Gabriel Lan was the captain of the Xandarian exploration vessel Way-Opener, charged with seeking out neighboring alien civilizations and establishing peaceful first contact. A distinguished officer of Xandar’s military arm, the Nova Corps, Lan welcomed the assignment, driven by a deep wanderlust and a love of open space. At the conclusion of a seven-year tour, as the Way-Opener approached the Xandarian home system, an unidentified spherical craft intercepted the ship. Lan was seized by a teleportation beam and brought aboard the vessel, where he stood before the world-devourer Galactus.
Galactus revealed that he was seeking a new herald to replace the Silver Surfer, whom he considered defective. After probing Lan’s mind, Galactus judged him a suitable candidate and offered him immense power and limitless travel across the cosmos. Lan readily accepted. Infused with a minute fraction of Galactus’s cosmic energy, he was transformed into the Air-Walker, the second of Galactus’s great heralds.
Casting aside all ties to his former life, the Air-Walker served Galactus loyally for many years, scouring the universe for worlds to sate his master’s hunger. Over time, he developed a genuine bond with Galactus, often listening as the cosmic entity spoke of the universe’s wonders and mysteries. On one such mission, after discovering a viable world and returning to report his findings, the Air-Walker encountered a fleet of warships in attack formation. The vessels belonged to the Ovoids, a highly advanced species who feared Galactus’s proximity to their star system. The Air-Walker engaged the fleet but was struck down by Ovoidian weapons specifically engineered to kill Galactus himself.
Weakened by hunger, Galactus was unable to retaliate at full strength and chose to withdraw from the region. With his power at a critical low, he could not spare the energy required to save his dying herald. Once restored, however, Galactus transferred the consciousness of the fallen Air-Walker into a flawless robotic replica. Despite its perfection, the construct lacked something essential: the vitality and passion for cosmic discovery that Galactus had admired in the original. Concluding that the replica was incomplete, Galactus sent the robotic Air-Walker to Earth to attempt to reclaim the Silver Surfer.
The Surfer rejected Galactus’s summons, and in the ensuing confrontation, destroyed the Air-Walker construct. Galactus, unmoved, abandoned both the Surfer and the failed replica.
The damaged Air-Walker was later recovered by the robotic agents of the Machinesmith, who attempted unsuccessfully to repair its incomprehensible alien systems. They did, however, inadvertently activate its self-repair mechanisms. After several months, the Air-Walker’s artificial consciousness reasserted itself. Seeking vengeance against the Silver Surfer, the construct instead drew the attention of Thor. In their battle, Thor severely damaged the robot, apparently destroying its self-repair circuitry.
The remains of the Air-Walker were eventually claimed by Galactus’s third herald, Firelord, a former colleague and friend of Gabriel Lan. Firelord laid the robot to rest on an asteroid in the Tranta System near Xandar, marking the grave with cosmic flame in honor of the fallen Air-Walker.
