Popverse's top stories of the day

• Five Nights at Freddy’s creator Scott Cawthon has asked the voice actors to stop participating in fan projects including even voice actor memes
• MEMBERS ONLY: Watch Divergent author Veronica Roth's spotlight panel from MCM x EGX 2024 in London
• WATCH NOW: Ortegas or Melissa: We play Who Is More Likely To? with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Melissa Navia

Confirming what fans have suspected since her casting was announced, Julia Garner has confirmed that she isn’t just playing the Silver Surfer in this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps — she’s also playing Shalla-Bal, the long-standing character who traditionally has been the love interest of Norrin Radd, the traditional comic book Silver Surfer, who takes Radd’s place in the MCU.

Garner talked about her meeting with director Matt Shakman with Entertainment Weekly. “We met up at some restaurant in Burbank or something, I don't even remember, but I knew it was for the Fantastic Four. And then I was confused because I was like, ‘Wait, isn't the Silver Surfer a man?’ I was just like, ‘Okay, well, I'll play anything,’” Garner said, laughing.

The Ozark actress continued, “I was a very big fan of Matt's, so there was already, in my mind, like, ‘I should probably meet with Matt Shakman because he's a very smart director and I love his work.’ And then he was explaining to me that it's actually Shalla-Bal and that whole thing.”

Asked about Shalla-Bal’s role in the movie, she said, “All I can say is that she works for Galactus and that she's mysterious, and the character will unfold more towards the end of the movie. That's all I can say. I know it's a very Marvel tease, but also it's like a real tease. I haven't seen the movie myself!”

Why the switch up? It might simply be to allow more roles for women in the traditionally male-dominated Fantastic Four mythos, or because the idea of having a space surfer is ridiculous enough even before you add in that their name is 'rad' with an additional D for emphasis. Who can tell? 

Although Shalla-Bal has been the love interest (and occasional enemy, because comics) of the Silver Surfer in Marvel lore, there is a version of the character where she becomes the Silver Surfer herself — the Silver Surfer that shows up in Earth X, an alternate reality series of miniseries — Earth X, Universe X, and Paradise X — that ran from 1999 through 2003, and was later revived as Marvels X in 2020. Given that Fantastic Four: First Steps is itself set in an alternate reality to the regular MCU, it only makes sense that we’ll see an alternate Silver Surfer… but does this leave room for a different Silver Surfer to appear in later Marvel movies?

We’ll find out more when The Fantastic Four: First Steps is released July 25.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• The MCU needs Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in it (and not just for the X-Men connection)
• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.