After revealing the cast of The Fantastic Four in February, Marvel Studios has reportedly found one of the team’s foils as well. On Wednesday, Deadline reported that Julia Garner will play the Silver Surfer in the forthcoming comic book movie.
More specifically, Garner – who rose to fame as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s crime drama series Ozark – will play Shalla-Bal, Empress of Zenn-La and the lover of Norrin Radd, who is the Silver Surfer in the comics. Eventually, she obtains the Power Cosmic as well, granting her the same abilities as Radd as she joins him as a Herald of Galactus.
It’s not clear how Marvel Studios plans to square all of this in the movie, but I’d hazard a guess that they’ll simply swap the roles, making Shalla-Bal the primary Silver Surfer.
Garner joins Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the Thing, and Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch. Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer wrote the script, and Matt Shakman (WandaVision) will direct.
The Fantastic Four is set to begin shooting this summer, with the release date set for July 25, 2025. It will be the first entry of Phase Six in the MCU, setting up the grand finale of Avengers 5 (previously The Kang Dynasty) and Avengers: Secret Wars.