MCU Rumor: Silver Surfer Won't Be The Herald Of Galactus - Here's Why

As fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe look forward to what comes next, questions abound regarding their favorite yet-to-be-used characters. While "Deadpool 3" is on the way, setting the stage for the arrival of the X-Men, we still don't have a lot of information about the big screen return of another superhero team, the Fantastic Four. Aside from the casting and introduction of the heroes, Marvel has yet to begin dropping tidbits on the villains and supporting characters. But thanks to a Hollywood insider, we've gotten a juicy rumor about Galactus and his most famous herald, Silver Surfer. 

According to @MyTimeToShineH on his X (formerly Twitter) page, Marvel is making a curious decision. "Galactus' herald in the MCU Fantastic Four reboot will be a woman," the post stated. The comment section of the post jumped to a few conclusions, the first being that the MCU version of Silver Surfer was going to be female. @AmonDior sounded off with their feelings, writing, "Genderbent Silver Surfer? That's so lame." 

Of course, that isn't the only option, as many others believe that this news means fans are getting a different herald from the comics: Nova. The Pitch Nerds reminded everyone that Galactus isn't picky about the gender of his herald. "He has had female heralds before," they wrote. "They are probably going with Nova." While there isn't confirmation of anything right now, we can take this information and hypothesize on a few different approaches this decision could take. 

When Galactus needs sustenance, he sends his herald ahead of him to find a planet suitable for him to consume. The Silver Surfer, aka Norrin Radd, may be the most popular herald to the Devourer of Worlds, but he was merely the first. While Radd spends his likely century-long service to the galactic glutton trying to find worlds devoid of life, so that no innocents are killed, Nova — whose real name is Frankie Raye — isn't as picky. 

Frankie Raye is doused with a chemical that gives her superhuman powers similar to those of the Human Torch when she is a child. After a romantic fling with her fellow flame-engulfed hero, she volunteers to enter into the service of Galactus and find planets for him to consume. The Fantastic Four are understandably concerned about her willingness to wipe out countless lives, while Galactus is more than happy to put it to good use. 

One thing to keep in mind is that while Nova would be a formidable adversary to the Fantastic Four, she would also be the perfect villain to match Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), punch for punch in a space battle. While the Fantastic Four deals with Galactus, Captain Marvel could try to help Frankie see the error of her ways — if she shows up to help out at all.

Marvel isn't above changing comic book storylines for the movies — for example, putting Scott Lang in the Ant-Man suit instead of Hank Pym. It's possible that Marvel fans could be in for another shake-up in the canon, this time involving Silver Surfer and his love interest, Dawn Greenwood. 

In the comics, a machine chooses Dawn as the person who would be the most important in the universe to Silver Surfer. While they don't know each other at the time, Surfer — who would never allow an innocent person to be killed — is leveraged into saving her. They eventually fall in love, but when Dawn discovers his past as the herald, she rejects him. Yet when she comes face-to-face with Galactus, she also volunteers to be his herald. She never actually serves him, but again, that doesn't mean she couldn't become his accomplice in the MCU. 

Marvel could go a lot of ways with this yet-to-be-unveiled herald. Silver Surfer could be gender-bent. Marvel isn't afraid of that, either. They did this with Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Flag-Smasher (Erin Kellyman). Of course, that is a risky proposition with such a popular character, so using a later herald that is female and arrives later in the Silver Surfer storyline seems more likely.