Hours after a battle for the Disney board led by those unhappy with the direction of the company, Marvel Studios announced the casting of the Silver Surfer for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie:
Julia Garner.
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| Photo by Vera Mulyani |
That's right, one of the most iconic Jack Kirby creations will no longer be Norrin Radd, but Norinn's girlfirend Shalla-Bal.
First, let me say that Garner is a very talented actress. I was not a big fan of Ozark, but the performances of all the actors on the show was top-notch. I think that she will do an excellent job of acting with the material they will give her.
Second, I have never been opposed to female itterations in famous franchises. When they announced Star Wars: Episode VII, I suggested that it would be very intersting to explore the Skywalker story from a female perspective. When Jodi Whittaker was cast as The Doctor, I expressed on this blog an open-minded welcome to some potentially new and exciting stories from a female perspective.
But this is just... dumb.
If you are going to introduce the Herald of Galactus, it should be Norrin Radd with the Power Cosmic. It is true that in some continutities Shalla-Bal is a Silver Surfer. But she is not THE Silver Surfer. Firelord is also a Herald of Galactus, but it would be stupid to introduce him as a major character before Norrin Radd.
Making Shalla-Bal the first and main Silver Surfer would be like...
Doing a movie with Jean-Paul Valley as the first and main Batman...
Doing a movie with Ben Reilly as the first and main Spider-Man...
Doing a movie with Amadeus Choi as the first and main Hulk...
You could make the argument the first and main Ant-Man was Scott Lang and not the original Hank Pym. But this was a lateral move for a character that was not as iconic.
You could argue that they gender-swapped and race-swapped the Ancient One in Doctor Strange. While that is true, the Ancient One was not nearly as important a character in Marvel Comics as the Silver Surfer.
I'll be honest, I stopped writing this article about halfway through and only now have returned to it some time later. The reason is that I'm not even angry or upset about this.
I'm bored.
This casting just seems so boring from the studio that brought us She-Hulk and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Look, I have seen nearly every MCU movie that has come out. And I've given generally positive reviews to all of them, even The Marvels and The Eternals. And I have been wrong in the past. I thought building a Guardians of the Galaxy movie around the Peter Quill version of the team and not the original Vance Astro version was stupid. I very happily ate crow on that. So I will continue to be open to the posibility that this new Fantastic Four will also be good.
But Marvel is not doing a good job of selling me on it.
Thoughts?
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