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So I've was reading over the Surfer/Warlock Resurrection series when something occurred to me. In Silver Surfer #122 we find out that the Shalla Ba and Zen La we've seen in Surfer Comics have been nothing more than an elaborate illusion. Later(in issue #130) we find out that the illusion was put into place by Galactus because he was unable to save the planet Zen La from destruction. So what does this mean exactly? Well in simple terms it means that when Adam Warlock beat Mephisto for Shalla Ba's soul, all he really won was an illusion because Mephisto never had her soul in the first place. I'll get to what I think this means in just a minute, but first I want to point out a couple of things that support the conclusion I've came to...

1. Mephisto is one of(if not THE) craftiest schemer's in Marvel, and he constantly keeps watch over noteworthy individuals(like Galactus) actions at all times. In fact, he's normally one of the first to know when ANYTHING of note goes down.

2. Mephisto draws power from the souls in his possession, and it seems odd that he would be unaware that he wasn't drawing power from Shalla Ba.

3. Mephisto has a track record of allowing individuals to believe they've beaten him in order to gain an eventual victory in the long run.

4. Mephisto hates Silver Surfer with a passion, and goes out of his way to cause Surfer grief at every available opportunity.

5. Despite what should have been considered to be a HUMILIATING loss to Warlock inside of Hades(where Mephisto is all but omnipotent), Mephisto was more than willing to throw down with Adam during the Infinty Crusade, when he was depowered from being outside of his domain.


Given all those things, I've come to believe that Mephisto ALLOWED Warlock to beat him for Shalla Ba's(illusionary) soul, to serve his long range goal of snaring the soul of Surfer(and maybe Warlock as well). Think about it, that whole scenario played out the EXACT same way it has many times in the past, with Surfer and Shalla Ba parting ways in the end and Surfer being hurt by the forced separation. So in my mind it seems that Mephisto's loss to Warlock shouldn't really count as a loss since it seems that in all likelihood he threw that match on purpose.



So what do you guys think about my new theory on the matter?

Also, is there any other events that Shalla Ba's recton throws doubt upon, or outright alters in the Marvel Universe?

What if Galactus created an actual soul?

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
What if Galactus created an actual soul?
I doubt that he has that power. Think about it, if he could do that he could've just placed her soul back into her body(which was still intact) and no illusion would've been necessary.

I think that the writer at the time wouldn't have been aware of any of this, so the "win" over Mephisto was legit....unless this is a very recent fight I'm not familiar with.

But within the continuity of it all, your theory makes perfect sense...but if it's the old-school encounter between the two, that particular writer would have actually thought Warlock was > Mephisto in that encounter, because this is so far into the future that he couldn't have know.

So yeah, to tie it all together, they may need to ret-con it, and Warlock's impressive victory will likely go to poo. But if the at-the-time intention means anything, I would think it should count as a valid feat for him....even though I'll likely be contradicting Marvel continuity with that opinion.

Originally posted by DigiMark007
I think that the writer at the time wouldn't have been aware of any of this, so the "win" over Mephisto was legit....unless this is a very recent fight I'm not familiar with.

But within the continuity of it all, your theory makes perfect sense...but if it's the old-school encounter between the two, that particular writer would have actually thought Warlock was > Mephisto in that encounter, because this is so far into the future that he couldn't have know.

So yeah, to tie it all together, they may need to ret-con it, and Warlock's impressive victory will likely go to poo. But if the at-the-time intention means anything, I would think it should count as a valid feat for him....even though I'll likely be contradicting Marvel continuity with that opinion.

I agree with Digi

Originally posted by darthgoober
I doubt that he has that power. Think about it, if he could do that he could've just placed her soul back into her body(which was still intact) and no illusion would've been necessary.

I'm pretty sure that Galactus would has power to create an actual soul. Power Cosmic enables you to create life.

Originally posted by darthgoober
I doubt that he has that power. Think about it, if he could do that he could've just placed her soul back into her body(which was still intact) and no illusion would've been necessary.

I think Galactus could very easily create a soul...he is the universal embodiment of destruction, and yet he also has immense powers of creation...he did, after all, recreate his home planet when the current universe was born...

Furthermore, and on a much more philosophical note, is a re-creation of Shalla Ba's soul (assuming Galactus can do it) the same as Shalla Ba's soul? Or is it a different entity entirely?

I know it doesn't make much difference to SS, but from a philosophical standpoint, it's still an interesting question...