Marvel Fans Were Confused About the Female Silver Surfer & Then It Finally Made Sense
Marvel’s new movie completely changed a key character’s arc, but some think they cracked Kevin Feige’s tricky idea.
Released a decade after the most recent failed adaptation, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has finally done justice to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s comics, even though it might not be as faithful to the original source material.
Marvel’s fans first raised their concerns when Julia Garner joined the movie’s leading cast as Silver Surfer, a character traditionally portrayed as a male and not female.
Others, however, found a pretty reasonable explanation — and somehow it has to do with yet another character.
Why Is Silver Surfer a Woman in ‘The Fantastic Four: The First Steps’?
In Marvel’s brand new movie, Silver Surfer presumably appears as a female because they’re not Norrin Radd, but rather Shalla-Bal.
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In Lee and Kirby’s comic books, Shalla-Bal is the lover of Norrin Radd, who is traditionally considered the Silver Surfer, and has nothing to do with the latter’s superpowers whatsoever.
However, The Fantastic Four: First Steps features Julia Garner as a different version of Shalla-Bal, introducing her as a scientist from Zenn-La who becomes the Silver Surfer to protect her family and planet.
Apart from that, the character isn’t a gender-swapped version of Norrin Radd either, becoming a superhero of her own in the new interpretation.
As some Marvel fans also suggested, Shalla-Bal’s changed storyline might be drawing a compelling parallel with the story of the original Silver Surfer that never appeared in the movie.
“In the comics Silver Surfer is Norin Rad, who sacrifices himself to Galactus and becomes G's herald in order to both save his homeworld and the woman he loves. Shalla Bal. In this movie Shalla-Bal sacrifices herself to save her homeworld and Norrin Radd”, Redditor nerdwerds shared their thoughts several months ago in a thread.
