Meet Julia Garner, The Multi-Award Winning Actor Playing The MCU’s Silver Surfer

Julia Garner, the MCU‘s Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four, possesses an impressive filmography that has prepared her for the role of Galactus’ cosmic herald. Matt Shakman’s upcoming The Fantastic Four has found its titular team, its plot, and its release date. Now, The Fantastic Four‘s star-studded cast adds a new member: Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer. Often meeting the Fantastic Four when Galactus approaches the Earth, Silver Surfer is one of the team’s closest allies, as well as a remarkably powerful cosmic hero who has participated in multiple comic book events such as 1991’s Infinity Gauntlet and 1984’s Secret Wars.

Marvel Studios is putting a twist on Silver Surfer’s first MCU appearance. Instead of the classic Silver Surfer Norrin Radd, The Fantastic Four will introduce Shalla-Bal — Norrin Radd’s first love. Although the original Shalla-Bal is a regular Zenn-Lavian (like Norrin Radd used to be before becoming Galactus’ Herald), an alternate-universe version of the character becomes the Silver Surfer thanks to the nearly infinite power of Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s son, Franklin Richards. In the MCU, Julia Garner will play a live-action Shalla-Bal, providing the character with the top-tier acting chops she has showcased across a wide variety of projects.

Who Is Julia Garner?

Julia Garner Has Showcased Her Acting Skills From A Young Age

Born in New York in 1994, Julia Garner is an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor with 13 years of experience in the acting field. Garner began taking acting classes at 15. At 17, Garner had her first feature film credit in Sean Durkin’s 2011 psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, where MCU Scarlet Witch actor Elizabeth Olsen also made her film debut. Since then, Julia Garner has accrued more than 25 acting credits in both film and television. Julia Garner’s parents and sister are all artists, and she has been married to Foster the People vocalist Mark Foster since 2019.

Julia Garner’s Movies, TV Shows, And Awards

Julia Garner Has Won Multiple Awards And Nominations

Just two years after she began acting, Julia Garner’s film debut in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene launched her professional career. This opened the door for a role in The Sopranos creator David Chase’s 2012 film Not Fade Away and a minor role as Susan in The Perks of Being A Wallflower, as well as her first starring credit in Electrick Children the same year. 2013’s horror films The Last Exorcism Part II and We Are What We Are put Garner on the map for bigger roles like Marcie in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame To Kill For.

Julia Garner’s recurring role as Kimberly Breland in FX’s The Americans marked her first TV credit. This led to her casting as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s Ozark, which earned her three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress. After her success in Ozark, Julia Garner’s career has continued to rise, with multiple nominations and roles such as Ellie Landsberg in Maniac, Jane in The Assistant, and Anna Delvey in Inventing Anna. In January 2024, Julia Garner joined the cast of Universal’s Wolf Man reboot, and three months later, Garner officially got the role of Silver Surfer in Marvel’s The Fantastic Four.

Why Julia Garner Is Perfect For The MCU’s Silver Surfer

Julia Garner’s Performances Are Very Different And Very Similar To Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer is usually depicted as a wise, stoic, and melancholic character, whereas Julia Garner’s two standout performances are on opposite sides of the spectrum: Ozark‘s Ruth Langmore is brash and sarcastic, while Inventing Anna‘s Anna Delvey is cold and manipulative. However, it’s precisely Julia Garner’s acting range that makes her a great choice for Silver Surfer, as she can inject the hero with personality, whether that be by emphasizing Norrin Radd’s traditional noble traits, by playing up Shalla-Bal’s resentment and thirst for conquest, or by coming up with new traits that make her Silver Surfer different from the rest.

Two Julia Garner performances that could influence her take on The Fantastic Four‘s Silver Surfer are We Are What We Are‘s Rose Parker and The Assistant‘s Jane. These two characters showcase an uneasy hesitation to fulfill their purpose. Rose refuses to follow her family’s twisted traditions and revolts to stop them, and Jane puts her job on the line to oppose her boss’s abuse and harassment. These are two perfect parallels to Silver Surfer’s lifelong conflict with Galactus — the herald is tasked with providing planets for Galactus’ consumption, but he betrays his master to side with the villains’ would-be victims.

Julia Garner is 30 years old at the time of her MCU casting. Considering that MCU actors tend to reprise their roles multiple times, Julia Garner has the ideal age to play Silver Surfer across several MCU releases. Silver Surfer is an important character, not only in the Fantastic Four’s self-contained stories, but also in other heroes’ cosmic and magic conflicts, as well as in franchise-wide crossover events. Therefore, besides the MCU’s upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars, Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer could also appear in MCU storylines involving characters such as Thor, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and the Eternals.

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What Role Will Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer Play In The MCU’s Fantastic Four Reboot?

Silver Surfer’s Appearance In The Fantastic Four Hints At The Movie’s Ties To The MCU Multiverse

Little is known about The Fantastic Four‘s plot besides its setting. However, Silver Surfer will have a prominent role in the story and Galactus is reportedly The Fantastic Four‘s main villain, which means that the Fantastic Four’s main conflict is almost certain to be their attempt to prevent Galactus from consuming the Earth. In the source material, Norrin Radd bargains with Galactus to become his herald in exchange of his planet’s survival. Meanwhile, Earth-9997’s version of Shalla-Bal got her powers from Franklin Richards and served as her herald alongside Norrin Radd until her death at the hands of the Celestials.

The fact that The Fantastic Four is using an alternate-universe version of Silver Surfer, coupled with the fact that The Fantastic Four‘s setting appears to be the 1960s despite their complete absence from the MCU’s records, suggests the movie will take place in a different universe than the MCU’s traditional Earth-616. It’s possible that Julia Garner’s Shalla-Bal will warn the Fantastic Four of Galactus’ impending arrival, and whatever the Fantastic Four do to stop the cosmic entity in their universe will result in their arrival on Earth-616. If true, the odds would definitely be against the Fantatic Four’s home reality.