Super Skrull, Silver Surfer, and Nova fighting in space in Marvel Comics
The Silver Surfer is arguably one of the coolest-looking characters in the Marvel universe, and they're even one of Stan Lee's own favorites. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps right around the corner after years of waiting, the character is once again in the spotlight.
Instead of Norrin Radd, Shalla-Bal now takes up the job of herald of Galactus , but the essence is the same, and the silver surfboard is still there. The board itself is actually such a unique transport mode that it helped build the Surfer's aura from the start—an all-silver alien riding a surfboard through the cosmos isn't something we see every day, right? In science fiction stories and even the cosmic corner of the Marvel comics and movies, spaceships are usually the go-to means of transportation, not surfboards. So why exactly is it that the Silver Surfer is, well, a surfer? A Surfboard Allows the Silver Surfer To Be One With the Cosmos During His Travels The answer as to why he chose a surfboard comes in the 2007 comic Silver Surfer: Requiem, by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribić. In it, the titular hero is revealed to be dying. He comes to Earth to seek the help of Reed Richards and Sue Storm to understand what exactly is happening to him and learns that the silver shell that covers his entire body is deteriorating. With only a month left, he stays on Earth a while longer and even helps Spider-Man take down an enemy. They hang out a little afterward, and Peter Parker notices that something is wrong with the Silver Surfer. During their conversation, Peter asks him why he chose a board as his vehicle, and the answer is as poetical and philosophical as one could expect from the Sentinel of the Spaceways. Norrin Radd gives a little monologue about the feeling of freedom one feels when traveling the cosmos and asks Peter to"imagine standing in the limitless darkness between the stars with nothing between you and the universe." So he chose a board because it allows him"to move through that majesty unfettered, unencumbered," and to directly experience"the beauty, the terrible majestic beauty" of the cosmos. The idea is that a board allows him to move freely and be in direct contact with space and everything that happens in the cosmos, without being confined inside other kinds of vehicles, like spaceships."Thus, freed even once, would you ever wish to surround yourself with a shell again and deny yourself that beauty?" he then asks. Spider-Man himself only relies on vehicles when he's Peter Parker and swings around New York with the same freedom the Silver Surfer experiences in space, so he agrees. Related I Never Thought I'd Be This Excited To See the Silver Surfer, but the Latest 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Trailer Blew Me Away Shalla-Bal, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention. Posts Then, the Surfer invites Peter to experience what he means firsthand by bestowing upon him a fraction of the Power Cosmic so he can travel on the board. Peter declines , but asks whether Mary Jane could go in his place, and Norrin agrees. Now, the Power Cosmic isn't something that a human mind can wield or even fully grasp, and even a fraction is enough to send Mary Jane's mind spinning. She does enjoy the experience, though, telling Peter when she returns,"I was free. I was free. My God, I've never felt anything like that." The embrace that Peter and Mary Jane share after she returns is especially touching, as Norrin remembers Shalla-Bal, who was once his own lover and the empress of his homeworld of Zenn-La. Artist Jack Kirby Actually Had a More Practical Reason To Give the Silver Surfer a Surfboard Close As much as Stan Lee liked the Silver Surfer, he wasn't the character's creator. Instead, the character was originally conceived by another Marvel legend, Jack Kirby, because he was famously"tired of drawing spaceships." The Surfer's first appearance in the comics was in 1966, a time when surfing was becoming popular, especially in California, and Kirby drew from that as one of his inspirations."I couldn’t do an ordinary teenager surfing, so I drew a surfboard with a man from outer space on it," he recalled in 2011. When Lee first saw the character, he immediately loved it, sensing a kind of nobility in the Surfer's features and the way he stood on his surfboard, hence his poetic, nearly"Shakespearean" way of speaking. Interestingly enough, decades later Straczynski and Ribić brought back the idea of the Silver Surfer being averse to spaceships, just like his creator. So the Silver Surfer and his board have been together from the very beginning and, in many ways, are actually a single thing. The two of them are connected, and the board is coated in the same silver material as the Surfer himself and is also imbued with the Power Cosmic, the god-like power bestowed upon Norrin Radd by Galactus. This allows the Surfer to manipulate matter at will, and this ability extends to his board, too. There have been times in the comics when the board becomes other kinds of objects, like a sword, depending on whom the Silver Surfer is battling. Because of its matter-manipulating properties, the board can even trap living beings inside of it, besides, of course, traveling at incredible speeds. We're used to seeing the Silver Surfer simply flying around on it, but the truth is that his board is more like an extension of himself than a separate thing. Shalla-Bal Herself Doesn’t Have a Surfboard in the Comics, but It Fits Her Just Right in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ The main change about the Silver Surfer in First Steps is that it won't be Norrin Radd riding the surfboard, but Shalla-Bal. In the mainstream Marvel comics, she never takes up the mantle of the Surfer, but, in the Earth-X comics, Galactus does bestow the Power Cosmic upon Shalla-Bal, and she is reunited with Norrin Radd, and they get to finally be together in all their silver-clad glory. This happens because, in that timeline, Galactus is actually Franklin Richards, Reed and Sue's son, who is an infant in First Steps. Franklin is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, and the fact that First Steps introduces him so early is certainly important for the future of the MCU. The fact that it's Shalla-Bal on the silver surfboard in First Steps is still to be explained, but, regardless, the trailers so far have shown her exactly as the Silver Surfer should be: heralding destruction, but with a sad empathy for the victims. It's also important to point out that First Steps does not take place in the main MCU timeline, just like Earth-X isn't the main Marvel Comics storyline. There, it was probably Shalla-Bal, the Empress of Zenn-La, who volunteered to save her planet from Galactus, or, for whatever reason, Norrin Radd wasn't available to become the Surfer—he is probably being saved for future MCU installments. In the meantime, it's good to see that Shalla-Bal not only looks just as good as the Silver Surfer, but that Julia Garner has also nailed her portrayal of the character. Like Follow Followed The Fantastic Four: First Steps PG-13 Science Fiction Adventure Action Release Date July 25, 2025 Runtime 115 minutes Director Matt Shakman Writers Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson Producers Kevin Feige Cast See All Main Genre Action Powered by Expand Collapse
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