It was recently announced that the MCU would be getting a new version of the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four, and Marvel has hopefully learned some lessons from the last time they adapted the character for live-action. The first live-action version of the Silver Surfer appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Though the movie had a host of issues, from a messy plot to thin characters, the movie’s handling of the Surfer and Galactus stands out as a major missed opportunity – and one the MCU timeline can make up for.
Now, years after Disney re-acquired the rights to use The Fantastic Four in a movie, Marvel is set to try again. The MCU’s version of the Silver Surfer will be played by acclaimed actor Julia Garner. Unlike the previous incarnation, Garner will be playing Shalla-Bal instead of the conventional version of the Surfer: Norrin Radd. Marvel has had a long time to examine the issues with the previous live-action Silver Surfer, so expectations are high that they will have taken some notes on what did and didn’t work in the previous version.
The previous live-action Silver Surfer was mainly framed in a very inhuman way. From his demeanor to just some of the ways he moved or was framed served to create a sense of otherness about him. While this makes sense in as far as establishing the overall characterization of the character, this bled into scenes where more emotion or authenticity would’ve allowed the audiences to connect more with the character, and potentially be more invested in the events of the film.
Even when he was connecting with Sue Storm or other members of The Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer did so in a cold and stilted way that felt more like a robot trying to emulate human emotions than a truly sentient being with his own thoughts and feelings – which would now also risk veering too close to White Vision’s current story were the MCU to mirror this approach identically. It also didn’t help that any attempt to humanize Silver Surfer came later in the movie.
Although the Surfer was originally portrayed as very alien in Marvel Comics, Marvel would arguably benefit from trying to humanize the character more in the MCU. Since the character’s debut, the Surfer has grown to be a more compassionate character and one who cares deeply for the well-being of others. The MCU has already proven its ability to make non-human characters have just as much emotional depth as human ones, as evidenced by characters like Rocket Raccoon. Marvel should continue this trend with Silver Surfer instead of sticking with the 1960s framing of the character from the original comic.
Galactus may have been the main antagonist in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but it’s hard to say the character was actually in the movie. Instead of a living being who spoke and interacted with other characters, Galactus was just a giant smoke cloud that sent tendrils into planets to drain them. While the Silver Surfer and Galactus were technically on screen together several times, there was no real sense of their relationship due to the way the movie chose to portray Galactus.
It seems pretty unlikely that the MCU will go the same route of making Galactus just a cloud of smoke. This is especially true if Marvel wants Galactus to stick around as a part of the wider MCU, not just a part of The Fantastic Four. Apart from just making Galactus an actual character, Marvel could also benefit from including a scene between Silver Surfer and Galactus to help establish their relationship and why Silver Surfer would be willing to turn on Galactus.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer made the creative choice that the Silver Surfer’s powers would come from contact with his board. This had the unfortunate side effect of limiting the possible action sequences involving the Surfer, as he would no longer have powers if separated from the board itself. As is, the movie largely involved scenes of characters chasing the Surfer while he was on his board.
This issue would only be compounded in the MCU where the Silver Surfer will presumably stick around for several projects. It’s not hard to imagine that Marvel would start to run out of creative ways to utilize the character in action scenes if she is stuck to her board. It would also leave the character with a pretty glaring weakness that the MCU’s variety of villains could easily exploit.
Marvel Comics already has a solution for this issue, since the board isn’t typically the source of the Silver Surfer’s powers. The Surfer is granted access to something known as the Power Cosmic by Galactus which is what allows him to serve as Galactus’ herald. While the board should still be an important tool used by Shalla-Bal in the MCU, Marvel should also make it possible for her to be effective without it to allow for a wider variety of scenes.
The earlier scenes of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer don’t give much indication that the Silver Surfer is anything more than a willing participant in Galactus’ destruction of worlds. Though this is fine to start, the Surfer’s eventual redemption feels a little rushed when he suddenly takes a liking to Sue Storm after showing no signs of empathy beforehand. This comes after scenes of the Surfer causing destruction across the globe that very nearly results in innocent peoples’ deaths, and him almost killing the Human Torch by dropping Johnny from the stratosphere.
Though the Silver Surfer will likely start as some form of antagonist, that doesn’t mean her face turn needs to be as abrupt in the MCU. Marvel can have Shalla-Bal showing a bit more compassion earlier, hinting at the fact that she isn’t happy about the job she has to do for Galactus. This would help lay the groundwork for her eventual redemption, instead of it happening simply because someone reminds her of a former love interest.
The Silver Surfer’s powers were pretty ill-defined in Rise of the Silver Surfer. This isn’t necessarily a huge problem for an older superhero movie like this that is meant to serve more as a standalone story, but this type of loose explanation would be a disservice to the MCU. Having a better understanding of how the Silver Surfer, and by extension Galactus, have their powers and what they can do would give audiences a better indication of how they stack up in the wider Marvel Universe.
The Fantastic Four can solve this problem by giving a quick explanation of the source of Silver Surfer’s powers: The Power Cosmic. The Power Cosmic is a source of cosmic energy that is held by Galactus. Galactus grants some of this power to his heralds, who in turn also have the power to give others a portion of the power. In Marvel Comics, this is how Shalla-Bal originally gained some powers from the original Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd.
The previous live-action Silver Surfer missed out on an easy way to help humanize Norrin Radd a bit more: showing his original form. Although Norrin is from another planet, he originally looked very human, and it was only after being given the Power Cosmic that he turned into the Silver Surfer. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opted not to show Norrin’s original form, even though he should have reverted to it when being separated from the Power Cosmic in the movie.
While a character doesn’t need to look human for audiences to connect with them, this is an easy way to show there’s more to the Silver Surfer than the character’s shiny silver facade. Showing Shalla-Bal’s original form could help audiences begin to sympathize with her more after she does some seemingly villainous things earlier in the movie. This would also give Julia Garner a chance to be a bit more expressive in her performance than may be permitted by a shiny silver exterior.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer split acting duties for the character between two performers. Laurence Fishburne provided the voice, while Doug Jones did the on-screen work for the character which was supplemented by CGI. Though the MCU has had success with this technique, with characters like Rocket being played by both Sean Gunn and Bradley Cooper, this presents more risk of cognitive dissonance for a non-anthropomorphic character.
While watching the previous live-action Silver Surfer, it’s hard not to feel some cognitive dissonance when hearing what is clearly Laurence Fishburne’s voice come out of what is clearly Doug Jones’ face, which can make the performance feel a bit disjointed. It also likely left both actors having to do their own separate interpretations of the character’s feelings in each given scene, and the editors the unenviable task of finding takes that best matched.
The MCU could easily fix this in The Fantastic Four by simply having Julia Garner play Shalla-Bal on set. This is likely the route Marvel will go, seeing as they did the same with Josh Brolin for Thanos. This will let Garner more fully embody the role, instead of simply having her voice come out of another person’s mouth, or having to try and match up with the voice of another actor.
How Galactus is ultimately defeated in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a complicated topic. When Silver Surfer decides he will help Earth defeat Galactus, he doesn’t need any help from the movie’s heroes. Instead, he simply flies up into the big Galactus cloud and explodes. While it initially seems like a sacrifice by the Surfer, the post-credits scene reveals that he survives, having defeated Galactus. This raises the question of why the Surfer wouldn’t have just immediately turned on Galactus to keep his people safe, or why Galactus would give Norrin enough power to defeat him.