Let’s Stop Acting Like ‘Fantastic Four: First Step’s Female Silver Surfer Has Any Real Comic Book History
In seeking to either defend their favorite media franchise, keep their own hopes for the film alive, or even just ‘own the chuds’, a large swath of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans have recently taken to citing the supposed ‘comic book history’ of the female Silver Surfer, Shalla-bal, as proof that Fantastic Four: First Steps is finally delivering the source material accuracy many critics have long demanded.
But here’s the thing: Not only is this assertion wildly disingenuous, but it’s also 100% untrue.
For the best example of this phenomena, look no further than the myriad of such comments and retweets made in response to the film’s first official trailer, wherein Wolf Man (2025) star Julia Garner made her debut appearance as the live-action Herald of Galactus:
“Because at one point in the comic, they had two surfers simultaneously. Called the Twin Heralds, a lot of comic book casuals don’t know that though. So people are jumping the gun again crying woke. When it’s actually a part of the canon”
“Reactionary rage-bait YouTubers are dusting off their ‘M-She-U’ thumbnail templates because they’ve never read a comic and don’t know who Shalla-Bal is.”
“For people who are complaining about the female Silver Surfer please read this [link], she’s been around for a while, this isn’t some woke s–t by Marvel.”
“To the morons in the comments pick up a damn comic and actually read it. Then you’d know about Shalla and how she was the other Silver Surfer you idiots.”
And it’s not just fans on social media, but also those who write for the entertainment media, with Collider, GameRant, and CBR all recently having run stories attempting to claim that Shalla-bal’s time with the Power Cosmic is akshually well-established canon.
Yet, despite all the confidence with which this argument is regularly made, it is very obvious that those who make it have either never picked up a comic in their life or only learned about the whole of her history and that of the main Silver Surfer, her lover Norinn Radd, from various wiki entries.
Factually, these fans are correct in their assertions, as Shalla-bal has been depicted as the Silver Surfer in a comic book long before she was chosen for Fantastic Four.
However, what they fail to mention (likely as a result of having only learned of her existence as a ‘trivia fact’), is that not only is the ‘Twin Herald’ from another universe, but also that the totality of her time in the role amounts to seven panels (and a feature appearance on an Alex Ross cover) across two issues of a relatively obscure 1997 miniseries, three of which consist of her and Norrin appearing as bystanders to larger events, and eventually ends with her death at the hand of a Celestial.
I’ll repeat: The Shalla-bal Silver Surver appears in all of seven panels and a single cover across two issues of a nearly 30-year-old alternate universe miniseries before ultimately being killed.
(Likewise, the other female Silver Surfer pointed to by these disingenuous defenders, Juno, comes from an alternate universe and has only ever appeared in the four issues that make up the 2010 Hercules: Twilight of a God Vol. 1 miniseries.)
Now, this may be hard for younger readers to conceptualize, especially given how little has been done with him in recent years, but once upon a time the Silver Surfer was considered one of Marvel’s most popular characters.
First flying onto the comic book scene in 1966’s The Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48, the hero’s moral philosophizing was a perfect fit for the era’s ‘anti-authoritarian, question everything’ attitude, while his specific Jack Kirby-created alien aesthetics appealed to America’s growing sci-fi interests.
In turn, the Silver Surfer enjoyed a consistent popularity across the subsequent decades, with the 1970s seeing him almost receive a rock opera film starring Olivia Newton John and scored by Paul McCartney, the 1980s placing him at the forefront of Marvel Comics’ cosmic line thanks to the efforts of Jim Starlin, and the 1990s giving him both a solo video game and his own animated TV series.
As such, rather than complaints against the Surfer’s gender swapping being rooted in any sort of ‘misogyny’, by ignorance or otherwise, most of them (admittedly not all, as some are unfortunately rooted in wanton hatred) are instead simply borne from audiences being disappointed that they will not be seeing the version of a character they know best.
In other words, imagine if DC announced a new Batman movie featuring Nightwing, but rather than Dick Grayson, the person behind the mask would instead be Cheyenne Freemont, a woman who donned the identity for a total of two issues (and only ever appeared in five more) in 2006.
If you were a huge Nightwing fan, you’d at the very least be annoyed that the character you know and love wasn’t going to be the one you saw on the silver screen – and even moreso if a bunch of people pointed to Freemont’s wiki page and told you to ‘get over it, you whiny bigot’.
Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with being excited for either Fantastic Four: First Steps or the chance to see a female Silver Surfer – personally, while I’m obviously very annoyed by Marvel’s pandering with the cosmic hero, the first trailer did pique my interest in the film (and I’m fully ready and willing to accept my ‘Fell For It Again Award’ if it turns out to be terrible) and I’m open to seeing what Garner does with her role.
But in service of being intellectually honest, let’s at the very, very least be real with ourselves – and each other – about why some people might find this whole situation just a bit frustrating.
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