The Fantastic Four: First Steps- Who is the Female Silver Surfer and Where is Norrin Radd?

The new trailer of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is here, and it is going viral already! MCU fans are stunned by the many new revelations in the trailer, but one thing is throwing everyone off- the female Silver Surfer played by Julia Garner. 

Fans who have watched the 2005 film, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, were quite surprised when they saw that the character was a woman in the MCU’s upcoming film. In the 2005 movie, Laurence Fishburne voiced the character while Doug Jones was the person in the mo-cap suit. 

So, is the female Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps just a genderbent version? And why is she the Silver Surfer when in the previous Fantastic Four films it was a man? In this article, we will explore who she is and more. 

Female Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer

In the new trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, released on April 17, we see Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer arrive on Earth to warn the titular group of heroes about the plans of the villain Galactus. “This planet is now marked for death” she says. We also see Johnny Storm trying to catch her. 

He flies toward her but just as he grabs a hold of her board, his fire extinguishes and after she kicks him, he plummets back down to Earth. We also see her surfing on her board through an explosion. While her name isn’t mentioned in the trailer, it looks like she is Shalla-Bal from Marvel Comics. Check out the new trailer below:

Who is Shalla-Bal?

In the pages of Marvel comics, the name of the female Silver Surfer is Shalla-Bal. She was created by Stan Lee and artist John Buscema and appeared in August 1968’s issue #1 of The Silver Surfer. The male Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd, and Shalla-Bal is his love interest. 

She is the Empress of Zenn-La, a planet in the Deneb System, Milky Way Galaxy. When Galactus came to their planet, Norrin Radd agreed to be his herald in exchange for Zenn-La’s freedom. After Radd gained his cosmic powers, he remained separated from Shalla-Bal for a long time. 

However, the Silver Surfer rebelled against his master, who then trapped him on Earth as punishment. Mephisto then realized that his separation from Shalla-Bal pained him, and so he used her as a pawn to get his noble soul. Mephisto made Shalla-Bal believe that she was a citizen of Latveria called Helena. 

After many trials and tribulations which included Galactus invading Zenn-La because of the Silver Surfer’s betrayal, a fight with The Fantastic Four and more, the Surfer bestowed Shalla-Bal with a portion of his powers. This allowed her to restore life on Zenn-La. This act made everyone accept her as their Empress. 

However, the responsibilities of her position made her refuse marriage to the Surfer, and this ended their relationship. 

Why is Shalla-Bal in the movie and not Norrin Radd?

A strong theory going around is that Norrin Radd will be introduced in other Fantastic Four movies, while Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer is just going to be a one-off appearance. This is because The Fantastic Four might be the only ones who will be able to escape their universe getting obliterated either in this movie or in the upcoming Avengers films.

So, if the makers had used Norrin Radd, then it would have been a waste as they would have written themselves into a corner. On the other hand, another speculation is also that the MCU bosses didn’t want to repeat the same male Silver Surfer design of Norrin Radd from the 2005 Fantastic Four movie, and also didn’t want to be compared to that. So, they decided to bring their own version.

Which of these theories is true will be revealed when The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in theaters on Friday, July 25, 2025.