Marvel‘s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” sees “Ozark” actress Julia Garner playing a new on-screen version of the classic cosmic superhero Silver Surfer, and she recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly in a new interview about the character. Teasing that The Surfer’s allegiances to the planet-eating villain Galactus might be so cut-and-dry.
Garner’s take on the Silver Surfer is inspired by the “Earth-X” comics, a rather big Multiverse event. In those comics, Norrin Radd’s (the traditional male version of Silver Surfer) long-lost lover, Shalla-Bal, the Empress of the planet Zenn-La, becomes Galactus’ herald, seeking out planets for him to consume.
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“It was described as there’s this mystery about her, and there’s this sense of this ambiguous energy going on of whether she’s good or not. She is the herald of Galactus, so she works for Galactus, but you’re not sure where she stands. Does she stand with her boss, or is she just doing what she’s told? She has this mysterious energy about her, and slowly that mystery will get solved with the audience throughout watching it,” Garner said of her new take on the iconic herald.
“This Silver Surfer feels more mysterious in a way, even how it was written, than the other ones. Also, just the world feels so different with the 1960s retro futurism going on. The audience is going to get a completely different experience with this movie, so they’ll have a clean palette.”
“Well, there were certain things that were very important to know prior to signing on — I did not know that there was Shalla-Bal, for example, another form of a Silver Surfer that’s not like what you think of the Silver Surfer. The best parts of the comics I noticed, for me, and it’s the same when you watch the movies, is when it’s surfing around space. Aesthetically, it looks incredible, and I’m just really excited to see what [director] Matt [Shakman] and Marvel is going to do with that.”
Interestingly enough, a version of Galactus ends up becoming a heroic figure by joining the ranks of the Marvel team, The Ultimates. Fighting alongside the likes of Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and America Chavez (nearly all of them already inhabiting the MCU). So, in theory, we could end up seeing a complex take on the gigantic baddie depending on the studio’s plans for him.
Others we’ll see in the Shakman-directed MCU pic are Pedro Pascal as Dr. Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, Ralph Ineson as the mighty Galactus, Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles.
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“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is heading to theaters on July 25, and the main lineup of actors is confirmed to be appearing in “Avengers: Doomsday.”
