Key Takeaways
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps brings Marvel’s First Family to the MCU in 2025 with an all-star cast.
- Pedro Pascal takes on the main role of Reed Richards, with Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal.
- Feige hints at cross-movie continuity, suggesting a possible appearance of Galactus and Doctor Doom in the Avengers.
Marvel’s First Family is finally coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps releasing in 2025, the fan-favorite team is making its proper debut. Alongside the titular quartet, The Fantastic Four: First Steps boasts an all-star cast that includes villainous appearances from Galactus, the Silver Surfer, and potentially Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom.
Although John Krasinski played a Multiverse version of Reed Richard/Mister Fantastic during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Pedro Pascal is stepping up as the MCU’s main version. Also joining the ensemble are Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing. In the movie, they’re set to go up against Ralph Ineson’s Galactus and Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer.
Who is Marvel Comics’ Shalla-Bal?
Since the Silver Surfer is typically portrayed as male in the comics, cartoons, and movies, there’s been a vocal minority protesting the “woke” decision to gender-flip the character. Some aren’t aware that the female Silver Surfer is a character pulled directly from the pages of Marvel Comics. Much like Carol Danvers and Jane Foster becoming Captain Marvel and Thor, Shalla-Bal once became the Silver Surfer.
Originally, a young astronomer called Norrin Radd was known as the Silver Surfer. Introduced in 1966’s Fantastic Four #48, Radd saved his planet Zenn-La from being devoured by Galactus. In return for being Galactus’ herald, Radd was given some of the villain’s cosmic power, as well as his signature surfboard that lets him travel faster than the speed of light. The original Silver Surfer was so popular, he became a guest character in further Fantastic Four adventures and led his own comic series.
Known as the immortal Empress of Zenn-La, Shalla-Bal was introduced as Radd’s lover in 1968’s The Silver Surfer #1. A convoluted story revealed that Shalla-Bal had her consciousness replaced by Mephisto, with the latter marrying her as a Latverian peasant girl and forcing the Silver Surfer (Radd) to fight the Fantastic Four. Ozark’s Julia Garner is playing Shalla-Bal in First Steps, but in typical MCU style, her origin story is likely getting a revamp.
The synopsis for First Steps teases Shalla-Bal’s role as Galactus’ herald, with the description reading:
They [the Fantastic Four] must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
It’s possible that Radd will have already perished before picking up in the retrofuturistic ‘60s setting of First Steps, or that things will be streamlined so that Shalla-Bal has always been the de facto Silver Surfer. There’s also a chance to revisit the twin heralds arc of 1999’s “Earth X” arc. Considering the Galactus of this story was a hyper-evolved Franklin Richards, and Franklin is rumored to be in The First Steps, things could easily come together.
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The Silver Surfer’s Cinematic History
Shalla-Bal might not be the most prominent version of the Silver Surfer, but with The Fantastic Four: First Steps already boasting Galactus and (supposedly) Doctor Doom as male villains, having a female foe to balance things out makes sense. What’s more, there’s already been a live-action version of the male Silver Surfer thanks to Tim Story’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer featured Doug Jones as the Silver Surfer (voiced by Laurence Fishburne), as things played out similarly to the comics. The Silver Surfer was a herald of Galactus and kept his own planet safe by leading the Devourer of Worlds to Earth, but this wasn’t supposed to be the end of the story. With a post-credits scene teasing the Silver Surfer’s survival, J. Michael Straczynski was hired to write a spin-off in 2007.
The disappointing reception of The Rise of the Silver Surfer led to Fox canceling plans for a third Fantastic Four movie alongside the Silver Surfer standalone. Things eventually moved forward with Josh Trank’s maligned Fant4stic, although there were again renewed talks about the Silver Surfer getting his own movie. Vice’s Adam McKay expressed interest in a Norrin Radd movie, with Kevin Feige saying, “I look forward to speaking to him more” during a 2019 interview with MTV.
McKay was still interested in a Silver Surfer project as late as 2021, but as Garner has been cast in First Steps, it seems likely that Shalla-Bal will be the MCU’s first Silver Surfer. While it’s possible she’ll only be around for one movie and Radd could take over the mantle, the introduction of Garner’s version marks a milestone moment for Marvel movies. There’s still talk about a Silver Surfer outing, with insider Daniel Richtman suggesting Shakman’s multi-year Marvel deal will involve a Silver Surfer series for Disney+.
Feige gave an exciting tease of what’s to come at Disney’s APAC Content Showcase 2024 in Singapore, explaining:
The movie [The Fantastic Four: First Steps] comes out next summer, and then all those characters go right into the next Avengers movies, so I’m very excited for the future of the Fantastic Four.
This confirms that The Fantastic Four will be part of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, suggesting that Galactus and the Silver Surfer could also play a part if they survive the events of the movie. Given the Silver Surfer’s antihero history and the fact he allied with the Fantastic Four in The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal could go down the same route.
The current Disney+ slate for 2025 is packed, but beyond that, Feige has reiterated that things will be going back to two movies and three series a year. Assuming that Galactus will be the big bad of First Steps and there’s room for a last-minute cameo of Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, a Silver Surfer series could serve as a much-needed prequel or sequel to expand Shalla-Bal’s story and even fit Norrin Radd into the mix. Either way, the character’s history as both Shalla-Bal and Norrin Radd makes the Silver Surfer an iconic enemy of the famed Fantastic Four.
