THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Set Photos Reveal a Big Silver Surfer Surprise
Marvel fans are excited about The Fantastic Four finally stepping into the MCU, and while we wait to see how the story for The Fantastic Four: First Steps plays out, we have some interesting new set photos that might be a Major Spoiler involving Julia Garner’s mysterious role as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer.
Additional photography is currently underway in Los Angeles for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Garner was recently spotted filming a scene that might shed some cosmic light on her character's journey.
In the photos, Garner is in human form wearing a flowing white dress adorned with a celestial blue pattern, Garner’s Shalla-Bal stands by the shoreline before turning and spreading her arms dramatically.
This scene, though open to interpretation, hints at a few possibilities. It could be a flashback showing the origin of her cosmic powers, or perhaps it’s from the climax of the film, where Shalla-Bal is released from her role as a Herald of Galactus. Maybe they are shooting a post-credits scene.
It will be interesting to see what this ends up being an how it fits into the story.
During a recent interview, Garner spoke about how she physically prepared for the role of Silver Surfer, despite one very important fear.
"No, I am actually afraid of the ocean. So no, but I can act. I have some friends that know how to surf, and they showed me some moves before I went out to London to just kind of get the body position of it all. And then I realized shortly after I was in London that I used some surf moves, but then I also used a lot of what I saw in the comic books."
"There were different poses that, the way that they would draw them, they weren't surf poses — they almost looked like something you would see in sculptures. So I incorporated surfing with the poses of a sculpture, like moving elegantly, like a dance. So it was kind of a mixture of things, but a lot of it was from the comics that inspired me."
You can check out the full batch of The Fantastic Four: First Steps set images over at Mail Online, linked in the X post below.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne have been cast in mystery roles. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is also rumoured to appear, though that's surely a given with Avengers: Doomsday on the way.
The film comes from director Matt Shakman, who worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four: First Steps' screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) later coming on board for a final polish.