Silver Surfer will make her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, and a theory explains how she fits into the current MCU thanks to other, already established characters. The MCU continues its expansion with the Multiverse Saga, which has been introducing new heroes, allies, and villains since Black Widow, in 2021. The MCU is now preparing to close Phase 5 with some long-awaited projects and kick off Phase 6 with The Fantastic Four, which will mark the team’s debut in this connected universe.
The Fantastic Four will be directed by Matt Shakman with a script by Josh Friedman. The Fantastic Four will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and it has now found its Silver Surfer in Julia Garner. Of course, Garner’s Silver Surfer has raised questions about how she will fit into the MCU and its version of the Fantastic Four, and a theory explains how she, along with another villain, can be greatly beneficial to the MCU, more so after major changes to the Multiverse Saga’s main villain plans.
The MCU’s Multiverse Saga has faced various problems and received a lot of criticism, in large part because of how disconnected it feels, mostly when compared to the Infinity Saga. Despite its name, the multiverse hasn’t been explored as much and as deeply as expected, but through Silver Surfer and Galactus, The Fantastic Four can be the movie that (finally) ties the Multiverse Saga together. In addition to Silver Surfer making her MCU debut in The Fantastic Four, Galactus is reportedly going to be the main villain in this upcoming adventure.
Once Silver Surfer was confirmed, it was expected that Galactus would be announced as well given their comic book history. The Silver Surfer is a humanoid alien with metallic skin who travels through space in his surfboard-like craft. Silver Surfer saved his planet from being devoured by Galactus by serving as his herald. Galactus imbued him with some of his Power Cosmic and he started to travel through the cosmos searching for planets for Galactus to feed on. Although Silver Surfer and Galactus might seem out of place in the current MCU, it’s highly likely that they come from an alternate universe.
It’s possible that Galactus will be the reason for the Fantastic Four’s travels across the multiverse, but his search for planets to devour can link him to the MCU, making his (and Silver Surfer’s) introduction a lot smoother. A Reddit user suggested that, instead of looking for planets with unhatched Celestials, Galactus will be looking for “empty” planets, just like Earth after the Eternals stopped Tiamut’s emergence.
In addition to this, Thor: Love & Thunder addressed the presence of cosmic beings in the MCU, and Galactus is one of them. Galactus, then, could use Silver Surfer to find “empty” planets, and his presence as a cosmic entity makes more sense thanks to Love & Thunder.
In the comics, Shalla-Bal is the Empress of the planet Zenn-La and the lover of Norrin Radd, who went on to become Silver Surfer, thus separating them. After being taken to Earth by Mephisto and having her memory erased for some time, she returned to Zenn-La and was given a portion of the Power Cosmic. As Galactus had absorbed her planet (but spared its people), Shalla-Bal used her new powers to restore life to Zenn-La and became its leader. In one alternate reality, Shalla-Bal and Norrin Radd were both heralds of Galactus, thus being Silver Surfers.
The Earth-9997 version of Shalla-Bal has connections to some characters that have already been introduced in the MCU: the High Evolutionary and the Celestials, along with the Richards family. Radd/Silver Surfer realized Galactus was necessary to the cosmic balance, so along with the High Evolutionary, they convinced Franklin Richards to let the Evolutionary use his equipment to advance Franklin’s mutation, allowing him to assume the role of Galactus. As such, he allowed Radd and Shalla-Bal to be reunited, giving her the same Power Cosmic to turn her into a Silver Surfer.
However, when Galactus was called back to Earth to fight the Celestials, Shalla-Bal was killed in battle. With the High Evolutionary and the Celestials still a part of the MCU and the Richards family being introduced in The Fantastic Four (though, perhaps, Franklin won’t be introduced yet), Shalla-Bal already has some interesting connections to characters from the Multiverse Saga.
The TV series Loki has been key in the development and understanding of the MCU’s multiverse, especially season 2. After trying millions of ways to prevent the multiverse from endlessly branching out, Loki decided to literally take all the timelines, hold them together, and sit at He Who Remains’ throne at the Citadel at the end of Time to become the new Keeper of Time. With many more universes and worlds in the MCU, Galactus will have many more planets to feed from, posing a threat to not just every timeline but also Loki himself, as he’s now overseeing the entire multiverse.
Although it seemed like Kang the Conqueror and his variants would be the big bad guys to defeat in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, Marvel is now reportedly moving away from Kang – however, the MCU had already set a couple of things up with Kang. As his name says, Kang was the conqueror of planets and universes across the multiverse, but Galactus goes above and beyond by being the devourer of worlds. Kang’s setup can be used to introduce Galactus, which in turn makes Shalla-Bal’s introduction easier.
Shalla-Bal and Galactus’ introductions in The Fantastic Four can be greatly beneficial to the MCU’s Multiverse Saga by tying it together through their connections to other characters in the MCU, even if they come from an alternate timeline. Whatever Shalla-Bal and Galactus end up triggering across the universe can help set up the upcoming team-up films, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, making the transition from Kang to a different massive conflict a lot easier.