Julia Garner is the MCU's Silver Surfer (and controversy ensues)

[@biguy617]

The female version of the Surfer only appears in a What If comic and dies in that comic

[@TPCvsJDU]

Thank you because you are definitely spot on. It's not Canon

[@mcdull9413]

The Fantastic 4 movie is not in the main MCU universe, so I consider that is also a "what if", and likely she's going to die because that alt universe is going to be gone

[@Alijamaru]

lol

[@RacingSnails64]

That still counts as precedent for a female Surfer imo. It's literally proof it's been done before.

[@casualcausalityy]

​@@RacingSnails64But the first Surfer to appear in this installment? The audience will not support this "modern" nonsense

[@SonOvLaw]

Can we address the actual elephant in the room: Gender, race, and sexuality swapping. It's a crutch for writers who lack creativity and it's been DONE. TO. DEATH.

[@Dru2037]

This isn't any of that her character exists.

[@MauZangetsu]

@Dru2037 Her character is as minor as El Muerto, the iconic Silver Surfer is male and that's the end of it

[@jeremybooth6720]

Stop it. It's wrong, and the audience they are trying to reach with this DOESN'T EXIST. All people come for is to watch a live action version of exactly what they became a fan of in the first place. Let this imaginary mass of fans of random female super heroes enjoy Harley Quinn or the CW. WAY too much money being spent creating abject failures. They've proven that writing good women apparently isn't something that women hiring women for the sake of them being women can accomplish. The women they write aren't actual women. They're gender-swapped douchey men 🙄

[@maximusprime3459]

...😐

[@cameronscott7304]

Exactly. Its used as a gimmick.

[@freman007]

"Are we going to see Storm, Rogue, and Sue Storm written well?" Most likely, no.

[@coolwata105]

That's what pisses me off about all this. THE STORIES ARE ALREADY WRITTEN. THE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AND ESTABLISHED. They already have strong ethnic, female, gay superheroes waiting for them. All they need to do is pick one and put it on the screen. Or here's a novel idea............CREATE ONE!

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

They are written pretty well in X men 97

[@misterfevillord1588]

Ha. Storm, and Sue Storm.

[@mrsam0496]

If Storm and Cyclops arent casted right, I will officially be done with the MCU. Their castings have been atrocious

[@coolwata105]

@@mrsam0496 Storm will be played by RACHEL ZEGLER and Cyclops will be played by............Tatiana Maslany.......BOOM!!!!! That has BLOCKBUSTER written All Over It!!!!

[@spooderpug]

Silver Surfer is one of my favorite cosmic Marvel heroes, and I'm not upset they chose to use a female herald of Galacus, I'm upset at who they chose. There are other Heralds who aren't Silver Surfer, I don't know much of anything about them, which is why I'd love to see a different one. There's a fire elemental looking one, and I'd love to see her adapted, but instead, Marvel is taking the popularity of another character and choosing a gender bent version of the character. Give me Norrin as Silver Surfer, or give me an entirely different Herald.

[@Xoulrath_]

Frankie Raye Nova is who you're probably thinking of.

[@sianais]

They won't do Nova because they want the brand recognition but not the man behind it.

[@speedflashanimations221]

Isn’t this making her she an entirely new Harold? Like you said?

[@skepticalsmurf]

so basically the MCU is giving the original Lee & Kirby storyline the finger,Good Night Felicia!!! 😬

[@ktr33muziclibrary30]

Anyone familiar with the Batman Origins Video Game? They gender bent Copper Head but it was an artistic choice and kinda cool. copperhead was originally introduced as a man but when encountered, Batman discovers he’s actually a woman. But copperhead was such an elusive assassin that nobody’s ever lived to tell the tale. I thought that was a pretty cool way to gender bend and make it fit for the story

[@djfunkgut]

MCU gave the middle finger in many comic storylines and y’all still made it a billion dollar industry

[@BrandontheAwesome]

​@@ktr33muziclibrary30Actually, it's stated that there have been multiple Copperheads in the Arkham timeline.

[@CalebBlake-o6o]

At this point with Disney, every time this happens, I just think “ugh……again?” They just can’t help themselves

[@JurassicRod]

It's another warning sign and at this point I have no tolerance for gender swapping girl boss insertions.

[@Codetrey]

💀

[@CynicalMisanthrope-b3p]

Fantastic Flop: A Purposeful Controversy to Protect the Film from Criticism Part 24

[@codyraven8969]

Don’t care who it is. If Disney is gender bending or colour washing a character I’m keeping my money. They want to prove they can make a good character I’ll reconsider

[@sianais]

B-b-but she appeared in the comics... as a throwaway character, not a damn person remembers, knows, and has to Google, so it's not a swap! Or that's the bs that will be shoved until this failure in the making lives up to its name.

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

This is a dumb idea in my opinion but it’s not a gender swap situation.

[@codyraven8969]

It’s dumb in as far as they are giving someone with the same abilities and likely story as the silver surfer who is male to a woman. There are other heralds of galactis I distinctly remember one of them being a woman with red and orange like fire instead of silver. Comics have an amazing catalog of females that could use the boost in visuals to the common movie goers but instead of hiring a good writer to do them justice they pick a version of the character from earth name a number that happens to be a different gender. The roster for the avengers in the movies wasn’t all that popular and where considered b list heroes before the Disney movies. Imagine if they had put that effort into cloak and dagger, spider Gwen, storm, a good she hulk movie or show

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

@@sianais yup but to be fair I had to google the Guardians also back when they first appeared. It's not like they were super popular like Spider-man.

[@Launchpad05]

If Marvel isn't gonna honor their most iconic characters, they're not getting my money.

[@djgroopz4952]

If they swapped a woman to being a man would that be acceptable? The double standards are what tick me off. It's like people being okay with a traditionally white character being turned black like the Mermaid but would not be okay with Blade or Shaft being turned white.

[@Theworthlessopinion]

^ THIS!!! Unnecessary and overcomplicating are the words I would describe this whole situation

[@dallasgrey4247]

Exactly! Double standard

[@lordyoda9382]

Yeah, majority of the gender swap is from man to woman.

[@terryrocks2j]

Exactly. If we were gender and race swapping every person, I say we be fine after sometime. But nowadays you know a storm is going to brew if a black character turned white or if a female turned male.

[@lordyoda9382]

@@terryrocks2j Yeah, I would never forgive them what they did to Captain Mar-Vell. The guy is literally a male version of captain marvel but they decided to gender swap him to female like wtf?

[@dannypalin9583]

I'm going to predict how the project will go. It may be called Fantastic Four: First Steps, but it'll be The Sue Storm Movie. Normally, I wouldn't mind this, but I look at how Disney treated She-Hulk. Anyway, Sue will be feeling sidelined despite her fame because she's a woman. Reed will undervalue her because she's a woman. There'll be jokes at her expense about how she's the Invisible Woman because women should be seen and not heard. They'll justify it because the movie takes place in the early 60s, just before the bra-burners came along. Galactus will show up: a big bad man. He'll be heralded by the female Silver Surfer, who doesn't want the Earth to be eaten but the big bad man is making her do it. Sue and Surfer will be parallels, much like Reed and Galactus. They're two women who are held back by men. Mr Fantastic, the Human Torch and the Thing will try to stop Galactus but they'll all be curb-stomped. Sue then tells the Surfer to stand up for herself: she's more powerful than the planet eating giant because she's female. The two ladies will team up and defeat Galactus. Everyone cheers for Sue and Reed admits how dumb he was and maybe she should be the leader. Oh, yeah, and Multiverse stuff at the end.

[@Nickzstuff]

Feige? Is that you in a sock account? Cause this sounds spot on.

[@jaimeherber8353]

You should've said SPOLIER ALERT 😂😂 that literally sounds like a legit plot wtf lmao

[@skepticalsmurf]

l just don’t like what the MCU is doing to some of my favorite characters,the Surfer has been around since the early 60’s as a male,l’m simply avoiding this fiasco 😤

[@Blazeyates]

​​@@skepticalsmurf/ she's only gone be the ("Silver surfer") from another "universe", our (616) male : silver surfer, is coming, matter of fact he's gone be in the movie as ("Norrin-Radd"), that's his ("Wife") whos'.The silver surfer in the movie, she"s gonna die" towards the end of the movie, Trying to stop ("Galatus") from consuming" there Planet, when she die" her powers will past to her husband: ("Norrin-Radd") & he. Becomes the ("Silver surfer"), & he's coming to the (616"), shit fenna be "Epic", no doubt about it!!

[@casualcausalityy]

​@@BlazeyatesIs it canon the Silver Surfer just adopted a woman's powers?

[@ToxicVex267]

Personally, I find that gender-bending characters can come off as lazy. Instead of simply switching a character’s gender, they could have introduced a lesser-known female character. In Marvel comics, there are plenty of female heroes who have worked with the Fantastic Four, yet they chose to turn Silver Surfer into a woman and considered that sufficient representation. This is why I am critical of Marvel. They often claim to want more female heroes, but they don't seem to put in the effort to develop them properly. When they do introduce female characters, they often make them so unlikable that it feels as if they would have been better off leaving the character alone.

[@dumdumer892]

I really wish they’d get a passionate team working on some of the lesser known heroines and really heroes in general. I’d prefer they wait until they can reset the MCU since the worldbuilding is completely broken now but I digress.

[@turtlelove7]

Galactus has had at least 2 female Heralds not named Silver Surfer. This is just typical current Marvel laziness

[@sammysstopmotionoas2004]

They had Frankie Raye Nova for her to be, and they had to just shove her into Silver Surfer. Norrin Radd isn't just a random background character, he's one of the most beloved and popular Marvel Characters, if he never shows up in the MCU, they will have failed Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four fans like myself.

[@peterfrost377]

Your favorite live action casting choices? For me: Brandon Lee (Eric Draven) Heath Ledger (Joker) Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman) Takeru Satoh (Kenshin Himura) Tatsuya Fujiwara (Shishio) Mackenyu (Enishi Yukishiro)

[@sammysstopmotionoas2004]

​@peterfrost377 great list! Mine are... Tobey Maguire (Peter Parker) Henry Cavill (Superman) Ben Affleck (Batman) Rachelle Broshnan (Lois Lane) Margot Kidder (Lois Lane) Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) Jack Nicholson (Joker) Michael Keaton (Batman) Danny Deveto (Penguin) Michelle Phifer (Catwoman) Tom Hardy (Bane) Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) Chris Hemsworth (Thor) Jaimie Alexander (Sif) Tom Hiddelston (Loki) Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) Jeremy Irons (Alfred) Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto) Sir Patrick Stewart (Professor X) Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin) Alfred Molina (Doc Ock) Chris Evans (Captain America) Thomas Jane (Punisher) Jon Bernthal (Punisher) Wesley Snipes (Blade) Charlie Cox (Daredevil) Vincent D'nafrio (Kingpin) Edward Norton (Hulk) Benedict Cummerbatch (Dr. Strange) Kelsey Grammer (Beast) Alan Cummings (Nightcrawler) Christopher Reeve (Superman)

[@Dru2037]

​@@sammysstopmotionoas2004 good list except Anne Hathaway's Catwoman who was under utilize.

[@dawlben2247]

Dean Cain was a good Superman.

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

And they would still find something to complain and say it’s woke and say MCU is dead or call it MSHE-U they don’t care about any of the characters you named just using them to hate this character. They do the same with falcon saying just give him his own movie knowing they would call it woke DEI or whatever they just say that because they are upset he’s captain America now. It’s not like the falcon comics were selling.

[@brettdavis5555]

I don’t hate female characters in media, but when Disney does it, I do wonder what else may be coming with it.

[@mohamedAgacem]

Most people don't, we are ready to celebrate chatacters like Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Kitty Pride, Emma Frost, Susan Storm when They eventually appear, but the thing is Marvel was created by two men, who created more male characters then female and that's ok, but Disney for some reason chose the less popular female version of the silver surfer instead of the ORIGINAL very popular silver surfer Norrin, it's just pure pandering to those who cry about representation all the time

[@workaholick]

Marvel did the same thing with the ancient one in Doctor Strange one; hell even changed the characters race, and it seems they haven't learned yet. here we go again....

[@MademoiselleRed1390]

The thing is that as Jesterbell said, they could survive things like that when they were successful at one point so they really could get away with it. Now, not so much

[@no.1spidey-fan182]

The race swap thing was to avoid backlash I think. Same way the didnt accurately represent Mandarins looks in Shang Chi

[@workaholick]

@@no.1spidey-fan182 not really Wong his assistant was still Asian & the real mandarin turned out to be Tony Leung: a actor too great for that goofy film. Kevin Feige later said he regretted doing the switch with the ancient one, but by then who cared about his later excuses. he just wanted that actor to play the role cause he believed it would be cliché; a wise Asian character.

[@SteveCrafts2k]

Thing is, people forgave the Ancient One being a woman because she was a well written character. The way the MCU is now, I doubt a female Silver Surfer would be granted that same mercy.

[@workaholick]

@@SteveCrafts2k you might not have a problem with it, but people who read the books were angry by it. Otherwise he would not bring it up in interviews, because he got bad comments on it. Ever since he took over Marvel creative, he's been not getting good results.

[@Norrbottning]

Why gender/race swap in the first place?

[@Dru2037]

She exist but she's lame

[@Nebulous8091]

She could easily be Alicia masters

[@speedflashanimations221]

Alternative universe?

[@M_K-Bomb]

It's a matter of virtue signalling. It's either to virtue signal that they gave a person of that identity a job, or that they want people to identify with them as they are the same race or gender.

[@MrKingkz]

​@@M_K-BombWhich dose not work cuz the people they try to appeal too either A never gave a fuck in the first place or B was already a fan and want accurate characters of the things they love I think the age old who is this for fits this like a glove 😂

[@TheInstantClassic86]

After the casting of Pedro Pascual as Dr. Fantastic, I’ve given up on the idea that I’ll ever get a good Fantastic Four movie. The Incredibles is the closest we’ll ever get to that.

[@gurugru5958]

Yeah, that one makes no sense. The original movies got Reed right.

[@supercalifragilisticex]

casting the most handsome man alive to play the smartest man alive lol

[@DC-gh6dy]

​@@supercalifragilisticex Pedro is NOT cute.

[@supercalifragilisticex]

@@DC-gh6dy Handsome doesn't always mean cute

[@cahe6161]

​​​@@supercalifragilisticexWith that nose, those eyes and that mustache? You have a very weird definition of handsome. But the "most handsome"? anyone can name you at least 5 actors who look better.

[@wesmcinerny4524]

The Silver Surfer is supposed to be a dude!

[@kwk111]

With a sizable silver schlong!

[@LouisLitt369]

He will be. This is the else world's version

[@andresanguianozuniga6798]

Between the Pedro Pascal thing (where technically counts as a race swap) and this... I'm really doubting if i will support this movie. What honestly it's sad, the 4F deserve a good adaptation. And they Say "but the character exists in the comics" but unless they have the plan of introducing Norrin after in the MCU... This will just be a lazy and cheap checkbox. Norrin Radd is the real Silver Surfer. Not Shalla Bal. It was the same with Jane Foster.

[@casualcausalityy]

I wouldn't hold much hope for anything currently in production. In a year or two things might be looking up

[@supercalifragilisticex]

Jane Foster was never a Thor replacement in the movie, she was a short-lived sidekick. thor 4 spoiler: (she died at the end)

[@Dru2037]

They said it's a different universe from Norrin.

[@SourRobo8364]

I no longer watch movies or shows that don't respect the source material. You can always tell.

[@Dru2037]

She's in the source material so I guess you'll be watching.

[@Xoulrath_]

​@@Dru2037What If isn't canonical.

[@loganr6203]

​​@@Xoulrath_ source material doesn't mean it's canon. Also just because something is canon doesn't mean it's good. IE modern Marvel movies

[@Xoulrath_]

@@loganr6203 uh yeah, it does, in most cases. The "source material" that they are using to justify this gender swap is literally a "what if this happened?" As it is described in its title. It's literally changing canon to tell a different story. This isn't even a multiversal thing like with the Spiderverse. This is just, "Hey, so there's this ONE book where Shalla-Bal is Surfer, so we can make Surfer a woman for our DEI quest."

[@loganr6203]

@@Xoulrath_ my point is the source material being pulled from doesn't have to be "Canon" reading comprehension is not your strong suit my guy

[@biguy617]

Julia fits Rogue more than Sliver Surfer. Considering she has a southern accent

[@gamewriteeye769]

Another question comes up if this is even the REAL Silver Surfer and not another character taking that role. First Iron Man as Dr. Doom, now you're suggesting Rogue as Silver Surfer. ................. NANI?!

[@spiderjump]

Casting a female silver surfer is like using an completely untested point guard instead of michael Jordan in the nba finals

[@sianais]

When your team has been losing matches all season.

[@TheMallachiv]

After your head coach retired in frustration in the last game

[@JamilaJibril-e8h]

​@@sianaisshe's still young 🌱😂😂😂😂

[@ariz347]

I’m just tired of the disingenuous stereotypical strong female lead character being pushed so hard. I’m tired of them taking already existing ips and changing a bunch of shit for brownie points. Be creative, make something new, and just write characters without basing them off of a checklist. I’m indifferent about silver surfer as well, but I’m just like “…..For what??” 💀

[@barneybrown2092]

What's crazy is that there was a female Herald of Galactus (her name is Nova) with all the Surfer's powers IN MARVEL COMICS' MAINSTREAM CANNON. If they'd used her instead of changing THE male Norrin Radd, this would have all gone down a lot smoother.

[@adamh8101]

The resentment comes from the fact that disney took a franchise that was predominantly written by, for, and supported by men and decided to actively denigrate and replace us; rather than just adding interesting new female characters.

[@gujsweed]

One thing that worries me is that Surfer is nearly nude- how will they do that with a female and still avoid the male gaze they hate so much?

[@nookmiles1895]

She's going to be wearing a niqab-like garment, and they're going to change her origins to make it sound like she came from a Middle Eastern-inspired culture, but iN sPaCe!!!

[@WeebGuru6]

That don’t give a shizz

[@draykohunter6805]

It's the most simple design in the world, given to the MCU... It can only end one way; Overdesign nonsense with bad CGI

[@RobbieDBobbet]

How will Marvel address the "blatant sexualisation of women in media", when the people they are making this decision for, see an essentially naked woman, lathered in Silver paint, showing every curve and fold in glorious 8K glistening in the sun... Probably with slow-Mo shots and all the jiggle physics that come with it? And if the answer is "We will use CGI to remove as much woman on display as possible" Then we return to the original question as to "why a woman in the first place"?

[@djdc1970]

Why? Why? Why? Out of all the freaking characters in Marvel why they have to pussyficate the Silver Surfer? Man I’m really trying to give the MCU a final chance but them MoFos are not making it any easier.

[@jonnjones8263]

Just don't watch it. They don't deserve any chances. They're done. Dead in the water. Just move on. These people are a lost cause and it's time we recognize that.

[@speedflashanimations221]

It’s crazy how literally one character is making all these people freak out and not want to watch the movie Like dude at least wait for the first damm trailer

[@josesarango3408]

the MCU is basically the parody of the Democrat party at this point. They keep failing, and double down in what makes them fail

[@TheMallachiv]

“If you don’t understand how you got where you got , you will have no idea how to stay there”

[@vetarlittorf1807]

It's an absolute insult to one of Marvel's most iconic heroes.

[@loganr6203]

Silver surfer is a fucking goober dude Iconic sure but let's not pretend he ain't a goober

[@xavierhollander6521]

It doesn't matter if it's well written. Ppl love the original Surfer and don't want him replaced

[@yourarchnemesis8453]

If you are going to have a Silver Surfer, why wouldn't it be Norrin?

[@gokux75]

RePrEsEnTaTiOn

[@casualcausalityy]

I think you know...

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

It’s a different earth in this movie. I personally don’t want any silver surfer in a FfF origin story.

[@eddyviews1427]

It is been said that it takes place outside of the MCU that eventually jump there. It’s highly speculative that they will bring Norrin after taking a break with this movie, something like this year with D&W or X-Men ‘97.

[@kicknowledgesmith8608]

@@eddyviews1427 Yup but complaining is more fun for many. Even if they bring in Norrin, they will still find something to complain about. Many of the people upset about Shalla are the same ones saying MCU is dead, so why do they even care?!

[@bhanukawijeyaratne6243]

The greatest sin this movie has done is not even the female silver surfer. Its casting Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards.

[@aboodash9008]

This controversy is just so stupid. I mean, the female Silver Surfer isn't even a gender-swapped version of Nortin Radd, but rather, it's his former lover, Shalla-Baal. Why didn't they even consider bringing back Norrin Radd?

[@Jiszmo]

The Silver Surfer is my favorite Marvel character.There isn't a chance in hell that I'd watch my favorite character get sex changed, or race swapped (right Wonder Man?).

[@guitarhero8110]

The guy they got for Wonder Man would have made a better Silver Surfer.

[@speedflashanimations221]

It’s not a gender swap??? It’s just swapping characters

[@Jiszmo]

@@speedflashanimations221 Maybe not if it's a different universe. I'm not sure about that. But in general, they are replacing the original Silver Surfer, Galactus' herald, and replacing the Silver Surfer, with a female version. I can't really see how that isn't gender swapping him, even if it is a different character. The net result is the same. The same story is being told, but with the male hero replaced by a female. If this is a different universe, then it sort of could make sense, considering that Iron Man is now Doctor Doom, and Doctor Octopus is now female, etc.. But even then, it still would just be a fancy way to gender swap the Silver Surfer, just like Miles Morales was just a fancy way to race swap Spiderman. And that is all that it is about, not for story reasons. Though sure, they can twist the story to get the race and gender swaps they want.

[@everyany5000]

A few things. First if you're adapting something and make an arbitrary change for something as objective and easy to adapt as physical appearance or which superhero is which person, you've already lost my confidence in that adaptation of the thing I like. Second, people get very attached to the appearance of characters they like, especially in a visual medium like comics. Raceswapping/genderswapping that character feels like meeting up with an old friend and they're wearing blackface. It's not actively hurting you or other people. They might even have some stupid justification for it. Doesn't change the fact that it's insulting or that you're uncomfortable. The implication being this character DIDN'T work as what they were (insult to the race/gender they were) and that somehow this other race/gender can just be slapped onto a preexisting character like makeup (insulting to the race/gender they turned the character into). Third, it's just bad branding and all the annoyance of having inconsistency and less importance in the things you've grown attached to, which inevitably leads to the fourth issue. Fourth, being arbitrary changes to the source material to match up with the new brand. Now you can't even enjoy the medium this character came from because they've brought the changes there too. Side note. In particular cases like Shalla-Bal, here it's particularly annoying because it's taking a character that existed as something entirely different and then carelessly shoving them into a different box. If you're a fan of her, you're being done a disservice, and if you're a fan of Silver Surfer (traditional), you're being done a disservice.

[@draykohunter6805]

I think about this when I go back and watch The Homecoming Trilogy and how they treated Flash Thompson, because Flash was at some his his best in the comics at the same time, he was so unrecognizably lame in the movies.

[@everyany5000]

​@draykohunter6805 For real! Especially since they were just coming from the Amazing Spider-Man movies with his best live action adaptation to date. They totally fumbled Peter's entire supporting cast in that trilogy. Nobody is who they're supposed to be from the comics, and it's totally lame by comparison.

[@JoeExoticReddo]

I stopped caring about this movie once Pedro was announced as Reed

[@daustin8888]

*Looks at Tim Story FF movie* "Prehaps i judged you too harshly"

[@gungan5822]

What good writers? Disney doesn't have any.

[@PACIFICBboy]

It doesn’t matter how well written a gender bent silver surfer is, at the end of the day you could have used that writing prowess to give us the real silver surfer.

[@kaylee5884]

If they wanted you to go with a female herald they could have used Frankie Ray/Nova

[@TheOtakuNinja69]

That’s what I’ve been wanting for a long time is superhero movies that are more faithful / accurate to the source material, I don’t have any problems with female characters I just want characters to be accurate to the source material. There are several times when I see superhero movies, tv shows, cartoons or video games and they are never accurate to the source material and it bugs me to no end. It’s also how I get super annoyed when they have to race or gender swap a character when they already have a character that’s pretty much what they want but they always use the well known names of characters. For example I’m really got annoyed when they race swapped Jessica Drew Spider-Woman in the Spiderverse 2 movie. If they wanted a black Spider-Woman why didn’t they use Valorie The Librarian. I also got annoyed at the Black Widow movie when they gender swapped Task Master. They even admitted in the movie that it was a male in the suit through out the most of the movie until Task Master got unmasked and that’s when they decided to make Task Master be a Female instead of Male.

[@wizardass420]

Agree 100%. To add, and it's probably an unpopular opinion, but I was annoyed at Jim Gordon being race swapped in The Batman. That actor was literally perfect for a role of Lucius, but of course they had to race swap Jim, who is also sometimes ginger. And has a niece/daughter who is ginger...

[@TheOtakuNinja69]

@@wizardass420 I agree, I was annoyed with that too. I noticed in a lot of current stuff I’ve noticed they replace a lot of red heads with black people. I’m not being racist I’m just making an observation. Another thing that bothers me is they don’t use much stories from classic comics it always has to be the very modern stuff.

[@wizardass420]

@@TheOtakuNinja69 yeah, movies miss out on a lot of good stuff from older comics.

[@makhina8839]

A quick search found that there’s at least 2 female heralds. There’s no reason why they couldn’t just use one of them unless they wanted to cause this “controversy”. It’s just free marketing for them at this point

[@banthatracks_gaffisticks]

Why don't they just make Silver Hawks live action?

[@erikbihari3625]

First;you left out the question mark. Secondly;Disney doesn't own rankin bass characters, warner bros does! You know nothing?

[@SonOvLaw]

Calling it now: regardless of how FF turns out, she gets her own movie announcement

[@scottmorgan2813]

Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd. He's more popular than two of the Fantastic Four members. He's not a D-lister. That should have been respected.

[@luisroman3952]

What I hate about the whole situation is that Disney have all the tools and money to make incredible movie like they obviously can and then they do things like this

[@JP-1990]

"But they had a female Silver Surfer before!" "True, but we know why YOU'RE doing it NOW!"

[@omniviewer2115]

What gets me - and many others, I'm sure - is that Marvel has Nova, who is already a female herald of Galactus. Why not just use her?

[@meanstavrakas1044]

This film is DOA now!

[@speedflashanimations221]

Mother Rucker the movie isn’t even out

[@dumdumer892]

The most obvious issue (aside from her connection to Silver Surfer and stuff we won’t see now from the comics) is that Silver Surfer is a beloved and popular character. Why, with the debut of the FF into the MCU, would you use a relatively unknown character and plot line over the actual Silver Surfer that people like? Now, if you toss the Silver Surfer into another entry it won’t be as cool because, if Shalla-Bal is still around then Silver Surfer will just be filling the same/similar role as her, powerwise, or if she’s gone then he’s just another of her basically. And if she sucks then who would ever want to see them touch Silver Surfer? That’s the most confusing thing to me. You had a popular character but you’re throwing away their debut into your series.

[@lordyoda9382]

Fr, why waste such an opportunity on one of the greatest well known marvel character and then shit all over with. I swear these people over there are clearly fucking idiots, no wonder why they aren’t doing so great. Stop with the bs gender swapping and race swapping.

[@daishikaze3986]

You can't get an idea over by taking something away from another group. It's that simple. You can't get Female characters to be more popular by taking away and replacing Popular Male characters. You can't make Gay Characters more popular by taking the straightest characters and having them suddenly come out. You have to make your own creation and do the work not only on that character but their supporting cast and giving them their own antagonists. You also can't get them over by just making them the most powerful ever, it never works so stop it.

[@ab-gail]

I appreciate your honesty and willingness to allow a different take on the character. For me I see this as a brown M&M’s test. If they’re going to change something so simple how can we trust them portray anything else well? Thankfully folks like you will go see it and help us know whether it’s good or not but that’s where my apprehension comes from.

[@bladerunner3314]

If they wanted a female herald, those exist - Nova. BUT they want the name recognition of the surfer.

[@MikePhillips-x6m]

The Silver Surfer is silver nude guy. This woman is just a character who is connected to the Silver Surfer.

[@littlejimmy7402]

Well, I hope the MCU audience eats it up. I don't need to hear it's my fault because I've read comics in the past.

[@docfortune]

This lady is a good actress, and they are setting her up to fail.

[@rivers77]

Silver Surfer is my favorite comic book character of all time. This version is a hard pass for me. Why not just use Nova if you have to have a female? If you made Rogue a male you would be upset, and it would be understandable.

[@williamradke4290]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember hearing something a while ago that Bob Iger acquired and then handed off Marvel and Star Wars to the Disney Studios so that they could draw in a male audience because Disney at that point was a very(and still is) female audience company. Iger thought they'd grow the brand for males but then when he turned around to check on them they had made it more female focused. My point is, are there people at Disney that are so checked out at this point that they think "Eh all the fans are crazy this stuff is awesome" or do they know its bad and are just saying "Oh well here we are, may as well dig the hole deeper"?

[@14bis42]

No , She is NOT . She is the Female version by disney ..

[@coolwata105]

I've been saying for years that I only have a few characters left. Thor became an Idiot. Loki a File Clerk. Dr. Strange.......a F-Up Hulk went from Incredible, to a child, to a Punchline. I never mentioned Ghost Rider or Blade because I knew they'd be on the chopping block. People SWORE to me that these geniuses WOULD NEEEVER swap Surfer in any way...........and here we are. I'm SO Done. Thank God I'll always have The Memories.

[@auradjinns]

Almost every bit of news I’ve heard regarding this movie has only shown the filmmakers misunderstand the FF on a fundamental level from setting it in another reality based on the 60s (the FF was a concept founded on striving toward the future not looking nostalgically back on the past) to stunt casting (Reed Richards and Doctor Doom).

[@Patterner]

why do they dislike women so much? daily reports of "we suck at new characters so we make the good ones female"

[@Clambamthankyoumam]

Disney doesn’t acknowledge or give two shits about Norrin Radd aka The Silver Surfer so naturally i feel the same way about their new Fantastic Four movie because it’s this horrendous Rey crap all over again only instead of Star Wars, it’s plagued its way into the MCU which frustrates and infuriates me beyond belief.

[@user-oe2wk5nu9s]

I'm done with it. Write original characters for the representation you want. Black Panther was very well received, people always loved Storm, Rogue, Wonder Woman, Ripley and Sarah Connor were awesome. Stop taking away from others, create new QUALITY characters!

[@judgegiant8951]

I've waited years for a decent Fantastic Four movie and the Surfer has been my single favorite marvel character since i started reading comics in the 70's. I have virtually no interest in watching this movie because of the casting of Reed and the Surfer

[@kimcampagna9383]

Well done, Jesterbell!

[@augustbeller]

My expectations for female characters have been in the mud ever since Marvel dropped the ball with the Wasp. It’s still insane to me how irrelevant she is to the avengers and even the Antman movies

[@diemes5463]

Skipping this, no longer ignoring the canaries in the coalmine. At this point a traditional comic book movie would actually blow my mind, I expect laziness covered over with virtue-signaling.

[@vova2422]

Quoting our savior and genius James Gunn: “Wait a second, comic book fans had an opinion on casting. What are you talking about!?”😃

[@jonathananderson5990]

Hey Jester, for what it's worth, I for one would be VERY interested in a video about Storm.

[@Shadi092986]

For modern Disney/Hollywood, ragebait casting is the name of the game. Kneon also said it best, celebs are now really good at *anti-marketing*. Just let their box office returns crash and burn while they wallow in Bluesky.

[@menanmate2006]

I’m honestly so fucking sick of this shit. I was looking forward to this one cause I was a big fan of the original 2 movies growing up. I’ve never had an issue with female characters at all but I’m genuinely getting so sick and tired of seeing this gender race swapping

[@3thosmusic22]

Have they learned nothing from what happened the last time changed one of the characters in the last Fantastic 4 movie?

[@jimsteinmanfan80]

How is swapping out male versions of Hawkeye, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Panther, Blade, Fury, Iron man, Ant-man, Wolverine and Taskmaster for female versions making things equal. What males are left? Winter soldier, Moon knight, Deadpool, Starlord, Starfox and Daredevil? against two dozen chicks. That's a 4:1 female ratio. Dr. Strange is male but both Clea and The Ancient one are females (in the MCU) and one of them will probably take over as Sorcerer supreme.

[@hedleylamarr1750]

Frankie Raye was a popular Herald of Galactus... why not use her character? Why does it always, always, always, have to be a casting that's meant to be cheap shock???

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

5:39 Marvel wants more female characters. Why not actual female characters, not gender-flipped male ones?

[@Dam-a-fence]

Because, if they are competing with men, men are the enemy, or the standard, or both. Which ever you the consumer want it to be actually, that way, the builder of the toys wins a penny here and a penny there.

[@whitemagus2000]

They must be chasing that Marvels and She Hulk money. But seriously, how can they fart out another ultra powerful girl boss and expect it to not lose hundreds of millions of dollars?

[@MrBoop-rj4tk]

I appreciate and note this video as an attempt to acknowledge MCU fan sentiments without being misogynistic or overly negative. I'm also of the belief that anything can be written well, even if its a gender-bent, contemporary retelling, race-swapped, etc version of an older work. But I believe the last 10 or so years of fans clamoring for original or new characters to be used in representing marginalized groups has amounted to literally nothing. While I don't expect the artists and writers to cave to fan sentiment, the businesses-who ought to be more subject to market forces-behind these artists and writers have consistently made bad decisions with the excuse of endorsing "representation". They keep doing it. Whether these businesses can just absorb the losses with moments such as Joker 1(and cuz they're typically conglomerates), or perhaps they consider themselves noble and 'activist' in this effort for representation, or perhaps they just don't care... After a while, it feels like they're TRYING to put marginalized groups into the worst position possible. I'm a casual black fan, that's just my perspective. I'm sure Julia Garner will be great, but she can only do so much if everything else is terrible.

[@The1Zubatman]

I am just so tired.

[@nielsfrederiksen6636]

As someone whos been reading the comics for decades, its quite obvious when people have an agenda with these things and when they actually care about the story. Shalla-Bal is never THE Silfer Surfer. It has literally never happened, not even in what Ifs. The specific issue people refer to is Earth X#12, because of its iconic cover. But if you actually read the issue, you see that its quite misleading. Shalla has the power cosmic and metallic skin ALONGSIDE Norrin Radd. She is never referred to as the Surfer in the comic. In fact, she has no speaking lines, is killed off in the background and only appear in a handful of panels. She isnt prominent at all. She is a small little cameo. She has had the Power Cosmic on other occusations, but never the title of Silver Surfer. Then there´s Juno, whos actually a female Silver Surfer, but thats not Shalla-Bal, who Julia is supposedly playing in the movie and a different case entirely. If they wanted a female herald, they could just have gone with Frankie Raye. If they wanted more female characters in the movie in prominent positions they could use Alicia Masters or Crystal from the Inhumans or Valeria Richards. This comes off as change-for-the-sake-of-change thing to me and is why im skipping it. I dont want a modernized version of the FF. I just want them as they exist in the comics. if Marvel Studios doesnt want to make that, its fine, ill just skip the movie.

[@dallasgrey4247]

I’d be interested in seeing that Storm video. I agree that Storm has definitely been flanderized

[@sssspider]

Fantastic Four: First Steps is an awful title. It sounds like the title of a crappy tie-in prequel comic, not a major movie they’re relying on to revive interest in the MCU. Fantastic Four as a brand has so much negative stigma attached to it that they NEED to hit it out of the park to convince audiences that this isn’t just another in a long line of Fantastic Flops. What they’re doing with it isn’t inspiring confidence

[@brandonbaggaley2317]

The Surfer needs to have the Infinity Sword, get his hands on an alternate universe Infinity Gauntlet and go all Dark Surfer like in Super Hero Squad!

[@dragonhex3832]

I just want the characters I like to be those characters... I'm so tired of this stuff. Inclusion is great when its real, but this is just replacement. These characters aren't the same characters. Gender bending, race swapping, whatever it is is UNFAITHFUL TO THE CHARACTER. It's like if you saw a friend and they were litteraly a different person. You wouldn't see them as that person. Everyone has a limit to suspension of disbelief. Your hair is not the right shade? OK. Your eyes are a different color? That's fine. To tall or short? Maybe. But big, obvious stuff like sex and race are too much to ignore. It's just a different person with the "mantle" of the characters name.

[@mosshivenetwork117]

I don't know what to say lol

[@TheCultureGodz]

😤Dam good vid!...Also...A Storm movie would be HUGE and I'm here for it. I'm almost willing to bet money on how big it would be.

[@LaPaisiblePetiteGnomette]

I thought that she was supposed to play in Madonna's biopic 😮 Anyway, I think that you're right gender-bending a character can be done well if the writers are talented. She's an excellent actress I agree, but I hope that Marvel will hire good writers for this time.

[@KaiHouston-m6j]

Yeah, good luck with that.

[@freman007]

Morgan Freeman voiceover: "But hiring good writers was something Marvel just couldn't do."

[@thechuckjosechannel.2702]

Silver Surf-Her and Sue Storm.

[@JohnHenrysaysHi]

Evening JesterBell, and it would be evening again by the time you finished reading my comment because I wrote over the limit again but thanks for your empathetic insight regarding people's favorite characters, and since I've been here since last year, you've helped me from being a hypocrite and I hope to continue improving so thank you! I think I was even writing to you about it in comments last year hoping it would be helpful insight for what might be going on with people since I know you care so much about people. I remember you bringing up Rogue's empathy mode! And...I've been using "empathy mode" ever since hearing you say that, but I've been using it in regards to girls and women....not that allllll are so empathetic and yeah yeah yeah guys can be empathetic but...in general, women have a more natural empathetic superpower whereas guys are more emotionally detached...and that's why I think you help reveal our feeling-related hypocrisy! You just reminded me when Silver Surfer used to be my favorite superhero, which might have been because of that 1998 Fox show, and I read a bunch of comics....and when reading Stan Lee's run...I think loving it, at the time, his Silver Surfer...was it issue 3? Was my favorite comic! And then! I despised the character because it was so insufferably preachy...I was younger so I don't know how I'd think or feel about it now...I thought his Spider-man was the greatest superhero of all time and his Captain America is some of the greatest comic writing of all time and his best written character besides Spider-man, and he's one of the most influential writers on me, but...I remember not liking a lot of his comics including his Daredevil....and Fantastic Four which I think I was updating you on...I gotta go and I went into that and how Dr. Doom used to be my favorite superhero character....I bounce around a lot...oh, yeah, also talked about the first Fantastic Four movie since that's the only one I saw...gotta go but...speaking of bouncing.... And Great Bouncing Clowns! I love your Harley, Rogue, and Gambit videos and posting! Never gets boring! Always happily hypes me up! I like it, I love it, I want some more of it...gotta go! I wrote a massive post.....but thanks again! Keep bringing up your favorite things! It's awesome how much you care and the depth you go!

[@PhilRiveraMedia]

It's all about intent, and we know what the intent is. Silver Surfer is male. Reed Richards is white. California would probably ignite into a ball of fire and slide into the ocean of someone replaced X-Men's Storm with a Scottish dude in a kilt. Nobody would agree with it. Stop wasting time changing things to appease nobody and concentrate on a good story that is faithful to the original in ALL aspects. The lack of respect to the original creators just blows my mind.

[@a.f.watcher8888]

Rumor is Lakeith Stanfield is Norrin Radd will be the Silver Surfer post credits.

[@sammysstopmotionoas2004]

He fuckin better!

[@jaimeherber8353]

Sounds dope 👍

[@jonathananderson5990]

Soooo, a gender-swap, and then a race-swap. Yay?

[@monkeyshake3508]

For me she can play every character in the movie. I won't be buying a ticket.

[@DanielBMaximoff]

Calendar Girl worked because the character was based on Mannequin from the comics. A model who lost her beauty and wanted revenge on those who took everything away. In MCU's case there is bad casting and they actively try to piss people off.

[@greyw3aver]

Loved Julia's performance in Apartment 7A, i would be saddened to see her get dragged into woke activism.

[@LouisLitt369]

They have plans for another silver surfer for the 616. The actor accidentally spoiled it while complaining about the Julia Garner casting. Can't imagine why marvel didn't think to speak to the actor first to avoid that from happening.

[@sunnyhoarder7424]

Thanks for the video. Sadly, it’s just lazy pandering. If Marvel Studios really wanted more female and diverse superheroes and supervillains, they could adapt most characters as they are straight from the source material with some easy changes here and there to do that. But they don’t. What’s really angering a lot of fans is that this was clearly a choice on their part, a lazy and uncaring one at that. As others have already said, if they wanted a female Herald of Galactus they could’ve cast Julia Garner as his herald Nova. Another example is the upcoming Wonder Man series cast a black man as Wonder Man, who’s definitively white. If they wanted another prominent black superhero, they should’ve made a Blue Marvel series or movie. Adam Brashear, aka Blue Marvel, is essentially black Superman and a super-genius on the level of Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Doom, Iron Man, etc. with a specialization in the field of astrophysics and studying the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe. What’s better, he even has his own small yet compelling rogues gallery. His most prominent villains being one or both of his sons, with his best friend becoming a villain who later ends up as a one-time herald of Galactus during his time as the Lifebringer of Worlds. It’s all there. Marvel Studios is sitting on a gold mine of characters, teams, and stories ready to be adapted in some way into the MCU. But they kept making decisions like this for the past decade. It’s just exhausting giving them the benefit of the doubt anymore.

[@LaitoChen]

She's literally hobbit sized. They're gonna have to CGI her entire performance