Deadline reports that Julia Garner is set to join Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four as the Silver Surfer. More specifically, sources say the Ozark actor will play a Shalla-Bal version of the iconic character.

The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s most anticipated projects, and with production gearing up to begin this summer, we should hear more casting news over the next few months. The actors portraying the titular foursome were revealed earlier this year, with Pedro Pascal playing Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby playing Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn playing Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach playing Ben Grimm, aka The Thing.

The idea of a gender-swapped Silver Surfer began to emerge last year, with Anya Taylor-Joy said to be the frontrunner at the time. In the comics, Shalla-Bal was the lover of Norrin Radd. When Galactus came to their planet, Radd volunteered to become his herald in exchange for sparing his world. It seems that the new film might be switching that around. Speaking of Galactus, there have been rumours that Javier Bardem is being eyed for the role.

The Fantastic Four will launch Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is set to be directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision), who has teased that the movie will be unlike anything we’ve seen from Marvel so far. “It’s different in so many ways,” Shakman said. “I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material. I wish I could say more. I would love to, but I can’t. But I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you’ve seen before.“

As this will be the third Fantastic Four movie (or fourth if you count the unreleased ’90s movie), Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said that they won’t simply be retelling the team’s origin. “A lot of people know this origin story,” Feige said. “A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” As the Fantastic Four have decades of history behind them, Feige admitted, “We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.” The Fantastic Four is currently slated for a July 25, 2025 release.

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