Marvel’s Original Silver Surfer Actor Breaks Silence On Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Reimagining

The Fantastic Four: First Steps' reimagining of the Silver Surfer is addressed by Doug Jones, who previously played a different version of the character.

Prior to the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jones physically portrayed Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, while Laurence Fishburne provided the voice. The MCU's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, released in 2025, took a somewhat different approach by making the Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal, played by Julia Garner.

While speaking with ComicBookMovie.com, Jones now shared his reaction to First Steps' Silver Surfer, which is overwhelmingly positive. He described Garner's performance as "gorgeous" and that he thought it was "brave" of her to take on the role despite Norrin Radd being the better known Silver Surfer from the comics. Check out his comments below:

I thought Julia Garner did such a gorgeous job. And it was nice, and it was interesting to see the female Silver Surfer based on Shalla-Bal, the character from the comic books. There was some fan scuttle about that because Norrin Radd was the more seen and more known Silver Surfer, but Shalla-Bal was an alternate universe Surfer from like one issue of the comic book. So, she did have some source material to base her on. So I thought it was brave of her to step into that, knowing that fans were going to be like, 'Wait a second.' But she was great and did it with great poise and great courage.

While First Steps chooses to use Shalla-Bal over Norrin Radd, the essence of the Silver Surfer remains the same in both the 2007 and 2025 movies, with both of them being Galactus' Herald in order to save their home planets from the Devourer of Worlds. Shalla-Bal's ultimate choice in The Fantastic Four: First Steps' ending is similar to the decision Norrin Radd ends up making as well. One difference is that Norrin Radd is more connected to 2007's Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) while Shalla-Bal is more connected to 2025's Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn).

Just as Jones' reaction to Shalla-Bal was positive, so were most reviews for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It holds an 86% "Certified Fresh" critics' score and "Verified Hot" 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a significant boost from Rise of the Silver Surfer, which has a 38% critics' score and 51% audience score. It is also much better than Fantastic Four (2005) at 28% and 45% and Fantastic Four (2015) at 9% and 18%.

Despite the inevitable comparisons to what has come before, Jones is not the only cast member from the previous movies to celebrate the newest iteration of Marvel's First Family. This includes Ioan Gruffudd, who played Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the 2005 and 2007 films, and who reviewed First Steps, in which he stated that the characters are "alive and well and in safe hands. A superb homage to the original comics from the sixties. Acting, production & costume design, score and visual effects are out of this world!"

Along with being praised on its own merits, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was important to setting up the MCU Phase 6 and beyond, including Avengers: Doomsday. Johnny, Sue (Vanessa Kirby), Reed (Pedro Pascal), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are all confirmed to be part of Doomsday's cast and the villain, of course, will be the Fantastic Four's iconic adversary, Doctor Doom, now played by Robert Downey Jr.

Release Date July 25, 2025

Runtime 115 minutes

Director Matt Shakman

Writers Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Kat Wood, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee

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  Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic

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  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman