Rumor: Marvel Studios To Gender Swap Silver Surfer In Upcoming ‘Fantastic Four’ Reboot
Spencer Baculi
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Reset the clock: Having seemingly learned nothing from their recent string of misfires, a new rumor suggests that Marvel Studios’ upcoming reboot of the Fantastic Four will deviate from the First Family’s original comic book source material by portraying their sometimes-ally the Silver Surfer as a woman instead of a man.
Word of Marvel’s inability to kick their addiction to identity politics was first raised to the public by noted entertainment reporter Jeff Sneider during the November 9th episode of his and film critic John Rocha’s The Hot Mic podcast.
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Relaying information to his co-host originally provided to him by his own insider sources, Sneider asserted, “So, you know Galactus is going to be part of Fantastic Four. The idea is that one of his four heralds is going to be female – I have heard that the Silver Surfer is going to be female.”
Sneider would later reiterate this point in a November 15th post made to his personal website The InSneider, once again informing his readers, “And yes, you can expect to see a female Silver Surfer, as I noted on last week’s Hot Mic podcast”.
Notably, though still unofficially unconfirmed, Sneider’s tip lines up with a previous rumor from noted scooper MyTimeToShineHello’s which suggested that “Galactus’ herald in the MCU Fantastic Four reboot will be a woman.”
RELATED RUMOR: ‘Fantastic Four’ Film Will Feature A Female Herald Of Galactus
To that same end, it also interestingly lines up with a similar scoop from Geekosity’s Mikey Sutton, who in 2019 alleged that while the Power Cosmic will begin the film under the control of the Surfer himself, Norin-Radd, it will quickly thereafter find its way into the hands of yet another classic Marvel character, Frankie Raye.
However, after being imbued with this power, rather than carving out her own legacy under the mantle of Nova as she did in the comics, Raye will instead take-up the name of the Silver Surfer.
“Johnny Storm has fallen for a new girl, a gorgeous redhead named Frankie Raye,” wrote Sutton of the heroine’s supposed appearance in a now-deleted Facebook post. “One of the priorities for Marvel Studios when they debut the Fantastic Four into the MCU is to flesh out the characters in ways that Fox didn’t do. And there are several decades of comic books that Marvel Studios will pull from. They’re thinking of building up Raye as Johnny’s dream girl; his Mary Jane, if you will.”
“The Fantastic Four is still early in development but Raye is on their radar,” he added. “After the Silver Surfer is introduced as the herald of Galactus, it is a job that Norrin Radd doesn’t have for long. But who will take his place? And there lies the tragedy of Johnny’s love for Raye as she becomes Galactus’ new herald, just like she did in John Byrne’s classic ’80s FF comics. Raye appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but Marvel Studios wants to make her soar as a cosmic power, one that could provide a challenge for even Captain Marvel.”
Whether or not this gender-swap comes to fruition – oh, who are we kidding, of course it will – will undoubtedly be confirmed sometime in the months ahead of Fantastic Four‘s May 2nd, 2025 release date.
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