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Julia Garner plays the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps - but not the main one we know from comics. Instead of the original Norrin Radd Silver Surfer, Garner portrays Shalla-Bal, Norrin's love interest, and one of the rulers of his home planet. It's not an unprecedented change, as Shalla-Bal has been the Silver Surfer in some alt-realities in the Multiverse, much like the one inhabited by the FF in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
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 demonic Mephisto, himself a recent addition to the MCU, come into play?
Silver Surfer's girlfriend
Shalla-Bal's comic book story is inextricably tied to that of Norrin Radd, the classic Silver Surfer. As told in 1968's Silver Surfer #1 by Stan Lee and John Buscema, where Shalla-Bal first appears, both she and Norrin were residents of the planet Zenn-La. But their world is shaken (literally) when the planet-eating cosmic being known as Galactus appears over Zenn-La with plans to consume it as his next meal.
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.
Pawn of cosmic supervillains
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.
But Shalla-Bal wouldn't stay on Zenn-La for long. Thanks to the machinations of the devilish Mephisto, who was by then an arch-enemy to the Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal wound up trapped on Earth in the guise of a human woman named Helena - a Latverian subject of Doctor Doom, who became Doom's unwitting bride for several years.
If that sounds as upsetting as it is complicated, we're not even getting into the half of it, including multiple kidnappings by Mephisto, the death and rebirth of Zenn-La at least twice, and more - meaning that when you get into the nuts-and-bolts of it all, Shalla-Bal has an incredibly complex history for a character who has mostly been an unwitting pawn for the better part of her nearly 60 year existence.
Empress of Zenn-La
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.
Though Shalla-Bal's attempts at conquest were thwarted by the Silver Surfer, she retaliated by expelling him permanently from Zenn-La and revoking his place among their people.
Becoming the Silver Surfer
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 became the Silver Surfer - or more accurately, a Silver Surfer - in the 1999 alt-reality comic Earth X by writer Jim Kreuger, co-creator and designer Alex Ross, and interior artist John Paul Leon, which is about heroes finding the first rays of hope in an increasingly dystopian future.
In that story, the original Galactus dies and is replaced by Franklin Richards, who uses his cosmic abilities to ascend into the form of Galactus. As the new Galactus, he reunites Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal by imbuing her with the same Power Cosmic that transformed Norrin Radd into the Silver Surfer, with the pair sharing a cosmic surfboard as the two sentinels of the spaceways.
Norrin Radd is about to die in comics, to be replaced by a new female Silver Surfer who bears a closer resemblance to Julia Garner's MCU version. That said, we don't yet know if that's Shalla-Bal or a new character altogether.
Shalla-Bal in the MCU
Shalla-Bal's role as the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is much the same as the Surfer's traditional role in comics, as the herald of Galactus who foreshadows his coming on Earth, promising abject destruction - just as in the classic Galactus Saga told in 1966's Fantastic Four #48-50.
What's extra interesting at this point is that, since Julia Garner was first announced as the Silver Surfer, her demonic nemesis Mephisto has made his debut, played by Sacha Baron-Cohen in Iron Heart.
Given Shalla-Bal's connections to Mephisto as a target of his devilish obsessions as well as his history as one of the classic Silver Surfer Norrin Radd's primary arch-enemies, and the fact that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has teased Mephisto's return, it's entirely possible that they'll be on an MCU collision course at some point.
We'll know more when we find out exactly how the FF make it to the main MCU reality. The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25 to kick off Marvel Phase 6. For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
