Ozark and The Americans’ Julia Garner is joining the MCU Fantastic Four reboot film as Silver Surfer, according to a report from Deadline. But rather than playing the original Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd, she would play a version of the character based on Shalla-Bal, Norrin Radd’s lover and ruler of the planet Zenn-La.
If this all sounds like mambo jumbo to you, here’s the quick version of the Silver Surfer’s origin story.
When Zenn-La, Norrin Radd’s home planet, was targeted for consumption by the planet-eating entity known as Galactus, Norrin volunteered to become Galactus’ herald, in order to search for… other worlds to devour.
Accepting the deal, Galactus transformed Norrin Radd into the Silver Surfer, granting him the hard-to-define “Cosmic Power” and forcing him to forever leave his home of Zenn-La and his lover, the ruler of the planet Shalla. -Ball. .
Silver Surfer eventually leads Galactus to Earth, where the Fantastic Four must find a way to dissuade Galactus from destroying the planet.
So if Julia Garner plays Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer, will Norrin Radd be removed entirely or will their places be totally swapped? Or will it be like the alternate universe comic Earth-X, where Norrin and Shalla-Bal were reunited, with her also imbued with cosmic power?
Regardless, the Silver Surfer’s presence in the Fantastic Four reboot movie also implies the presence of a version of Galactus.
Both characters appeared in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, in which the Silver Surfer was physically portrayed by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne, and Galactus himself appeared as a huge cosmic cloud rather than a giant in purple armor.
Garner joins the film’s main cast consisting of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing.
Fantastic Four is scheduled for release in July 2025.
The original Galactus saga is one of best Fantastic Four stories all time.