New Fantastic Four 2025 Concept Art Proves Silver Surfer's Planet Almost Looked Way Better

Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the MCU's final 2025 movie, almost brought a much different look for the Silver Surfer's home planet to the big screen. Following the movie's release in theaters, fans have gotten a look at concept art showing the development process for the Fantastic Four's long-awaited debut in the MCU. Considering the film's relatively short runtime, plenty of material was left on the drawing board and never made it to the shooting schedule.

Concept art showed off a new look at the Silver Surfer's home planet, Zenn-La, from The Fantastic Four: First Steps. These images come from the Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps – The Art Of The Movie book, which features concept art for all of the MCU movie's biggest moments (including unused designs for characters like HERBIE).

In the book, images show a version of Zenn-La with a fully fleshed-out society filled with people living their everyday lives. This includes a look at one of the many likely cities on this planet, complete with homes and walkways on the side of a mountain and bigger communal gathering areas with dome-shaped roofs. Another image shows off a large cliff on the side of the beach, and it has a massive statue depicting a surfer on a surfboard hanging over the edge.

Another statue of a surfer (this one adorned in gold) stands tall in the middle of the city next to the beach, with people standing around it in the pavilion and looking at the sunset. Some of this planet's bird life can also be seen flying behind the statue and in front of one of Zenn-La's moons.

Other images highlight a more intimate look at life on Zenn-La, one showing a mother holding her baby inside a house with a circular window overlooking the ocean.

The fashion on Zenn-La is also put into the spotlight, as two women show off dresses and cloaks that use a combination of reds, golds, and purples.

Readers also get a closer look at Zenn-La's beaches, as a couple meditates on the sand while a surfer crashes out in the waves.

As noted in the book, the planet was developed to look like somewhere people would "want to go to on vacation," according to concept illustrator Ian Joyner. Surfing was also confirmed to be a key part of Shalla-Bal's background on Zenn-La, as Joyner said it was "something intrinsic to her character" rather than her getting the surfboard from Galactus. Additionally, the golden statue is meant to honor and celebrate Shalla-Bal's sacrifice, as she went with Galactus in exchange for him sparing her world:

"The idea was that surfing would be something intrinsic to her character, rather than the board being bestowed on her by Galactus. To integrate that world and culture into her actual 'before time,' so that, even if she loses whatever else of herself there was, that is still ingrained in there for some reason. It's one of those little things that retains her, not humanity, but whatever the Zenn-La equivalent is. With the golden statue, we were imagining how, many years later. Shalla-Bal's sacrifice has not been forgotten-instead, they celebrate it.'

In the final cut of the movie, fans only see Julia Garner's Shalla-Bal, the film's female Silver Surfer, walking on a beach with her child before Galactus' ship enters the atmosphere.

All that can be seen besides the beach is one of Zenn-La's moons in the background and one of the mountains behind Shalla-Bal and her daughter.

In total, the footage from the movie lasted for less than 40 seconds and only showed a glimpse of Shalla-Bal's life on her home planet before Galactus turned her into the Silver Surfer. The footage in question was only shot a couple of months before The Fantastic Four's release, as Garner was seen in this costume on a beach in Los Angeles, California in May 2025.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps was Marvel Studios' final movie released in 2025 and the first film included in the MCU's Phase 6 slate. Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the film picks up four years after the titular team forms, as they must confront the threat of Galactus and his quest to consume their planet. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now streaming on Disney+.

Will Julia Garner's Silver Surfer Return to the MCU?

While Julia Garner's Silver Surfer went through plenty of changes in her own development process, she became one of the most pivotal pieces of The Fantastic Four's plot. Now, the question moving forward is what will happen with the character after a shocking ending to her first-ever project in the MCU.

That movie ended with the Surfer turning on Galactus, blasting towards him, pushing him into the interdimensional portal that Reed Richards created, leaving him stranded on the other end of the universe. While Galactus may not kill her, even though he still stands as one of the MCU's most lethal villains, their relationship is forever changed after her betrayal.

For the time being, the Fantastic Four will be busy in the near future, as they are set to play pivotal roles in the MCU's next major team-up movie, Avengers: Doomsday. While they are busy uniting the Avengers and other heroes against Doctor Doom in that film and Avengers: Secret Wars, Galactus is sure to be retooling his efforts to come after Earth-828.

Where the Silver Surfer sits in this is a mystery, although rumors have pointed to the character being in line to get her own Disney+ Special Presentation. This could explore either more of her past or where she is in the present day, but whenever that project comes to life, the Surfer is sure to be someone fans have their eye on after such an intriguing origin in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.