastic Four 339, Gladiator engages in combat, among other things, during a long protracted time stop. Fantastic Four and company use tech. Gladiator? Hyperspeed.

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Below, scans from Surfer and Gladiator's fight:

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Surfer has demonstrated in the past that he is fast enough to travel time, or otherwise move so fast, that time stops.

Gallery

However, if there was ever a question as to whether or not he could engage in combat while moving through time, the scans below effectively eliminate the question. From Rune/Silver Surfer, "Rune" (old Malibu character) steals the time gem, commands time to stop with the idea of making it easier to pilfer the other gems. The Living Tribunal senses the flux in power once the gems are taken from the keepers of the other gems and decides to enlist the help of the Silver Surfer...but the next panel shows he's already on it!

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Below, still not realizing time has already been stopped, and while trying to track the time gem thief (through a dimensional vortex) at unbelievable speeds, the Tribunal appears to the Surfer from, quite literally, out of nowhere and explains that time has been stopped and now, enlists his help to track Rune. He also warns him to be on the lookout for Deathurge (Marvel's copy of DC's Black Racer, originally a Flash villain).

Gallery

Gallery

The total amount of time elapsed for the feat above? Zero seconds. Incidentally, it stands to reason that any character moving through time, exits our current time line and eventually re-enters the same time stream at some point during the character's story. From the stand point of those left behind at the point in time the time traveller left, no time from their perspective has expired. So for any character moving through time under their own speed, this in and of itself is a reaction feat.

Blitzing Thanos from over a light year away in only a moments time, searching a planet of five billion in only a matter of moments for one person, blitzing starships at over light speed, fighting some of the fastest characters in comics and finally, the Surfer's ability to move through time, repeatedly and with precision point accuracy and, as the scans above clearly indicate, even engaging in combat in one single, frozen time line all indicate the Surfer has insanely fast combat speed and not just insanely fast straight line speed.

0 Seconds < zepto second < atto second < pico second, etc. In terms of combat speed, the Surfer is at least as fast as Wally West.

My favorite character is SS and when he's not holding back he has FTL reactionary speed just like many heralds like Stardust.

But I don't think he ever displayed pico or atto-second.

I think there's a difference between Bum-Rushing speed blitzing and Super Speed speed blitzing, sure he can fly at someone in space and zap them or Bum-Rush them but he doesn't have Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Gladiator, Captain Marvel, Quicksilver level super speed were reaction is involved. Even if he has pico second reaction he can't throw multitude of punches, kicks, or move his body were it is required in a fight against others, which is why hasn't show any feats with super speed ever.

Nano-second.

Super-speed is just one of his powers. He is not entirely bound to it unlike any speedster, he has already superhuman strength & durability, energy blasts, matter manipulation etc. He is relying on these abilities as well. He is using the super speed when it is necessary.

Silver Surfer #001

Micro-second ; Silver Surfer #002

Lightning speed ; Silver Surfer #005

Blinding speed

FTL ; Silver Surfer #006

Faster than a thousand comets

FTL

Micro-second ; Silver Surfer #009

Faster than you can read these words ; Silver Surfer #010

Creates a cosmic field while goes at super-speed ; Silver Surfer #013

Humiliates Torch with his agility ; Silver Surfer #015

Outraced meteors, dodged deadly bolts of lightnings ;

Speed of the winds of space ;

Moves with the speed of shrieking space wind

Some of the earlier comments seem to underscore the inability of some to differentiate between PIS, mentioned on this very site's battle forum rules and what a character is clearly capable of. Surfer's top feats indicate he can move through the fourth dimension (that's time) under his own speed. Moving through time entails not only moving from a point in time from now to the distant future (or the distant past) but between the immeasurably small distances between pico seconds, atto seconds, etc....

I compare Surfer's reaction speed to character's like Wave Rider, nu 52 Captain Atom and Wally West.

Above Nano

This thread is very helpful for anyone who thinks SS does not have FTL reaction speed.

When it comes to appraising the Silver Surfer, a creation of Jack Kirby (as embellished by Stan Lee), speed was a main ability of the character. These two innovators really let their imaginations run wild. If you think about the intent behind the creation of a cosmic surfboard for a character to zip around on, a little imagination, as well as a close appraisal of the character's feats, all make it clear that flying in a straight line was not all they had on their minds (notice here).

When Jack Kirby later made the jump to DC comics and created the New Gods mythos, another similar character, the Black Racer, appeared on the scene, also incredibly fast and impossibly maneuverable at those same speeds (note here).

Many writer's, from Stan Lee (notice here) to Ron Marz (and here), believed the Silver Surfer had more than just straight line speed. It seems the purpose of the Surfer's board was not only to allow him to travel at unbelievable speeds in a straight line, but to allow him to maneuver at those same speeds in seemingly impossible ways.

But in addition to being able to maneuver on his board in agile, mercurial ways writers also appear to indicate he had extraordinary reaction speed or otherwise, the ability to move his limbs at impossible speeds.

The Surfer can process unbelievable amounts of information in small amounts of time, even minute fractions of a second.

So it should it come as no surprise that he is portrayed as having high reaction speed.

In Fantastic Four 51, Reed became obsessed with the cosmic beings he and the world were introduced to in the previous issues, citing being attacked at FTL speeds as one of his main concerns.

Later, massively powerful cosmic entities such as the Watcher and Galactus were indicated as those that were simply dimensionally transcendent, able to move from one time line to another as an inherent part of their abilities and not really related to speed.

However, the Surfer continues to be portrayed by numerous writers as being fast and able to react at those same speeds.

One of the feats that gets thrown around from time to time when the topic of Surfer's reaction speed comes up is the "gauntlet grab".

What is the "gauntlet grab" say you?

Allow me to explain.

Many moons ago, the Surfer was one of the main featured characters in a Marvel story arc called the "Infinity Gauntlet". The villain Thanos obtains all six infinity stones and essentially achieves omnipotence.

However Adam Warlock, another commonly featured character in these stories, has other ideas.

Adam positions the Silver Surfer over a light year away from Thanos' current position.

Unbeknownst to Adam and the Silver Surfer, Mephisto has alerted Thanos to their current position.

Adam, evidently waiting for the right time, dispatches the Surfer when Thanos appears to be appropriately distracted by Captain America.

With breathtaking speed, the Surfer blitzes Thanos from over a light year away in an attempt to snatch the Infinity Gauntlet, and omnipotence, from Thanos' hand...barely missing his intended mark (and presumably ending the Infinity Gauntlet saga a little early).

Some have speculated as to just how fast the Surfer was travelling in a straight line, but ultimately without an exact time frame mentioned, that's all it was. Speculation.

However, some years ago, the writer of Thanos Annual indicates a time frame.

Five seconds.

It's certain that the five seconds began to elapse when Adam yelled, "NOW!". Why do I say this?

Keep in mind, Thanos had already taken a few swings at Captain America prior to the one indicated immediately above. The scan above shows Thanos getting ready to throw his fourth punch. Thanos' first punch, Cap ducks and Thanos misses. The second punch fractures Cap's shield. The third punch shatters the shield to pieces and the fourth Thanos never threw before the Surfer was able to take a swipe at the gauntlet. Also, the keen eye will notice in the above scan, Thanos' arm is raised as it was when he was getting ready to throw his fourth blow at Cap, but the artist of Thanos Annual shows Cap still with his shield. At any rate, given the explicit indicators from the original Infinity Gauntlet series, it's clear the above scan is an (imperfect) rendition of Thanos getting ready to throw his last punch at Captain America, given that "NOW!" was not uttered until the first three punches were thrown.

Also, I think any sane person would be hard pressed to say, given the position of Thanos' fist from Captain America, it took more than five seconds for Thanos to throw a punch. Logically then, the countdown from five seconds began when Adam Warlock dispatched the Surfer from over a light year away from Thanos with the word, "NOW!".

So, the big question in the spirit of this thread: how much time elapsed during the swing of the Silver Surfer's arm to take a swipe at the infinity gauntlet or, how quickly did the Silver Surfer swing his arm, in seconds, in his attempt to grab the gauntlet?

If the Surfer was "little over a light year away" from Thanos when he started his blitz, then the Surfer was more than 5.8657 x 10^12 miles away. This means the Surfer was moving at least fast enough to cover 1.1731392 x 10^12 miles per second OR, 6.194174976 x 10^15 feet per second. Now, a generous estimate in terms of what distance was covered right at the end of that light year, the distance covered during the swing of the Silver Surfer's right arm in his attempt to grab the gauntlet, for the sake of critical opposition, would be about 15 feet (it appears to me to be closer to 10 feet but we'll go with the longer distance for the sake of argument).

A relationship between the six quadrillion feet covered per second and the 15 feet it took for the Surfer to swing his arm in his attempt to grab the gauntlet reveal that it took the Surfer about .000,000,000,000,002,416,355 seconds to swing his arm in his attempt to grab the gauntlet from Thanos, OR

Just over 2.4 atto seconds.

Does that sound reasonable for the Silver Surfer?

Morpheus and MajinBlackheart's original debunking of the OP's misunderstanding of whether or not the Silver Surfer does indeed have fast reaction speed is clearly indicated in the first few posts of this thread. All characters with immensely fast reaction speed have been tagged by far slower characters, so being tagged by slower characters when a super fast character has a history of demonstrated reaction feats only indicates PIS (plot induced stupidity, that is....writer's frequently ignoring a character's demonstrated power set for the sake of telling a story). Wally West being stabbed by Deathstroke. Superman being tagged by Titus. Hunter Zolomon being tagged....by anyone.

All evidence of PIS.

Also, a quick review of some of the Surfer's reaction feats in this very thread...

....the feat of Surfer breaking energy shackles of the fear eater in less than a nano second in Marvel Comics Presents #1....

......covering the entirety of earth in an attempt to find Namor/Rick Jones in only seconds in Silver Surfer Annual #5....

........and the Surfer demonstrating his ability to evade an attack from Deathurge at faster than light speed in the Silver Surfer/Rune comic book

....among several others, make it clear reacting in the atto second range is certainly within the wheelhouse of the Silver Surfer's awesome reaction speed.

Additionally, writers across the decades have all demonstrated their agreement that the Silver Surfer's "awesome, indescribable speed" in not reserved for travelling in a straight line, but that he is highly reactive and maneuverable on his board as well as being able to maneuver his limbs at the same speeds.

When the Silver Surfer is sufficiently motivated, he can manifest massively FTL reaction speed.

@blackstaroblivion: nice post