The rumors are true, and MCU fans will see a female Silver Surfer grace the screen in The Fantastic Four. Only days ago, Marvel Studios and Disney reportedly found their Surfer in Julia Garner. She is best known for playing Ruth on the hit Netflix drama, Ozark, a role that landed her three Emmy awards.
For several months, the gossip sites were certain that Marvel Studios was looking to add both the Surfer and Galactus to The Fantastic Four despite having already seen versions of the characters in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer. In that dud of a film, Laurence Fishburne voiced the titular Surfer. Rather than giving audiences what they've already seen, the sites reported that Marvel Studios was leaning toward a female Surfer as Galactus' herald. It would seem those mystery sources were correct.
Rather than gender-swapping Norrin Radd, Marvel will introduce the Surfer as Shalla-Bal. That will cause an immediate shift in the comic collecting axis beginning with these key issues.
No matter who is under the power cosmic's silver shine, the Surfer's first appearance will be the comic to own. This has long been a holy grail among Silver Age collectors as both the Silver Surfer and Galactus made their debuts in the same issue. The Jack Kirby cover has become iconic artwork that is oft imitated which only adds to FF #48's appeal. Whether it's Norrin or Shalla-Bal, collectors will forever and always target this key along with FF #49 and #50 to complete the Galactus Trilogy.
The Surfer's first self-titled comic has been hot for years, and now it's going to get even more popular. Besides being a key moment in the character's history, it also marks the first appearance of the soon-to-be-famous Shalla-Bal. Of course, she was a rather minor character in this particular comic, but that's beside the point. Now that we know she'll be the cinematic Surfer, collectors and investors will set their crosshairs directly on Silver Surfer #1.
You can expect to see this issue making the rounds in short order.
Based on famed artist Alex Ross' vision of a dystopian Marvel Universe, this 1999 series featured variants of Marvel's most famous heroes. In this world, Black Bolt releases the Terrigen Mist onto Earth in an effort to transform all of mankind into Inhumans. The act set off a reaction of events that created new versions of the Marvel Universe. As you might have guessed, it also gave readers their first look at Shalla-Bal as the Earth X Silver Surfer. However, she wasn't the only Surfer. On Earth-9997, Franklin Richards became Galactus and used the power cosmic to reunite Shalla-Bal with Norrin Radd as his twin heralds.
SILVER SURFERS?
Since Marvel Studios announced the FF's casting in February, it was revealed that the film would not be set in the modern MCU. Rather, the events will take place in the 1960s. Since then, there's been a popular theory that The Fantastic Four will actually take place in an alternate universe parallel to that of the MCU. With Shalla-Bal taking up the Silver Surfer mantle, some fans are taking this as further evidence to the speculation. If the action does take place on Earth-9997, then it could mean we'll see both Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfers.
