Thoughts on Julia Garner Playing Silver Surfer?

Title

Not much of a fan, but like, could be interesting.

She's a phenomenal actress. The MCU choosing to introduce a different version of the Silver Surfer rather than the obvious choice (Norrin Radd) is interesting and bold.

But of course, the whole "M-She-U" community is going to be outraged. And I love that :)

I’m unfamiliar with the actress, so that’s good for me in the sense I won’t see her as something else. I’m not surprised by the gender change, but technically, if I’m understanding correctly, the character isn’t Norrin and is actually Shalla-Bal. Which plays into the multiverse shenanigans and suggests the FOX version of the character is probably still in play in their grand multiverse plan and whatever we may see in DP3 and Secret Wars.

April Fools ?

Really odd choice if you ask me

As long as we all can agree that the Kirby Silver Surfer in much better than the Moebius Silver Surfer. Anything else would be wrong...

Imagine getting worked up over something so trivial

silver surfer is a naked character and should be one in the movie

MCU already has a Norrin Radd.

Makes perfect sense for Shalla Bal imo. Maybe they can ride the starways together

Good for her I guess.

At least she’s hot

As long as they don't play into the importance of her being a woman, etc, as the Silver Surfer character never gave importance to his gender, it should be fine. I just hope they don't turn the story into another agenda driven mess.

@airdave said:

As long as we all can agree that the Kirby Silver Surfer in much better than the Moebius Silver Surfer. Anything else would be wrong...

Deep cut with this one. Nice!

We cant swear bro.

At least now they can have a chance at passing the Bechdel test :)

In all seriousness, if Disney wants to get the MCU back to being loved by the mainstream and comic book fans alike, I'm having a hard time seeing how making Surfer a woman helps with that goal.

If the goal is instead to focus on steadily increasing the female viewership demographic, it might make sense -- if it also doesn't alienate too many guys. FF is 3 dudes 1 woman, and their villains are 99% dudes. That's not great gender representation in 2024. So that could be part of the calculus.

If this is purely an artistic choice or even a social stance, I'm kind of conflicted about it because that's not good long-term planning. But if she ends up being great in the role, I will support the decision.

Does seem like an unnecessary risk though. It's not like the MCU has that much goodwill left with the public at this point.

Ah yes, Shalla-bal, the most famous and well known version of the Silver Surfer. Ridiculous, Just ridiculous.

Why do you think they cast a female actress for a male character role lmao

Wait, what's the news? Are we getting a gender swapped Surfer in the MCU eventually or something?

@takenstew22: Julia Garner is straight-up playing the Silver Surfer.

Julia Garner to play Silver Surfer in Marvel's 'Fantastic Four' (msn.com)

Very disappointed, I really wanted to see Norrin Radd, as every other F4 fan in the planet wanted to.

I have no clue who thought this was a good idea.

Is Silver Surfer going to be a girl or are they just going to cover it up with CGI?

Another dumb and pointless "gotta make it different because reasons" decision from Marvisney. Why Shalla-Bal?

Oh good another Marvel comedy.

And you don't even have to watch the movie.

This is completely ridiculous by the character's mythos as well. Silver Surfer is almost completely adopted by Buddha's story, Shalla Bal is a character but it represent a sort of Heaven by the Norrin(buddha)'s perspective. If they are forced to do a gender swap they should have at least not made the main character shalla-bal it's just dumb.

At this point Disney might as well make all their characters female, 0 males

Exactly. Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd. This is just forced.

@gas777: Read the rules. Warning.

lmao, I love the outrage.

@geekryan: you do realise as more powerful she male characters come you r fav wanda will be redundant they are competing for screen time

@galacticstarsee: LMAO, that is the silliest thing I have ever heard. And so what??? By your ridiculous logic, if Silver Surfer was a dude, Thor would also be redundant.

Just say you hate powerful female characters.

Probably the same reason they used other c-list heroes such as Iron Man and Thor etc..

No, Norrin Radd is A Silver Surfer. They aren't gender-swapping Silver Surfer, they are just using a different version for this film. We have no idea if this Silver Surfer will even be the main one after this one movie.

Honestly, the outrage that has come from this has been silly and is a pretty blatant display of misogyny/sexism within the comic book community.

The Fantastic Four is 3/4 male, and 95% of their villains are also male. What other female characters would they have? At least now they can pass the Bechdel test.

Iron Man and Thor we're not c list characters LMAO

That said they should have left Surfer a male and not put a girl in his spot. I don't really care as long as she's good in the role, but why not use the version most people are familiar with?

This type of stuff gives idiots like Critical Drinker stuff to talk about.

I can't take comments like this seriously when people label critism to pointless changes = sexism.

Trash

If they were keeping Norrin Radd but gender-swapping him, then I wouldn't have a reason to blame sexism. But that isn't the case.

I also can't take the outrage seriously, but here we are.

It's pretty ignorant to not understand or acknowledge how internalized sexism does indeed play a role here.

I'd much rather see Norrin but its fine as long as they're not changing the actual character.

@geekryan said:

I don't think it's weird that people are upset they the Silver Surfer that people like from the comics isn't going to be in the movie. If it's an else worlds and they introduce him later that's fine, but if this is a permanent replacement for him that kind of sucks. It'd be like if instead of Wolverine they just brought in X-23 from the jump and said it's the same. Shalla Bal and Norrin are fundamentally different characters.

Also if they give her hair I think that ruins the design, which is probably Kirby's best. Keep female Surfer bald!

Meh, I wanted to actually see Norrin on screen.

Tbh I don't think gender really matters for a character like Surfer but I understand why people are annoyed, I can't really see a reason for it not to be Norrin outside of diversity. I would have preferred Norrin but so long as it's not an absolute character assassination like Taskmaster I don't really care.

Agreed 100%

Oh for sure, people have the right to be upset about it, but I think people being outright angry and hateful about it is the silly part. I also would have preferred Norrin Radd, but let's be honest, the F4 has always been a massive sausage fest.

Shalla Bal could also very well not be the main Silver Surfer, or the only one. We have no idea.

I kinda like the hair look:

But Julia Garner could definitely pull off the bald look.

@geekryan: oh yeah being hateful is absurd

100% agree.

Lmao

It's actually sad this is what you are prioritizing in a movie over a good story/script. There are female heralds of Galactus actually. They could have used Nova. Introducing a female Silver Surfer who appeared in a single what if series with no comic run is just absurd. It's obviously not a choice made with creativity lol. We all know why they did it