Knocking Dr Doom Off His Feet – The Energy and Force Behind the Silver Surfer’s Attack

Abstract

The 2007 film “Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer” introduced Marvels Silver Surfer character to the big screen for the very first time. The Surfer is a metallic skinned humanoid from a distant alien race who is able to summon large amounts of energy from his silver surf board. This energy is the source of his power and allows him to not only travel through space but also to attack his enemies. In the film, the Surfer uses this energy to produce a shock wave that is able to knock Dr Doom, an enemy of the Fantastic Four, clean of his feet and backwards into a wall of ice. This paper uses simple mechanics and assumptions to show that this shock wave would need to have a minimum of 3.22kJ of energy and 214.5N of force to knock Dr Doom back a distance of 30m over a period of 4 seconds.