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The Fantastic Four made their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the summer of 2025, bringing two of the most beloved Marvel characters to the big screen – Galactus and Silver Surfer. This wasn’t the first time either character appeared on the big screen, but it was the most comic accurate that the Big G at least had been. However, the Sentinel of the Spaceways was quite different from the one that first appeared in the comics. This version of the Surfer wasn’t Norrin Radd, but Shalla Bal, who in the comics had been the girlfriend of Radd and one of the main reasons that he decided to become the Herald of the Galactus. Fantastic Four: First Steps didn’t dig to deeply into why it was Shalla instead of Norrin, but Marvel Comics is about to answers this question.
The Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla Bal #1, from Charles Soule and the legendary artist Mark Buckingham, looks to give readers the origin of Shalla as the Silver Surfer. It was one of the most “controversial” changes to the history of the Fantastic Four, with the usual suspects complaining about that a man had been replaced by a woman. Most longtime Fantastic Four didn’t really have a problem with it and now Marvel is giving fans a look at her origin, as astronomer Shalla Bal is forced to make a terrible choice to save her planet. It’s honestly about time that Marvel Studios took advantage of the comic publishing arm that they steal all of their ideas from, this one taking a look into the history of another Silver Surfer.
The History of the Silver Surfer and Shalla Bal Has Always Been an Integral Part of Marvel History
The Marvel Universe is full of secrets, with the truth about Galactus being one that has stretched past the beginning of the current iteration of the universe. At the end of the last universe, intrepid scientist Galan of Taa witnessed the end of everything and was reborn as the old universe ended and a new one began. He became Galactus and he would eventually start to recruit Heralds to help him find planets to devour. The World Devourer is superlatively powerful and he empowered them with the Power Cosmic, making them the perfect servants of the cosmic force of nature.
In the 616 universe, Galactus ended up at the planet Zenn-La, where Norrin Radd volunteered to join the cosmic being to save his home and the woman he loved, Shalla Bal. He worked with the Big G for years, but getting to Earth changed him forever, especially when he saw the close bond between the Fantastic Four. He broke free from the being who had been his master and helped save the planet. He was punished by not being able to leave and ended up joining the Defenders before finally being allowed to return to the stars, where he helped face off against the biggest cosmic threats ever.
Shalla Bal was always an important part of his origin, but she rarely got the kind of spotlight that Norrin did. She was mostly played as a love interest; she was manipulated by Mephisto, who wanted to use her to hurt the Surfer, and eventually even became the Empress of Zenn-La. However, she didn’t really have the kind of cosmic adventures of her paramour; while there were alternate reality stories where she was Silver Surfer, she was mostly just a supporting character, even dying and being resurrected. Earth X was the first time that we got to see her as the Silver Surfer; she even made the cover of one of the last issues. However, she was almost immediately killed by the Celestials, so the whole thing was a wash.
I first started reading comics around the time of Infinity Gauntlet, when Surfer still had his own series. He was a favorite of mine, but Shalla was nowhere to be found back then; she was an important part of his past, but was left out of most of his adventures. When I saw her in Earth X, it felt like a cool idea to make her a Silver Surfer and I feel the same way about the MCU version. The origin of Silver Surfer is about a person giving up their freedom for love; there was nothing special about Radd beyond a person who wanted to make sure his people would live. The Silver Surfer never needed to be Norrin Radd.
The uproar over Shalla as the Silver Surfer was just an example of a small but toxic minority of people who aren’t even actually fans of the comics. They just want to push culture war outrage. Shalla and Norrin changing places in their relationship isn’t cause to start a flame war, especially since the movie was able to use her in ways that Norrin couldn’t he used (well, if Marvel Studios weren’t cowards, that is; Johnny and Norrin isn’t a bad ship, all things considered). It was just outrage for outrage’s sake, by a bunch of people who make a living peddling such nonsense.
Putting the origin of the MCU Shalla Bal in the comics is a step in the right direction as well. MCU fans rarely venture into comic stores, so giving them a reason like the origin of a fan favorite character is a good idea. DC has been able to finally make movie synergy work and it’s past time that Marvel did as well. This book is a step in the right direction.
The Fantastic Four: First Foes – Shalla Bal #1 is on sale on Tuesday July 8, 2026.
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