How is it, in a year with both Superman and Fantastic Four movies, that First Steps' Silver Surfer looked more like The Engineer than The Engineer did?
The Silver Surfer travels across the universe on her surfboard, searching for planets for Galactus to eat. Imbued with super-speed and strength, the Silver Surfer is an incredible threat to the Fantastic Four -
and the universe.
It was quite the surprise when we learned MCU Silver Surfer would be Shalla Bal instead of Norrin Radd - yes, there were some people who were upset about the change, for exactly the reasons you think and nothing else, but it worked better for the story and meant Sue wasn't the only woman in the cast. It's not like there's ever been anything at all special about Norrin Radd (as distinct from The Silver Surfer persona): Surfer's story beats are "scientist who gave up their old life to save their home planet" and "gets a wakeup call about it while on Earth," and neither of those things require a him over a her. Plus, this allowed Johnny to show why he was actually a member of the team in the first place, something not even the comics have ever managed to do.
Silver Surfer was played by Julia Garner, and while this definitely wasn't her first break-out role (not even her first comicbook movie),
she's also not someone you're likely to recognize from anything. It's interesting that when Norrin gets turned into Galactus's personal Doordash, he becomes fully bald (and earless), but when it's Shalla's turn, she keeps her hair (and her ears). Because how else will we know alien = gurl if 🚫 long hair? Actually, she's been Silver Surfer in the comics in the past, and she had even longer hair then, so this is comparatively restrained. Also, instead of being thick and full of body, the hair here is slicked back - like she just came up from under water, the way a surfer might! Okay, that's a pretty clever design choice.
Rather than having a film-accurate body, like the FF themselves got, Silver Surfer gets to be a money-saver in this line by reusing an existing body, which also means her proportions are more comicbooky than realistic. She does at least use a smaller chest (cf. Dagger or Red Widow), which makes this toy look more like a representation of a human actor than a comicbook character.
Apparently the character was barefoot in the movie? Silver Surfers generally end up with feet as smooth as their ears or genitals, but the Silver Surf-Her gets individual toes. And those aren't Namorita's feet, either,
they're new sculpts. So she can get those, but Shanna can't? There are holes in the heels, to accommodate the single footpeg on her board, though the design of the foot means there isn't enough plastic there to make those holes deep enough to actually be useful: the foot doesn't fit all the way down onto the peg in the first place, and falls off it too easily. So it's a minor support at best,
not a firm connection.
The board is, at least, cool and unique. Rather than being perfectly smooth, or having some straight lines running along the surface, the board has a rough, striated surface, like a molten material that hardened into shape, and the pits and scrapes on the surface, with their rough texture inside, make it look like something that's taken years of damage while being used. We still maintain that the best way to do Surfer's board is with magnets, but that would require spending money to produce quality product.
We do get something fun with the board, though. While the last few Silver Surfers have just had to settle for their board just sitting flat on the ground, First Steps Silver Surfer takes advantage of the line's pricepoint
and the fact she's got a reused body to include a new and unique display/flight stand. It's cast from translucent orange plastic, representing the bit where she shoots the curl on the lava in Galactus' ship. The base has a flat, tapered slot where the board fits in, and the material of it is splashing up higher than the surface of the board, keeping this from looking like just a base.
No surprises with the figure's articulation: swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinge knees, swivel thighs, balljoint hips, balljoint chest, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders,
hinged neck, and balljointed head. The short hair means the head can move all over, too, so that's another reason to like it. She's got swappable fists, open hands, and a single cupped right hand so she can hold her board. The figure is molded from light silver plastic and not very painted (there are a few goldish apps you'll never spot under normal light), so she does have some of the swirly translucense, which isn't true to the film; paint would have been preferable. Her head gets it, and her head looks better than the rest of the body.
It was certainly a bold choice to make the MCU Silver Surfer be Shalla Bal instead of the more traditional Norrin Radd, but it paid off. Every choice made for First Steps paid off. Much like Batman Begins in 2005, Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, and even Superman in 2025, Fantastic Four had the unenviable duty of washing a bad taste out of audiences' mouths, of making everyone care about something they'd given up on. Obviously we wish the toys were easier to find, but even as a less-than-screen-accurate representation, Silver Surfer is pretty awesome.
-- 01/05/26
Is there any real benefit Norrin Radd would have over Shalla Bal? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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