Marvel Studios showed a brand-new take on the Silver Surfer in the second trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, as many wonder why the character is a woman.
With just over three months until The Fantastic Four’s release, Marvel Studios gave fans a second trailer teasing what to expect in the MCU’s second 2025 film. Showing off the team’s powers and villains, director Matt Shakman and co. appear set to deliver adventure inspired directly by the team’s earliest days in the comics.
Considering this is being the fourth film Marvel’s First Family, Marvel Studios hopes to utilize the Four in ways never seen before. While some of that will happen with the core heroes, the villains are not exempt from that trend either.
Who is The Fantastic Four's Female Silver Surfer? And Why Is She a Girl?
The second official trailer for Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps included the first look at the MCU's take on the Silver Surfer. In this film, the character is now depicted as a woman, with the role of Shalla-Bal's Surfer being played by Julia Garner.
While this could be seen as something of a departure from the usual male version of the Silver Surfer seen in past releases, the female Silver Surfer has been part of Marvel Comics since 1968. The Norrin Radd take was first seen in live-action in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, played by Laurence Fishburne.
In Fantastic Four lore, the Silver Surfer is known as the herald of Galactus, who will be First Steps' main antagonist (played by Ralph Ineson). While Shalla-Bal was first depicted as the Silver Surfer's love interest, she became the Surfer herself in various comic runs.
For the MCU, Marvel Studios likely decided to use the female Surfer due to the cast already being filled largely with male characters. Three of the four core team members are men, and out of the 10 main cast members in The Fantastic Four, there are six men and four women.
This decision will also help the MCU's Fantastic Four movie stand alone from its Fox-produced predecessors while giving something fans have never seen before in live-action.
The full second trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps can be seen below:
Shalla-Bal's Role in The Fantastic Four & Beyond
This new trailer seems to take the Silver Surfer's most notable traits from the comics and implant them directly into her live-action depiction for The Fantastic Four.
Just like in the comics, the Surfer comes to Earth to warn the Fantastic Four that their "planet is now marked for death" at the hands of Ralph Inseon's Galactus. This also happened with Laurence Fishburne's Surfer in 2007's Rise of the Silver Surfer, but now, it will have even more drastic ramifications in the MCU.
Unlike the 2007 film, there is a real chance that Galactus follows through with his threat and destroys the Fantastic Four's native Earth, forcing their move to Earth-616. While the team was already set to join the cast of 2026's Avengers: Doomsday, their world being gone would only solidify their place in the story.
Following this movie, the plan for Galactus and the Silver Surfer has not been teased, although they most likely would not be relegated to only one MCU appearance.
Looking ahead, with Doomsday pitting the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men against Doctor Doom, The Fantastic Four's villains could be in play for a resurgence alongside Robert Downey Jr.'s antagonist. For now, however, they are set to bring another universe's Earth to potentially its final days of existence.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is due to hit theaters on July 25.
