EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesMarvel Moviesfantastic fourThe MCU Fantastic Four movie may be setting up all the pieces to bring in Doctor Doom and Mephisto with Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer Shalla-BalWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentMoviesAction MoviesMarvel Moviesfantastic fourThe MCU Fantastic Four movie may be setting up all the pieces to bring in Doctor Doom and Mephisto with Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer Shalla-BalWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Netflix / Marvel Comics)
Julia Garner is reportedly set to play the Silver Surferin theMCU Fantastic Four reboot movie- but not the classic Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd. Instead, it seems she’ll be playing a version of the Silver Surfer who is actually Shalla-Bal, the lover of Norrin Radd and the ruler of his home planet, Zenn-La.
But what does that mean for Silver Surfer as a character, and the Fantastic Four movie as a whole? How might the change from Norrin Radd to Shalla-Bal affect the movie’s story? And will the fact that Shalla-Bal has a strange past with Doctor Doom as well as the demonicMephistocome into play?
We’ll dig into Shalla-Bal’s comic book history to offer some insight into who she is, what her place in the Marvel Universe has traditionally been, and how that could potentially impact the MCU - as well as her own time as the Silver Surfer in comics.
Silver Surfer’s girlfriend
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
With few options and no weapons capable of deterring Galactus, Norrin makes a heroic sacrifice, offering to serve Galactus as his herald, seeking out suitable worlds for him to devour as long as Zenn-La - and Shalla-Bal - were spared. Agreeing, Galactus imbues Norrin with the so-called ‘Power Cosmic’ and turns him into the Silver Surfer.
Norrin leaves Zenn-La, and Shalla-Bal, never to return (or so he believes), eventually leading Galactus to Earth. There, the Surfer defies Galactus and is trapped on Earth as a result.
The rest, as they say, is Marvel Universe history. However, there’s another side to the story, which is less known - the fate of Shalla-Bal.
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Pawn of cosmic supervillains
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
It’s important to know that Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal’s love, though seemingly devoted, was often fraught, and one-sided, with Norrin frequently withholding his affection and acting cold and distant. This distance comes to a head in Norrin’s last moments on Zenn-La, as Shalla-Bal actually begs Norrin to take her with him when he leaves, but Norrin refuses, leaving her behind.
Empress of Zenn-La
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
All of this ultimately culminates in the reunion of Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal back on Zenn-La, but only in time for Galactus to return to devour the planet, considering Silver Surfer’s betrayal and his escape from exile on Earth to have broken the deal they made that originally spared Zenn-La to begin with. Galactus uncharacteristically warns the planet’s inhabitants to flee, allowing the people to survive though their planet dies.
Hope is not entirely lost, however, as Silver Surfer shares his vaunted but mysterious Power Cosmic with Shalla-Bal, allowing them to recreate Zenn-La. Shalla-Bal is named the reborn planet’s Empress, further complicating her already fraught life with conflicts with the Kree Empire, more manipulation from outside forces, and even her own death and resurrection as she becomes embroiled in the affairs of all-powerful cosmic beings.
In her most recent appearance, Shalla-Bal became the ‘Keeper of Great Truth’ of Zenn-La, turning her planet’s peaceful, idyllic monoculture into an imperial force of galactic conquest using a device known as the Illuminatrix, which even allowed her to rewrite Ben Grimm’s mind, turning the Thing into her own personal herald.
Becoming the Silver Surfer
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
So when exactly did Shalla-Bal become the Silver Surfer herself in comic books? Well, it didn’t actually happen in the mainstream Marvel Universe. As is often the case with the MCU, they’re taking inspiration not just from the core Earth 616 version of Shalla-Bal and the Silver Surfer, but from one of her Multiverse Variants as well.
Shalla-Bal in the MCU
(Image credit: Netflix)
As for how Shalla-Bal will fit into the MCU as the Silver Surfer, there’salready speculation that the MCU Fantastic Four reboot will take place in an alt-realityoutside the core Marvel Cinematic Universe, which may account for why she’s different from the mainstream comic versions of both the Silver Surfer and Shalla-Bal herself.
Marvel has also pointed to the original Galactus story, told in 1966’s Fantastic Four #48-50, as a main point of inspiration for the film, likely indicating that Julia Garner’s Shalla-Bal Silver Surfer will play a similar role in the film that the Norrin Radd version of the character does in that landmark comic story.
Still,Marvel Studiosloves its connections and story links, and Shalla-Bal offers potential in-roads to both the much anticipated Doctor Doom, and the demonic Mephisto, who has been expected to join the MCU himself for some time himself.
Fantastic Four releases in July 2025.
Want to start reading Fantastic Four comics?These are the stories you should start with.
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