World News

How Does Silver Surfer’s Tragic Backstory in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Compare to the Comics?

July 28, 2025

The Silver Surfer has been one of Marvel’s best characters from the start, and now The Fantastic Four: First Steps gives us a new iteration, played by Julia Garner. In the movie, she plays Shalla-Bal, the herald of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), who comes to Earth-828 to announce that the end has come, as her master is on his way to devour the planet. She is given a brief backstory thanks to Johnny Storm’s (Joseph Quinn) unique understanding of her character: as it turns out, she once had a baby daughter on the planet Zenn-La, which was marked for destruction by Galactus. To prevent the death of her child and her homeworld, Shalla-Bal offered herself to Galactus and became his herald.

However, ever since Garner was announced as the Silver Surfer, there has been some controversy around the role. That’s because, in the original Marvel Comics, the Sentinel of the Spaceways is traditionally a male called Norrin Radd. The gender swap has angered some people who can’t simply enjoy movies, but, as it turns out, First Stepsdoes a good job of adapting the Surfer’s essence as developed by legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby, the character’s creator, by preserving the essential story beats and even improving some key aspects. As in every adaptation, changes have to be made, but, as different as Shalla-Bal can be from Norrin Radd, she works just as well.

Traditionally in the Comics, the Silver Surfer Is Norrin Radd, Not Shalla-Bal

Image via Marvel Comics

While the essence of the Silver Surfer remains the same in First Steps, the actual story was heavily altered to fit the movie’s plot. Shalla-Bal has always been a key part of the Silver Surfer’s own story, but in a different role. She is actually the empress of Zenn-La and Norrin Radd’s lover. They have known each other since childhood, and Shalla-Bal has always stood by him as he chased his dream of traveling through the stars as a scientist. This dream eventually came true, but not how Radd had intended. One day, Galactus arrives to consume Zenn-La, and, to prevent it, Radd offers himself to become his herald in exchange for Galactus sparing his homeworld.

To perform his duties, Galactus bestows upon Radd a small fraction of the Power Cosmic, which is mentioned in First Steps, but not fully addressed. It’s the power wielded by Galactus, who is neither good nor evil, but a cosmic force. Radd’s entire body is covered by a silver shell, and he gains countless abilities, like cosmic awareness, phasing, and even matter manipulation. He also fashions himself a surfboard as his vehicle of choice, allowing him to be in direct contact with the universe during his travels. In his years of servitude, however, Radd grew detached from his feelings as he went from planet to planet announcing the coming of Galactus. It’s only on Earth that he is once again convinced of the inherent value of life and the strength and valor of the human spirit.

Just like in First Steps, the Silver Surfer’s first-ever appearance also happens with the New York sky being seemingly set aflame in the comics. The Fantastic Four give chase until Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) punches him unconscious, falling from the top of a skyscraper. The Surfer eventually wakes up in Alicia Masters’ studio, the blind sculptor who is also Grimm’s girlfriend in the comics. Their exchange proves to the Surfer that humans are worthy beings and capable of greatness, and he decides to turn on Galactus to help them. The heroes eventually gain the upper hand against the Devourer of Worlds and convince him to retreat, but, before leaving, Galactus binds the Silver Surfer to Earth so he can’t leave.

Shalla-Bal Does Become the Silver Surfer Once in the Comics, but Not Like in ‘First Steps’

For comic book purists, however, one could argue that there is, in fact, a story in which Shalla-Bal becomes the Silver Surfer, too. In the Earth-X continuity in the comics, the Surfer’s tale is essentially the same, except that Galactus is considerably different; he’s actually Franklin Richards. After some fighting occurs against an overpowering enemy takes place, Galactus “forgives” Norrin Radd and blesses Shalla-Bal with the Power Cosmic as well, finally allowing them to be together and making them “twin heralds.” It’s a very different approach to the one First Steps takes, but each story works very well on its own.

The whole controversy around the Silver Surfer’s gender swap in First Steps is empty at the core, because, as the movie clarifies from the very start, this story is not set on Earth-616, which is the “main” MCU timeline, but rather in an alternate universe, Earth-828. While the MCU’s multiversal shenanigans usually confuse things for everyone, here it’s quite simple, providing the freedom this story requires. At her core, Shalla-Bal’s version of the Surfer works just as well as Norrin Radd’s, and all the essential beats of what makes the Surfer such a unique character — not just in the Marvel universe, but in sci-fi as a whole — are still there. Both versions sacrifice themselves to save Zenn-La, and ultimately turn on Galactus by coming into contact with humanity.

But, for First Steps, the character had to be female for a very important reason, and that’s Johnny Storm. Like it or not, the Silver Surfer is a supporting character in the Fantastic Four stories, meaning that they are there to help the protagonists achieve their goals. In First Steps, Johnny’s arc is about proving to his family that he is just as valuable a member of the team as the others. As a young womanizer, he is used to having people following him around, but doesn’t know how to do it himself. In that sense, his first contact with the Surfer effectively changes something in him, as it’s probably the first time he chases after a female in a meaningful way. And it’s precisely the connection he establishes with Shalla-Bal that turns her against Galactus.

The Silver Surfer Is the Perfect Example of How Jack Kirby and Stan Lee Worked Together

One of the things that makes First Steps such a special movie is the influence it draws from Jack Kirby’s original work. Earth-828 is essentially an entire universe’s worth of tributes to him, and nailing the portrayal of the Silver Surfer was just as important as any character. That’s because, originally, the Surfer was essentially a Kirby creation, although he shares credits with Stan Lee in the original 1961 The Fantastic Four comics. That’s because, at that time, Lee was working on pretty much every major Marvel publication, and the so-called Marvel Method allowed artists a lot of creative freedom. Lee would give them a rough story outline, the artists would come up with the panels, and then they would work on the complete thing.

The Silver Surfer and Galactus were created by Kirby, who put them in one of the panels for the original comics and showed them to Lee, who absolutely loved them. As Lee later recalled, even without dialogue, there was nobility in the Surfer’s character, and that’s why they talk in such a formal way. As for the visuals, Kirby was inspired by the growing trend of surfing in the 1960s. “I couldn’t do an ordinary teenager surfing, so I drew a surfboard with a man from outer space on it,” he later explained. After decades of working on sci-fi stories, Kirby was also notoriously tired of drawing spaceships, so a surfboard suited this new character better than any other vehicle.

But, when the Surfer first appeared in the so-called “Galactus Trilogy” in the comics, the character didn’t yet have a full backstory, which came years later, in 1968’s The Silver Surfer comics, by Stan Lee and John Buscema. Kirby was already engaged in other stories for Marvel, so his character ended up getting a whole backstory without his direct involvement. By then, there was a lot of tension between him and Marvel as a whole already, and, in 1970, Kirby departed the House of Ideas to join their rivals at DC Comics, where he would also become a legend. Regardless, the character is living proof of how well the geniuses of Kirby and Lee worked together, as comics historian Mark Evanier puts it in his 2008 biography Kirby: King of Comics: “Fantastic Four was created by Stan and Jack. No further division of credit seemed appropriate.”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently playing in theaters everywhere.