Garner also noted that she’s portraying Shalla-Bal, a female iteration of the Silver Surfer, and not Norrin Radd, the male version of the character who was played Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne in 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”

When it was announced that Paul Walter Hauser had joined the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, fans immediately began to speculate that he might be playing the first foe the team ever faced on the page, Mole Man.

Shalla-Bal, first seen in “The Silver Surfer” #1 in 1968, is the female counterpart to Norrin Radd, who was featured in 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” In that film, the humanoid alien was played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne.

As we continue our journey through the cinematic history of the Fantastic Four, in preparation for the latest incarnation of the characters in The Fantastic

"I had a really nice connection with Matt [Shakman, director] and then forgot about the whole thing,” Moss-Bachrach told Variety, referring to a Zoom conversation in 2023. “Then a few months later, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, and I got a call from my agents. I was honestly quite surprised.”

Silver Surfer being gender-swapped is a familiar creative choice in the comic book genre. Few 2025 titles tickle fan interest quite like The Fantastic Four: First Steps .

Shakman, who previously worked with Malkovich on his 2014 independent feature debut crime thriller Cut Bank, gushed about how the Being John Malkovich star "stuck with" him during the several years he struggled to put together financing on the film and "never dropped out."

Superman is off to a great start at the box office, but it’s going to get some serious competition soon in the form of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios’ latest movie will bring the iconic comic book team to the big screen for the third time,