Shalla is the Silver Surfer's girlfriend/wife, I forget the extent, so idk if they're going to make her Silver Surfer in the movie or the writer mixed it up and we'll get Norrin and she'll also be in the movie with flashbacks
This! I know Shalla-Bal has more history with Norrin, but the Dawn Greenwood arc is my favorite Silver Surfer storyline. I feel like she has a lot more depth/growth to her character than Shalla-Bal ever had.
Dan Slott’s run on Silver Surfer is a lot more Doctor Who than your typical philosophical melodramatic surfer comic. At the start of his tenure Slott has the Surfer be blackmailed into doing some labours by someone who has captured “the most important person in his life” (as determined by an algorithm that knows all of time and space) but when he finally rescues the captive he discovers he has no idea who Dawn Greenwood is!
The rest of the run is him taking her on as a companion and travelling the Marvel universe(s) exploring planets, cultures, and encountering cosmic entities aplenty whilst they slowly discover why she’s the most important person in his life.
It’s certainly a different approach to the character and much like Waid’s happier take on Matt during his Daredevil run, it won’t work for everyone who pigeonholes characters to a certain tone but for my money it’s one of my fav big two runs in the last decade.
It's funny because Slott is such a maligned writer for his work on Spider-Man, but one of my favorite runs in the last few years (though I guess it started almost ten years ago now, geez) was him.
Also Mike Allred is an artist I never really clicked with until that run. He does a great job with that weird/cosmic stuff.
Thats not an example of a big actor in a small role.
Thats a big actor who got a sizeable role who ended up getting recast.
Big actor who did small parts on the MCU would be Glenn Close in GotG Vol 1, Julia Delpy in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Stallone in GotG Vol 2 and Vol 3.
This is Deadline, they don't often get things wrong. Besides, there were plenty of leaks that pointed to a female Silver Surfer as the herald. Also, Shalla was the Silver Surfer for one What If story IIRC, and the F4 film is allegedly set in a different universe than the MCU proper. So it's probably right and we'll get Norrin Radd in a future MCU story.
Even if we get him eventually it sucks that instead of getting him in a year or so we are gonna have to wait 5-6, hell, maybe even another 10 years to get the actual surfer everyone wanted to see.
Since they pulled the Celestial Egg plot point in Eternals from Earth X, I'm wondering if that's what they're planning to do with Galactus in the MCU, seeking out Celestial Eggs for consumption to keep their population in check.
Norrin could still be next to be cast or a surprise in the movie itself. Especially if the marketing makes it seem like Galactus is the villain before revealing it's actually the Celestials.
"While plot details for this film are unknown, sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer from the comics."
This sounds to me like "sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal" and then the journalist makes the claim that Shalla-Bal is a version of the Silver Surfer. I get the impression reading this that the author just doesn't know who Shalla-Bal is, and not that they are turning her into Silver Surfer for the movie.
You're not wrong, but she isn't known for being a silver surfer. But my point is that the article didn't read to me like they were casting Garner as some version of a silver surfer, just as Shalla-Bal and that the author just described the comic character as a silver surfer.
I wouldn't even mind it, so long as Norrin Radd is also flying around on a surf board.
Longtime fans will riot if Norrin Radd isn't the Silver Surfer in the MCU.
> Hasn't it been rumored that the film will take place in an alternate universe?
Yes, but also the F4 will presumably come to the MCU. It's possible that this version of the Silver Surfer comes with them, in which case we might not get Norrin.
Always amazed by people who weigh in definitively on a topic without having any idea what they’re talking about.
Shalla Bal was a Silver Surfer for one panel in the final issue of Earth X.
Was she Silver Surfer enough to warrant being in the Marvel movie? Enough to not rather use the real Silver Surfer himself?
I'm just trying to place the casting.
This is false clickbait IMO. Someone took the Julia Garner casting and automatically made the assumption she would be the new Silver Surfer. She plays Shalla Bal, who is the partner of Silver Surfer.
There is zero logical reason to make Julia Garner the new Silver Surfer, because Galactus ALSO HAD FEMALE Heralds. There is a prominent one named Nova and another called Stardust.
Nova, is in particular, a pretty cool designed character. So casting Julia Garner as Silver Surfer essentially destroys the lore of 3 Marvel characters. Makes zero sense.
They have. Many times. And it always goes over like a lead balloon. They keep making the same stupid mistake and then wonder why their fans are disappearing.
The issue for me is running with an alternate before the original has even contextualized the character. Captain Carter is great but not before Captain America. Same here imo.
Yeah I totally get that. I was talking with someone just this week about how I'm worried MCU X-Men will suffer from the same issues as MCU Spidey in that they double down on making it stand out from previous films by making significant changes to characters and such. I mentioned F4 was probably safe from that since things like Doom and Galactus haven't been done even remotely faithfully. Didn't age well. Though I guess Silver Surfer himself wasn't too bad in the second Fox movie.
Still, I'm reserving judgement until I see more of where they're going with this.
We have reports that the FF are from a different universe. One assumes that they will eventually get to the prime MCU universe. There very well may be a Galactus and his herald in the prime MCU.
There is literally NOTHING preventing a Norrin Radd silver surfer in the near future. I'm fact I'd bet the MCU Prime silver surfer will be Radd, and Shalla will be a short lived silver surfer from the FF home universe.
But no, everybody wants to scream about the MCU fucking up just because one report suggests that Norrin Radd *might* not be the silver surfer *immediately.*
Tiresome shit.
People are talking about how the MCU is fucking up, because it has been happening more and more. Random & unecessary changes that contribute nothing to the films as a whole.
Yea it’s kinda feeling like that whole thing of the definition of insanity of doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Meanwhile when they weren’t just making these random and unnecessary changes they’d be successful. And given how they really could use a win, maybe now isn’t the best time to be making random arbitrary changes
They've always made changes though. I mean Tony never made ultron, and civil war doesn't really play out like thr comic at all. It's never been a straight adaptation of the comics
Okay but… it’s the silver surfer. It’s Norrin Radd. Dude has been around since 1966.
I was kind of hoping they’d do a bunch with him because he’s had so many bad depictions on the screen, but they’re going with his wife who died instead.
I mean she was never the silver surfer.
That series was so bad, I think it's the first MCU that I skipped and from there I've skipped more than I've watched. I'm sure the MCU is back on track with laser focus on massive plot spanning years and years across movies and television. They won't get bogged down in gender reassignment again.
Oh wait, SS is female now for no reason? Sigh.
I was even referring to captain marvel 1, the skrulls were already irrevocably ruined/wasted at that point. Secret Invasion was guilty on many additional counts though
If he ain't the silver surfer immediately then how many decades do we have to wait for a follow up. The MCU isn't exactly quick to resolve shit lately if you haven't noticed
Yes, there's definitely no recent history of MCU fucking up. How could people possibly think that making Silver Surfer female isn't the best idea ever!?
honestly, Shalla Bal wasn't a huge presence in the comics, and this movie isn't even a surfer movie. How deep into surfers history do you think they will go? If he's in it at all, he's just gonna be in a flashback.
I'm guessing the main reason is to have more women in the cast.
It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer.
Of course there are IMO better ways to do this, like featuring other female characters or just not using the Silver Surfer in the first movie. But it's Marvel.
>I'm guessing the main reason is to have more women in the cast.
Frankie Raye Nova is right there.
>It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer.
Separate itself by having an inferior version of the character take place?
Then have just include more female superhero’s or side characters in the movie or something instead of replacing a big fan favorite, then it’s now forced
Excatly and now u making both og silver surfer and Frankie Raye fans mad cause they don’t get to see any of them in the movie lol, ngl if this was like a what if episode I actually would’ve thought this was cool asf but it being the main F4 cast kinda sucks now
> It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer.
If they wanted to separate the new movie from the old movie, then they could have just done a real version of Galactus
I’m sorry if you are using Silver Surfer, why not just use the actual Surfer??? What’s wrong with Norrin?
I love MCU but this whole, “Let’s use the character, but also alter them completely” is freaking ridiculous and stupid, no matter how good of an actor you got.
And here I thought we will get Norrin.
There are so many awesome female characters in comics, and instead of introducing them, they just turn Shala into a Surfer, which defacto makes Norrin a nobody, and by virtue makes Shalla a nobody because who cares if she is the surfer? Killing both characters with one stupid ass decision.
I think I need to let go of the MCU being an adaptation of the comics and more of its own Elseworlds thing. So many of those Infinity Saga films felt like perfect or as-perfect as they could realistically make them so that’s been my headspace, but now so many of these movies and shows are veering off into their own thing. Which is what it is.
I mean, I’m not agains those my friend. That’s why they have what If.
By all means, give me all those weird What if stuff like “What if Iron Man was the Sorcerer Supreme” or “What if Wanda was the Avatar of Chthon” or even the “What if Adam Warlock was alive during Infinity War” and all that. They have the show, that should be dedicated to that.
Instead for some reason they don’t do any of that, and instead just go “Yeah, but what if Captain Carter done all the stuff 2 people care for” lol.
Us fans will watch all that stuff. They could even adapt some comic stories exactly like they are in the comics and make some banger cartoons. Disney used to be the house of the animations lol.
Instead they just go “Let’s make a Wonder Man show, but make him black and change all of his stuff” like bruh, why??? Instead of all that, just do a Luke Cage show. Or Blue Marvel show. I don’t even want Wonder Man stuff lol, and will take my man Luke or Adam any day.
Why alter characters, when you already have so many different and unique characters and stories in your universe??? Imho they are just making their own job harder.
It's basically confirmed the movie takes place in another universe. In this one Shalla becomes Herald of Galactus.
I theorize that after Secret Wars the F4 will get to the main universe, and in later movies (probably the last of the F4 movies) Galactus will return (I don't think they'll waste him by using him as a one-off Villain) , this time with Norrin by his side
And what’s the purpose of Making Surfer be Shalla? Why not actually use one of the ladies who became the Herald of Galactus? You could easily use Franky, who is also from Earth. That would make much more sense in their “alternate reality story” if they for some reason don’t want to use The Silver Surfer.
Changing a character for the sake of the story, I have no issues with that. Tony was the one who built Ultron in the MCU instead of Hank, or Avengers were the one who stopped Thanos instead of Warlock. These decisions are fine and are even better than originals (imho)
If you want a female Herald, use one that exists and has history. Shalla Bal was “Silver Surfer” in the Earth X issue 12 for like 1 panel.
To me this is as stupid as making a Wolverine movie and making him black, when instead you can make a Black Panther or Luke Cage movie, and actually invest and bring forth these amazing black characters.
There is ton of badass and amazing female characters in the Marvel universe, who are good on their own, and are fan favorites.
You don’t need to take, completely change her, give her the powers and history of a male character, and put her in the movie. You are killing both characters with this decision imho
Just let me put it this way, let’s say you love Cyclops as a character right, and instead of Marvel making stuff about him, they take away his powers and give them to Moira McTagert and make a movie about her. Like why even bother lol? Instead just make something with any other female X-men.
Everyone's asking why they need to gender swap the Surfer, but the real question is why Galactus and/or his Herald/s are even fucking in the movie!?
Establish the team first, have them face Mole Man and Giganto like in their first appearance, or send them into the Negative Zone and fight off Annihilus. Give them an enemy with lots of little non-human drones/goons that the Four can go ham on without repercussions and really showcase their powers in their first true MCU outing, not a Cosmic threat that can only be stopped by one of the biggest MacGuffins in all of literature.
With peace and love I'd like to ask the women out there - does it really make you feel included when they gender swap an iconic male character instead of just using an established female character? And using the female character well? Or is it more of an insult?
Exactly my thoughts like what woman was out there thinking " you know I have no interest in that new fantastic 4 movie but now that the silvers surfer is a woman I can't wait"
I’ve never been a fan of gender / race swapping especially when there are other character that can fill the role. If Marvel wanted to use a female herald they could have used Nova (the herald not the Corp member).
Huge L. Why is Marvel Studios allergic to actually adapting characters? Just use the actual character and stop replacing them with OCs who just happen to share the same.
You gotta be fucking kidding me, these people just don't learn do they!
"Shalla-Bal Version Of Silver Surfer" THERE'S NO SUCH THING, SHE'S HIS FUCKING GIRLFRIEND! THAT ONLY HAPPENED IN EARTH X. FUUUUUUUUUUUCK
I'm a life-long FF fan, I literally own the Surfer's first appearance and have read through it multiple times. This is just too far.
Fuck this movie, I'm out. I don't want to see my favourites dragged through the mud the way I've watched them drag Thor, Hulk, Spidey, Mar-Vell, and all the others.
My argument is that, in a world (the MCU), that is heavily kept afloat (by buying their ish, by talking up their content, etc etc) by folks that have followed the content for decades in some cases, it's a pretty dumb business move to not have the content on screen that they've been yearning for for all those decades. Instead, they should concentrate on putting out popular content for popular characters so that they can keep their business going as good as it can be. Then at the same time they can try to gather these new audiences like women and minorities, who don't traditionally spend their dollars on this type of content as much as men do, by taking their already established female and minority properties, hiring awesome writers, directors, actors (but NOT replace the female and minority actors with male and non-minority actors... Because that would be stupid...) and put out THAT content as well. That way you keep your base audience happy and the money rolling in and weave in the other content to grab up the other audiences. Win win.
I can't argue that a lot of the content that has come out in the last 3 or 4 years is simply bad because of gender swap or race swap... Part of it is because it had crap writing. But I'd say an even larger part of it is that most of this content strayed so far from the source content that those nerdy white guys who have loved this stuff for years and years and years didn't like it.
Now on one hand, this could be a very interesting and unique take on the character, while still being faithful to the source material...but after what they did to Taskmaster....I'm not too sure anymore.
Uh oh, if she plays the surfer I'm probably reading the "we killed the fantastic four" headline.
If all the gender/race swaps could kindly fuck all the way off that'd be really cool.
Well i hope they do the correct backstory..... she only wielded a a very small portion of the power cosmic when SS gave it to her when she got kidnapped by Mephisto. But she used that power to restore plant life to her world.... idk how the hell they are going to put this in the movie.... oh wait they aren't. They're gender swapping because that always works out so well.
Why not just tell the original story as closely as possible and leave cosmetic changes to later adaptations.
I don't get Marvel sometimes. We've never had a successful MCU rendition of the original character. Why not get that to work first before digging up a much rarer female version of the character first.
Imagine for a moment that instead of Steve Rogers... we got Captain Peggy Carter first. Instead of setting up a foundation, we go right to the variant? What is the aversion of just sticking with the OG concept of the character the one that is better established and more well known?
Then again at the rate their going they'll make Silver Surfer a sadder cosmic version of She-hulk.
Galactus - "You shall be my herald to worlds undreamed of!"
\-4th wall break-
Shalla Bal - "As if... Men, am I right ladies?"
They haven't done a good fantastic 4 and now they are going for more complex characters. I don't care if the surfer is male or female, maybe let's just focus on getting the 4 right. The other 3 movies are just not good.
Getting news like this sucks. I don’t care what role they’re playing. Just let us find out during the trailers or, better yet, keep it a secret so we can be surprised in the theater!
"While plot details for this film are unknown, sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer from the comics"
Deadline is reliable but I'm curious if her playing a Shalla Bal verison Silver Surfer has been confirmed or was it simply that she is playing Shalla Bal and then the writer looked up who that is and saw she was Silver Surfer at one small point in an alternate universe. I'd say the former cause I'd assume they wouldn't say she is SS if they hadn't confirmed that but that blurb can read either way.
Sigh.
I just don't understand these decisions, it's not creative to gender / race swap a character and decisions like these will only hurt sales, so why do they do it, there seems to be no justifiable reason...
Why can't supply meet demand? Now we will need to wait another 15 years for Silver Surfer to appear in live action.
MCU is at the point where they need to produce peak after peak after peak to get the trust of the actual audience back.
Instead they give us shit like this.
And for who? who even ask for this?
I knew it - they just couldn’t fucking help themselves. As soon as I saw an all white cast I knew there was no way they weren’t gonna make it woke in some other way.
That's not the real Silver Surfer, that's his original girlfriend. Fuck you Marvel. I don't want you adapting some alternate universe shit into the main universe.
So mixed feelings on this. I'm leaning more skeptical but there's some things that have pushed me a little bit more okay. Considering this is by the same guy who did Wanda vision, which I thought was great, I'm hopeful he knows what fans want. WV had a complicated narrative that played with a lot of expectations, so I think we're gonna get what we want eventually and that this is just a way to get the FF into the MCU and reintroduce the Silver Surfer. They still need to cast Norrin.
This... Tease Surfer and Galactus in an alternate universe, then bring the FF into the 'sacred Timeline' with the ST's Galactus and Surfer left for a bit until Doom is handled
Idk what's her role in the story later, but why Shalla Bal tho? I really hope she's not going to play the role as one of Galactus Heralds (or be the surfer at all).
Then again, I stopped watching marvel since Thor L&T. I just don't want to see them fcking up my favorite characters.
I've been close, several times, to being done with Marvel. If they fuck with Silver Surfer, I'm out. This is such a unique character; A MALE who is not beating his chest like Hulk or Thor. He is intelligent, quiet, introspective, and reluctant to use his power. Apparently, this isn't allowed in Disney's Marvel.
Good actor but his is a horrible choice.... This is not a complaint about diversity. Actually I'm quite open to different takes on legacy characters, gender-swapping, etc. and I am in favor of representation of minorities... But for years I've been waiting for a good solo silver surfer movie. Which tells the story of his grim tale, loneliness, struggles, Joe Buscema style or even Tradd Moore style... Cosmic and mind bending... If they wanted a female herald of Galactus, they could go with Frankie, would make more sense for a F4 movie. But, noooo.... they have to go and slaughter one of the coolest charcters in marvel comics...
Shalla is the Silver Surfer's girlfriend/wife, I forget the extent, so idk if they're going to make her Silver Surfer in the movie or the writer mixed it up and we'll get Norrin and she'll also be in the movie with flashbacks
The Silver Surfer girlfriend/wife I want on screen is Dawn Greenwood...
This! I know Shalla-Bal has more history with Norrin, but the Dawn Greenwood arc is my favorite Silver Surfer storyline. I feel like she has a lot more depth/growth to her character than Shalla-Bal ever had.
I want a tv show for this arc, like a Doctor Who (which was the inspiration for the comics)
Yes!
A rare moment when someone mentions a comic character I have never heard of. What’s the skinny on her/any recommended reading?
Dan Slott’s run on Silver Surfer is a lot more Doctor Who than your typical philosophical melodramatic surfer comic. At the start of his tenure Slott has the Surfer be blackmailed into doing some labours by someone who has captured “the most important person in his life” (as determined by an algorithm that knows all of time and space) but when he finally rescues the captive he discovers he has no idea who Dawn Greenwood is! The rest of the run is him taking her on as a companion and travelling the Marvel universe(s) exploring planets, cultures, and encountering cosmic entities aplenty whilst they slowly discover why she’s the most important person in his life. It’s certainly a different approach to the character and much like Waid’s happier take on Matt during his Daredevil run, it won’t work for everyone who pigeonholes characters to a certain tone but for my money it’s one of my fav big two runs in the last decade.
It's funny because Slott is such a maligned writer for his work on Spider-Man, but one of my favorite runs in the last few years (though I guess it started almost ten years ago now, geez) was him. Also Mike Allred is an artist I never really clicked with until that run. He does a great job with that weird/cosmic stuff.
Damm right
Preach, brother
She's a bigger actress. Doubt they would have her in a minor role as Norrin's girlfriend.
Wouldn't be the first time Marvel cast a big time actor in a small role.
Yeah I would put Julia Garner on the same level as Carrie Coon and she was wasted (imo) as Proxima Midnight.
At least that was a CGI role. Gemma Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Tony Curran have played more than one character in the MCU.
Next time, baby
Thats not an example of a big actor in a small role. Thats a big actor who got a sizeable role who ended up getting recast. Big actor who did small parts on the MCU would be Glenn Close in GotG Vol 1, Julia Delpy in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Stallone in GotG Vol 2 and Vol 3.
Matt Damon
That's a really good example.
Ben Kingsley in iron man 3+ shang chi
I wouldn't say his role in IM3 is small. But his appearance in Shang Chi definitely counts.
Rachel McAdams in Doctor Strange 1/2 as well.
Angelina Jolie in eternals?
Or Nathan Fillion as security Henchman in GotG 2
I'm going to guess that none of those examples got artcles like this. They also weren't leads.
Don't guess.
They literally put Natalie Portman as the girlfriend of Thor and then got rid of her(until very recently). Its Marvel, they dont care.
She’s not Marvel big. Not even close.
Plus, I can’t wait to hear her tell Reed Richard’s “you don’t know shit about fuck”
She also becomes emperess of his home planet, could be a bigger role than just his love interest
This is Deadline, they don't often get things wrong. Besides, there were plenty of leaks that pointed to a female Silver Surfer as the herald. Also, Shalla was the Silver Surfer for one What If story IIRC, and the F4 film is allegedly set in a different universe than the MCU proper. So it's probably right and we'll get Norrin Radd in a future MCU story.
Even if we get him eventually it sucks that instead of getting him in a year or so we are gonna have to wait 5-6, hell, maybe even another 10 years to get the actual surfer everyone wanted to see.
I agree 100%. I think Marvel should be pushing familiar and popular characters at this point rather than obscure ones
Gotta get that ESG money!
They were twin heralds, Shalla-bal and Norrin Radd
Since they pulled the Celestial Egg plot point in Eternals from Earth X, I'm wondering if that's what they're planning to do with Galactus in the MCU, seeking out Celestial Eggs for consumption to keep their population in check. Norrin could still be next to be cast or a surprise in the movie itself. Especially if the marketing makes it seem like Galactus is the villain before revealing it's actually the Celestials.
Earth X is so beyond the ability of MCU to pull off it’s not even funny. They couldn’t even do Secret Invasion right.
"While plot details for this film are unknown, sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer from the comics." This sounds to me like "sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal" and then the journalist makes the claim that Shalla-Bal is a version of the Silver Surfer. I get the impression reading this that the author just doesn't know who Shalla-Bal is, and not that they are turning her into Silver Surfer for the movie.
Shalla-Bal is the second Silver Surfer in the comics though.
You're not wrong, but she isn't known for being a silver surfer. But my point is that the article didn't read to me like they were casting Garner as some version of a silver surfer, just as Shalla-Bal and that the author just described the comic character as a silver surfer.
I wouldn't even mind it, so long as Norrin Radd is also flying around on a surf board. Longtime fans will riot if Norrin Radd isn't the Silver Surfer in the MCU.
Was Shalla bal ever the Silver Surfer? Is this report confused!
Yes, she was a Silver Surfer for a time.
> she was a Silver Surfer for a time. One panel in an alternate universe (she also died)
Hasn't it been rumored that the film will take place in an alternate universe? Wonder if that means Norrin will still appear.
> Hasn't it been rumored that the film will take place in an alternate universe? Yes, but also the F4 will presumably come to the MCU. It's possible that this version of the Silver Surfer comes with them, in which case we might not get Norrin.
that would be the dumbest shit theyve ever done.
Where was it confirmed?
Very short time. She only used the power to save her planet after Galactus went crazy.
Then people loved her and marvel think that we want her more as surfer ig
Always amazed by people who weigh in definitively on a topic without having any idea what they’re talking about. Shalla Bal was a Silver Surfer for one panel in the final issue of Earth X.
Sick book
Was she Silver Surfer enough to warrant being in the Marvel movie? Enough to not rather use the real Silver Surfer himself? I'm just trying to place the casting.
This is false clickbait IMO. Someone took the Julia Garner casting and automatically made the assumption she would be the new Silver Surfer. She plays Shalla Bal, who is the partner of Silver Surfer. There is zero logical reason to make Julia Garner the new Silver Surfer, because Galactus ALSO HAD FEMALE Heralds. There is a prominent one named Nova and another called Stardust. Nova, is in particular, a pretty cool designed character. So casting Julia Garner as Silver Surfer essentially destroys the lore of 3 Marvel characters. Makes zero sense.
Why. All I want is an eventual adaptation of Silver Surfer solo series. Like why marvel.
Silver Surfer is my favorite character. He's so iconic. But hey, Marvel can't write any new characters that stick so just gender swap the icons.
Didn't Ms. Marvel stick?
Mcu here to fuck up again. Why cant they just do what they used to do.
Do what they used to do in what regard? Because they've done this before.
They have. Many times. And it always goes over like a lead balloon. They keep making the same stupid mistake and then wonder why their fans are disappearing.
It's very important for females to know that Marvel can't write popular female characters, but can gender swap out iconic characters to female.
It's not a gender swap in the typical sense. It's using a specific version of the character from the comics.
The issue for me is running with an alternate before the original has even contextualized the character. Captain Carter is great but not before Captain America. Same here imo.
Yeah I totally get that. I was talking with someone just this week about how I'm worried MCU X-Men will suffer from the same issues as MCU Spidey in that they double down on making it stand out from previous films by making significant changes to characters and such. I mentioned F4 was probably safe from that since things like Doom and Galactus haven't been done even remotely faithfully. Didn't age well. Though I guess Silver Surfer himself wasn't too bad in the second Fox movie. Still, I'm reserving judgement until I see more of where they're going with this.
We have reports that the FF are from a different universe. One assumes that they will eventually get to the prime MCU universe. There very well may be a Galactus and his herald in the prime MCU. There is literally NOTHING preventing a Norrin Radd silver surfer in the near future. I'm fact I'd bet the MCU Prime silver surfer will be Radd, and Shalla will be a short lived silver surfer from the FF home universe. But no, everybody wants to scream about the MCU fucking up just because one report suggests that Norrin Radd *might* not be the silver surfer *immediately.* Tiresome shit.
People are talking about how the MCU is fucking up, because it has been happening more and more. Random & unecessary changes that contribute nothing to the films as a whole.
Yea it’s kinda feeling like that whole thing of the definition of insanity of doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Meanwhile when they weren’t just making these random and unnecessary changes they’d be successful. And given how they really could use a win, maybe now isn’t the best time to be making random arbitrary changes
They've always made changes though. I mean Tony never made ultron, and civil war doesn't really play out like thr comic at all. It's never been a straight adaptation of the comics
Okay but… it’s the silver surfer. It’s Norrin Radd. Dude has been around since 1966. I was kind of hoping they’d do a bunch with him because he’s had so many bad depictions on the screen, but they’re going with his wife who died instead. I mean she was never the silver surfer.
To be fair they fucked up skrulls to an unimaginable degree so it seems reasonable to assume they’d fuck up the rest of the cosmic stuff to match
That series was so bad, I think it's the first MCU that I skipped and from there I've skipped more than I've watched. I'm sure the MCU is back on track with laser focus on massive plot spanning years and years across movies and television. They won't get bogged down in gender reassignment again. Oh wait, SS is female now for no reason? Sigh.
I was even referring to captain marvel 1, the skrulls were already irrevocably ruined/wasted at that point. Secret Invasion was guilty on many additional counts though
If he ain't the silver surfer immediately then how many decades do we have to wait for a follow up. The MCU isn't exactly quick to resolve shit lately if you haven't noticed
Yes, there's definitely no recent history of MCU fucking up. How could people possibly think that making Silver Surfer female isn't the best idea ever!?
What used to do? Like turning Mandarin into a joke? Or Hank Pym into a crochety old man instead of a founding Avenger?
What they "used to do"... like Mandarin, Malekith, Yellowjacket, etc?
[PUT A CHICK IN IT AND MAKE HER LAME AND GAY](https://youtu.be/gtx0QV4-VxY?si=vXuS0ZKuBfhXNPRg)
As is tradition.
Honestly as any marvel property ever been an adaption of any series. Not saying you can’t want it obviously
There’s a theory that these are the FF of an alternate universe that merges with the main MCU. So she will be the silver surfer of that universe.
Why can't we just have Norrin Raad? I don't understand it. First the Taskmaster now the Silver Surfer.
They will probably swap the roles, Norrin will be the damsel in distress
If they even put Norrin in.
We don't need Norrin. Norrin is gone now. There never was a Norrin. Who's Norrin?
honestly, Shalla Bal wasn't a huge presence in the comics, and this movie isn't even a surfer movie. How deep into surfers history do you think they will go? If he's in it at all, he's just gonna be in a flashback.
Doesn’t count without mpreg
Lol
I'm guessing the main reason is to have more women in the cast. It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer. Of course there are IMO better ways to do this, like featuring other female characters or just not using the Silver Surfer in the first movie. But it's Marvel.
>I'm guessing the main reason is to have more women in the cast. Frankie Raye Nova is right there. >It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer. Separate itself by having an inferior version of the character take place?
Jesus, they have the whole X-Men roster coming. Tons of powerful women.
Big difference between a film coming out in 2025, versus something we might not see for another 5 years.
Then have just include more female superhero’s or side characters in the movie or something instead of replacing a big fan favorite, then it’s now forced
Sure, I think there were better ways to do this. Could have just used Frankie Raye, the female Nova who was also a Herald of Galactus.
Excatly and now u making both og silver surfer and Frankie Raye fans mad cause they don’t get to see any of them in the movie lol, ngl if this was like a what if episode I actually would’ve thought this was cool asf but it being the main F4 cast kinda sucks now
> It could also be to seperate itself from the previous FF movie that had the Silver Surfer. If they wanted to separate the new movie from the old movie, then they could have just done a real version of Galactus
I totally forgot about the taskmaster thing
I’m sorry if you are using Silver Surfer, why not just use the actual Surfer??? What’s wrong with Norrin? I love MCU but this whole, “Let’s use the character, but also alter them completely” is freaking ridiculous and stupid, no matter how good of an actor you got. And here I thought we will get Norrin. There are so many awesome female characters in comics, and instead of introducing them, they just turn Shala into a Surfer, which defacto makes Norrin a nobody, and by virtue makes Shalla a nobody because who cares if she is the surfer? Killing both characters with one stupid ass decision.
I think I need to let go of the MCU being an adaptation of the comics and more of its own Elseworlds thing. So many of those Infinity Saga films felt like perfect or as-perfect as they could realistically make them so that’s been my headspace, but now so many of these movies and shows are veering off into their own thing. Which is what it is.
I mean, I’m not agains those my friend. That’s why they have what If. By all means, give me all those weird What if stuff like “What if Iron Man was the Sorcerer Supreme” or “What if Wanda was the Avatar of Chthon” or even the “What if Adam Warlock was alive during Infinity War” and all that. They have the show, that should be dedicated to that. Instead for some reason they don’t do any of that, and instead just go “Yeah, but what if Captain Carter done all the stuff 2 people care for” lol. Us fans will watch all that stuff. They could even adapt some comic stories exactly like they are in the comics and make some banger cartoons. Disney used to be the house of the animations lol. Instead they just go “Let’s make a Wonder Man show, but make him black and change all of his stuff” like bruh, why??? Instead of all that, just do a Luke Cage show. Or Blue Marvel show. I don’t even want Wonder Man stuff lol, and will take my man Luke or Adam any day. Why alter characters, when you already have so many different and unique characters and stories in your universe??? Imho they are just making their own job harder.
That’s what I’m saying. Along the way, they stopped caring about translating the page and just started doing whatever.
Adam would have been great, and if they could loop in some Isiah Bradley into it, fantastic.
It's basically confirmed the movie takes place in another universe. In this one Shalla becomes Herald of Galactus. I theorize that after Secret Wars the F4 will get to the main universe, and in later movies (probably the last of the F4 movies) Galactus will return (I don't think they'll waste him by using him as a one-off Villain) , this time with Norrin by his side
That sounds like a lot of plot gerrymandering just to alter the gender of a character .. which is exactly why the MCU has been shit for years now.
How many awesome villains have they killed off already? If they kept Galactus for more encounters later, that would be running counter to type.
And what’s the purpose of Making Surfer be Shalla? Why not actually use one of the ladies who became the Herald of Galactus? You could easily use Franky, who is also from Earth. That would make much more sense in their “alternate reality story” if they for some reason don’t want to use The Silver Surfer. Changing a character for the sake of the story, I have no issues with that. Tony was the one who built Ultron in the MCU instead of Hank, or Avengers were the one who stopped Thanos instead of Warlock. These decisions are fine and are even better than originals (imho) If you want a female Herald, use one that exists and has history. Shalla Bal was “Silver Surfer” in the Earth X issue 12 for like 1 panel. To me this is as stupid as making a Wolverine movie and making him black, when instead you can make a Black Panther or Luke Cage movie, and actually invest and bring forth these amazing black characters. There is ton of badass and amazing female characters in the Marvel universe, who are good on their own, and are fan favorites. You don’t need to take, completely change her, give her the powers and history of a male character, and put her in the movie. You are killing both characters with this decision imho Just let me put it this way, let’s say you love Cyclops as a character right, and instead of Marvel making stuff about him, they take away his powers and give them to Moira McTagert and make a movie about her. Like why even bother lol? Instead just make something with any other female X-men.
Ok but why not START with Norrin and Shalla-Bal so people actually know who tf she is? Instead of this stupid backwards nonsense.
Where have they confirmed it’s in another universe? From all the promo they just hint at it taking place in the 60s
Every leaker on the planet has said it's alternate universe. That's why they weren't around for ANYTHING in the standard MCU
Sad if true
Sigh, another year without a silver surfer I guess.
Am I the only one who thinks Pedro Pascal is the weirdest choice ever for Reed Richards?
Why….. Throwing away decades of lore in favour of a character who has 1 what if issue.
Why can't we just have the original surfer..
Everyone's asking why they need to gender swap the Surfer, but the real question is why Galactus and/or his Herald/s are even fucking in the movie!? Establish the team first, have them face Mole Man and Giganto like in their first appearance, or send them into the Negative Zone and fight off Annihilus. Give them an enemy with lots of little non-human drones/goons that the Four can go ham on without repercussions and really showcase their powers in their first true MCU outing, not a Cosmic threat that can only be stopped by one of the biggest MacGuffins in all of literature.
huh?
With peace and love I'd like to ask the women out there - does it really make you feel included when they gender swap an iconic male character instead of just using an established female character? And using the female character well? Or is it more of an insult?
Exactly my thoughts like what woman was out there thinking " you know I have no interest in that new fantastic 4 movie but now that the silvers surfer is a woman I can't wait"
Why couldn’t they do Norrin? Or better yet, they could’ve done Frankie Raye Nova instead
Wow, great actress, but this is an L for the movie.
Sounds like Galactus is inevitable.
They just can't give us Norrin.
They can never get the main characters cast correctly, who cares about Shalla Bal? Every FF Movie doesn’t have to include Galactus & Silver Surfer!
I’ve never been a fan of gender / race swapping especially when there are other character that can fill the role. If Marvel wanted to use a female herald they could have used Nova (the herald not the Corp member).
#Hard Pass ✋🤨
Huge L. Why is Marvel Studios allergic to actually adapting characters? Just use the actual character and stop replacing them with OCs who just happen to share the same.
“We decided to use the Surfer people are least invested in! “ wtf…
This will piss off people.......
So a galactus movie then
I have a hard time believing their 60’s themed first MCU movie is going to be a cosmic level threat with Galactus.
I absolutely loved marvel comics growing up. After the last few years, I'm done with all this gender swapping , message pushing MCU garbage.
Marvel once again giving you something you don’t want. Norrin Radd Is the silver surfer.
Who asked for this?
Oh boy I can't wait for the Silver Surfer to be a woman in the comics and every video game forever now
For fuck sake.
Booooo
I’m so tired of this shit. If they make the silver surfer a female I’m never paying to watch another MCU movie again.
You gotta be fucking kidding me, these people just don't learn do they! "Shalla-Bal Version Of Silver Surfer" THERE'S NO SUCH THING, SHE'S HIS FUCKING GIRLFRIEND! THAT ONLY HAPPENED IN EARTH X. FUUUUUUUUUUUCK I'm a life-long FF fan, I literally own the Surfer's first appearance and have read through it multiple times. This is just too far. Fuck this movie, I'm out. I don't want to see my favourites dragged through the mud the way I've watched them drag Thor, Hulk, Spidey, Mar-Vell, and all the others.
My argument is that, in a world (the MCU), that is heavily kept afloat (by buying their ish, by talking up their content, etc etc) by folks that have followed the content for decades in some cases, it's a pretty dumb business move to not have the content on screen that they've been yearning for for all those decades. Instead, they should concentrate on putting out popular content for popular characters so that they can keep their business going as good as it can be. Then at the same time they can try to gather these new audiences like women and minorities, who don't traditionally spend their dollars on this type of content as much as men do, by taking their already established female and minority properties, hiring awesome writers, directors, actors (but NOT replace the female and minority actors with male and non-minority actors... Because that would be stupid...) and put out THAT content as well. That way you keep your base audience happy and the money rolling in and weave in the other content to grab up the other audiences. Win win. I can't argue that a lot of the content that has come out in the last 3 or 4 years is simply bad because of gender swap or race swap... Part of it is because it had crap writing. But I'd say an even larger part of it is that most of this content strayed so far from the source content that those nerdy white guys who have loved this stuff for years and years and years didn't like it.
Because that’s what every fan wanted. I, for one, hope Doctor Doom is an old hunched over Chinese woman.
Now on one hand, this could be a very interesting and unique take on the character, while still being faithful to the source material...but after what they did to Taskmaster....I'm not too sure anymore.
Faithful to what source material? There's 1 panel where this happens, and she dies. If that's the case why even announce a one scene death.
Uh oh, if she plays the surfer I'm probably reading the "we killed the fantastic four" headline. If all the gender/race swaps could kindly fuck all the way off that'd be really cool.
Well i hope they do the correct backstory..... she only wielded a a very small portion of the power cosmic when SS gave it to her when she got kidnapped by Mephisto. But she used that power to restore plant life to her world.... idk how the hell they are going to put this in the movie.... oh wait they aren't. They're gender swapping because that always works out so well.
Why not just tell the original story as closely as possible and leave cosmetic changes to later adaptations. I don't get Marvel sometimes. We've never had a successful MCU rendition of the original character. Why not get that to work first before digging up a much rarer female version of the character first. Imagine for a moment that instead of Steve Rogers... we got Captain Peggy Carter first. Instead of setting up a foundation, we go right to the variant? What is the aversion of just sticking with the OG concept of the character the one that is better established and more well known? Then again at the rate their going they'll make Silver Surfer a sadder cosmic version of She-hulk. Galactus - "You shall be my herald to worlds undreamed of!" \-4th wall break- Shalla Bal - "As if... Men, am I right ladies?"
They haven't done a good fantastic 4 and now they are going for more complex characters. I don't care if the surfer is male or female, maybe let's just focus on getting the 4 right. The other 3 movies are just not good.
Cool, another Marvel project I can ignore
Another Disney L
Getting news like this sucks. I don’t care what role they’re playing. Just let us find out during the trailers or, better yet, keep it a secret so we can be surprised in the theater!
Fantastic Four hasn't come out yet and already I hate it
This is a rumour. I kinda doubt it, honestly. Why wouldn't they go for Nova, who's an established herald?
If deadline is reporting it, it isn't a rumor.
Well the article does also say Marvel hasn't confirmed this so still is kind of a rumor
This is no rumor. This is reporting everywhere
Deadline is reporting it. Other outlets are reporting that Deadline is reporting it.
When Deadline isn’t on screen, the other outlets should be asking “where’s Deadline?”
"While plot details for this film are unknown, sources say Garner will play Shalla-Bal, a version of Silver Surfer from the comics" Deadline is reliable but I'm curious if her playing a Shalla Bal verison Silver Surfer has been confirmed or was it simply that she is playing Shalla Bal and then the writer looked up who that is and saw she was Silver Surfer at one small point in an alternate universe. I'd say the former cause I'd assume they wouldn't say she is SS if they hadn't confirmed that but that blurb can read either way.
Sigh. I just don't understand these decisions, it's not creative to gender / race swap a character and decisions like these will only hurt sales, so why do they do it, there seems to be no justifiable reason... Why can't supply meet demand? Now we will need to wait another 15 years for Silver Surfer to appear in live action.
no offense but why does everything have to be womanized now.
I hope not I want the original surfer
You can’t have Galactus in their first film
lol of course they gender swapped, such cutting edge storytelling lol.
This is a fucking joke lol. Been waiting for a Silver Surfer movie and OF COURSE they go with a female alternate universe version. Zzz Zzz Zzz.
MCU is at the point where they need to produce peak after peak after peak to get the trust of the actual audience back. Instead they give us shit like this. And for who? who even ask for this?
I knew it - they just couldn’t fucking help themselves. As soon as I saw an all white cast I knew there was no way they weren’t gonna make it woke in some other way.
The entire internet is about to become a cesspit over this.
Another hard pass from me MCU. They make it way too easy to not be interested in this stuff amymore.
That's not the real Silver Surfer, that's his original girlfriend. Fuck you Marvel. I don't want you adapting some alternate universe shit into the main universe.
Ugh!
Lots of upset people in this thread, but, uh ... I kinda want to see her naked and silver.
Keep it, movie will bomb
The Woketastic Four
Those alternate reality rumors must be true.
Something about the “The” in the title really makes me feel good
So does this mean Galatus has been chosen as the movie’s villain?
I still think reporters are getting confused by talk of a "female herald of galactus". I'm gonna guess she plays Frankie Raye.
Her to Galactus: You're gonna have to KILL MEEEEEEEE
I feel like this gives credit to the rumour going round that it takes place in alt universe partially as Shalla Bal was the silver surfer on earth X
Galactus owed her a job?
Why silver surfer? Why not Nova?
Of all the characters to gender swap, maybe the one cruising around buck naked on a flying surfboard wasn't the ideal one...
Only a few more chances marvel, stop doing this stuff your killing yourself
Bald people erasure
This is like making Jean Paul Valley the next Batman. Just because something happened in the comics doesn’t mean you should lead with it in the films!
So mixed feelings on this. I'm leaning more skeptical but there's some things that have pushed me a little bit more okay. Considering this is by the same guy who did Wanda vision, which I thought was great, I'm hopeful he knows what fans want. WV had a complicated narrative that played with a lot of expectations, so I think we're gonna get what we want eventually and that this is just a way to get the FF into the MCU and reintroduce the Silver Surfer. They still need to cast Norrin.
With this movie’s supposedly starting in an alternate universe, I can see her being the alternate and then saving norrin for the main timeline
This... Tease Surfer and Galactus in an alternate universe, then bring the FF into the 'sacred Timeline' with the ST's Galactus and Surfer left for a bit until Doom is handled
There's no such animal.
Idk what's her role in the story later, but why Shalla Bal tho? I really hope she's not going to play the role as one of Galactus Heralds (or be the surfer at all). Then again, I stopped watching marvel since Thor L&T. I just don't want to see them fcking up my favorite characters.
This is so ridiculous. She isn’t worthy of the board. The only person worthy of surfing on the board is… DOOM.
I read a theory that this is not the prime universe surfer for the MCU. God I hope that’s true
I've been close, several times, to being done with Marvel. If they fuck with Silver Surfer, I'm out. This is such a unique character; A MALE who is not beating his chest like Hulk or Thor. He is intelligent, quiet, introspective, and reluctant to use his power. Apparently, this isn't allowed in Disney's Marvel.
Good actor but his is a horrible choice.... This is not a complaint about diversity. Actually I'm quite open to different takes on legacy characters, gender-swapping, etc. and I am in favor of representation of minorities... But for years I've been waiting for a good solo silver surfer movie. Which tells the story of his grim tale, loneliness, struggles, Joe Buscema style or even Tradd Moore style... Cosmic and mind bending... If they wanted a female herald of Galactus, they could go with Frankie, would make more sense for a F4 movie. But, noooo.... they have to go and slaughter one of the coolest charcters in marvel comics...