Important 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 lead role of Reed Richards, with Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal.
- Feige hints at continuity between films and hints at a possible appearance of Galactus and Doctor Doom in Avengers.
Marvel's First Family is finally coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Matt Shakmans The Fantastic Four: First Steps released in 2025, the fan-favorite team makes its real debut. Alongside the titular quartet, The Fantastic Four: First Steps features 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 MadnessPedro Pascal steps up as the main MCU version. The ensemble also includes Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing. In the film, they are 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 usually portrayed as male in comics, cartoons, and movies, there has been a vocal minority protesting the “woke” decision to flip the character. Some are unaware that the female Silver Surfer is a character taken straight from the pages of Marvel Comics. Much like Carol Danvers and Jane Foster become Captain Marvel and Thor, Shalla-Bal once became the Silver Surfer.
Originally, a young astronomer named Norrin Radd was known as the Silver Surfer. Introduced in the 1966s Fantastic four #48, Radd saved his planet Zenn-La from being devoured by Galactus. In return for being Galactus' herald, Radd gained some of the villain's cosmic power, as well as his signature surfboard that allows him to travel faster than the speed of light. The original Silver Surfer was so popular that he became a guest character later on Fantastic four adventure and led his own comic series.
Known as the Immortal Empress of Zenn-La, Shalla-Bal was introduced as Radd's lover in the 1968s The Silver Surfer #1. A convoluted storyline revealed that Shalla-Bal had her consciousness replaced by Mephisto, with the latter marrying her as a Latvian peasant girl and forcing the Silver Surfer (Radd) to fight the Fantastic Four. Ozark's Julia Garner plays Shalla-Bal in First stepsbut in typical MCU style, her origin story will likely get a revamp.
Synopsis for First steps teases Shalla-Bal's role as Galactus' herald, with the description reading:
The [the Fantastic Four] must defend Earth from a ravenous space god named Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it wasn't bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
It is possible that Radd will have already perished before he took up in the retro-futuristic 60s setting of First stepsor 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 Herald arc from the 1999 “Earth X” arc. Considering Galactus in this story was a hyper-evolved Franklin Richards, and Franklin is rumored to be in The first steps, things can easily come together.
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The film history of the Silver Surfer
Shalla-Bal may not be the most prominent version of the Silver Surfer, but with The Fantastic Four: First Steps already boasting Galactus and (presumably) Doctor Doom as male villains, having a female foe to balance things out makes sense. Also, there has 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 was not 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 Fox to cancel plans for a third Fantastic four movie along with Silver Surfer standalone. Things eventually moved forward with Josh Trank's vilified Fant4sticalthough there were again renewed talks of the Silver Surfer getting his own film. ViceAdam McKay's interest in a Norrin Radd film, with Kevin Feige saying: “I look forward to talking to him more” during a 2019 interview with MTV.
McKay was still interested in a Silver Surfer project as late as 2021, but since Garner has been cast First stepsit 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 is still talk of a Silver Surfer outing, with insider Daniel Richtman suggesting that 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 of these characters go right into the next Avengers movies, so I'm very excited about the future of the Fantastic Four.
This confirms that The Fantastic Four will be a part of the upcoming Avengers: Judgment Daysuggesting that Galactus and the Silver Surfer may also play a role if they survive the events of the film. Given the Silver Surfer's anti-hero history and the fact that he allied himself with the Fantastic Four in the The Rise of the Silver SurferShalla-Bal could go the same way.
The current Disney+ slate for 2025 is packed, but beyond that, Feige has reiterated that things will go back to two movies and three shows a year. Provided that Galactus will be the big bad of First steps and there's room for a last-minute cameo by 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 make the Silver Surfer an iconic foe of the famous Fantastic Four.
