The latest casting news out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe today turned out to be a big surprise not just because of who was cast but also because of who they’re playing.
Julia Garner, best known for roles in Ozark and the Netflix scammer biopic Inventing Anna will reportedly be joining the cast of The Fantastic Four. She’ll be playing the role of Shalla-Bal, a longstanding character with a new role in the MCU — that of the Silver Surfer, a longtime antagonist/supporting character of the titular Marvel First Family.
The news has both casual MCU heads and hardcore comics readers flustered; isn’t the Silver Surfer supposed to be Norrin Radd, the first herald of the world-eating Galactus? And has there ever been a female Silver Surfer? Read on, True Believer…
Has There Ever Been A Woman Silver Surfer?
The answer is, like most things when it comes to 80-plus years of comic book history, complicated.
in the main Marvel Comics continuity, the Silver Surfer has always been Norrin Radd of the planet Zenn-La, who took on the role of herald in exchange for Galactus sparing his homeworld from its apocalyptic fate. Shalla-Bal was his romantic partner and has sporadically appeared in his comics stories as either a romantic interest or an antagonist over the years.
However, in the 1999 limited series Earth-X, the usual Marvel canon was turned inside-out to depict a potential dystopian future for the Marvel Universe (now, there are like a hundred of those, but in 1999, this was still a relatively novel concept). One of the biggest changes was splitting the Silver Surfer persona between Radd and Bal, who are now twin heralds of a reborn Galactus after the original was killed in his first encounter with the Fantastic Four — the opposite outcome of one of the foundational stories of the Marvel Universe.
As with plenty of characters from the comics, the MCU is finding a new twist on the publisher’s 60-year history to tell different stories with its long-established characters. If it feels like a lot to keep track of, just remember: The important thing is not to be an ass about it just because the adaptation tried something new.
