Summary
Few 2025 titles tickle fan interest quite likeThe Fantastic Four: First Steps.AlongsideSuperman, it’s one of the year’s most anticipated offerings. Both the MCU faithful and general audiences have all the right reasons to be excited: the introduction of Marvel’s first family under the MCU banner after two previous iterations, and an aesthetic chef’s kiss by way of a unique retro-futuristic vibe. Marvel Studios recently dropped the first full-length trailer forThe Fantastic Four: First Steps,and it showed more of what everyone wants: the first family Fantastic Four-ing. Reed Richards is doing his stretching, The Thing is carrying a car and pulling a ship, Johnny goes aflame, Sue is using her powers, and Galactus’ feet are stomping on high-rise buildings.
It didn’t avoid all criticism though — what are comic book trailers without a little spice of dissidents? Pedro Pascal’s casting as Mr. Fantastic and The Thing’s design remain hotly debated. But this new trailer featured something that lit the comic book community ablaze…in a bad way: Silver Surfer. The character in the movie is female (played by Julia Garner), far from the male version fans are used to. While many fans are claiming thatMarvel went “woke” with the Silver Surfer’s gender, comic-savvy fans will and should be unfazed. Besides, a female Silver Surfer offers some benefits her male counterpart may not.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Silver Surfer Was Not Gender Swapped
The Silver Surfer’s Legacy Is More Than Just Norrin Radd
Nearly everyone with an idea of The Fantastic Four knows about the Silver Surfer (real name Norrin Radd), the Herald of Galactus. His live-action debut in 2007’sFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surferintroduced him to mainstream audiences. What might slip under the radar is that the Silver Surfer is a cosmic position as opposed to a single person. In Marvel lore, several characters have taken on the mantle, some of whom aren’t male. Juno, the granddaughter of Hercules, became an incarnation of the Silver Surfer in Earth-829, preventing Galactus from destroying another planet. Norrin Radd’s lover, Shalla-Bal, is another.
Shalla-Bal, the Silver SurferinFantastic Four: First Steps, became one after being transformed by Franklin Richards in the alternate universe Earth X, joining Norrin as Galactus’ Herald. Maybelle Parker from Earth-8417, Candy Goodstroke of Earth-8908, and Nancy Whitehead, and Scout from Earth-616 are other female variations. Although an audacious move, inputting a female version of that symbol is neither a betrayal nor an attempt to satiate the “woke mob,” but a natural extension of an expansive multiverse.
A Shalla-Bal Silver Surfer Might Be What This Alternate Universe Requires
Finicky as it may seem, “multivers-ing” offers the MCU a big creative advantage post-Avengers: Endgame.Writers can explore the nooks and crannies of the many alternate timelines without severely altering the main timeline that fan memory is rooted in. That so happens to be the case withFantastic Four: First Steps,whose Marvel’s first family is set in an alternate universe. Put another way,Shalla-Bal’s appearance is not breaking canon, it’s expanding it.
There are also speculations circulating among those who are aware of the existence of other Silver Surfers that the purpose of this supposed “gender-swap” is to give Norrin Radd proper development in future MCU movies, and not waste a character of such gravitas in an alternate timeline they might never see again. However, should Shalla-Bal survive this movie, subsequent features cannot be ruled out.
Additionally, Shalla-Bal shares a twisted relationship withDoctor Doom, the MCU’s next big baddieand pièce de résistance of Phase Six inAvengers: Doomsday.This relationship is rich in possibilities that Kevin Feige could seize if she remains. This is also the first live-action appearance of a female Silver Surfer. Why not use this unexpected twist to confuse strictly MCU fans?
Gender-Swapping Isn’t New To The Comic Book Genre, Nor Is It Always Fatal
Suppose Silver Surfer was truly gender-swapped. It might not be as fatal as one might think, despite its seeming disregard for longstanding fans. Superheroes, whether in comics, animation, or live-action, are not change-proof. While A-listers like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and the Hulk usually have a ton of pop culture baggage tied to their character (and are therefore deemed untouchable), B and C-list heroes aren’t so immune to creative changes.
Take, for example, Ghost inAnt-Man and the Wasp(among theseven confirmed members of theThunderbolts*). In the comics, Ghost is a genius male inventor and hacker capable of invisibility and intangibility in the comics, thanks to his suit. In Kevin Feige’s MCU, the character was reimagined as Ava Starr, a female version of Ghost with a different backstory. As a result, her comic abilities were retained, but at the expense of the suit and the trademark genius-level intellect. It’s a change that saw the character morph from a forgettable villain to a sympathetic antihero.
Though some may argue, the Silver Surfer is no Spider-Man or Superman, and thus falls under this category. How much this will hurt a Fantastic Four story, though, is uncertain. But all indicators — at least for now — point toTheFantastic Four: First Stepsbeing a commercially and critically sound movie. If there is any reason to be upset about Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer, it’s the horrid CGI, which makes the previous iteration (released 18 years ago!) look revolutionary.
