With Thanos dusted, the MCU isn’t facing any universe-threatening villains at the moment. But there’s something worse looming on the horizon.
After the Disney/Fox merger, Marvel Studios now have the rights to Galactus and it’s certain that the colossal cosmic entity will turn up sooner or later. Comic fans will know that he’s more of a force of nature than a true villain, roaming the galaxy and consuming worlds without morality or judgment. But where Galactus goes, the Silver Surfer leads.
Originally known as Norrin Radd, he saves his home planet from Galactus’ belly by promising to act as his herald. The big bad then grants him a tiny portion of his vast powers, letting him travel through space at light speed to scout suitable planets to consume. Despite this, deep down he has a noble spirit and struggles with the guilt of his role.
Writer, director and super fan Kevin Smith was recently asked who he’d pick to play Galactus and the Silver Surfer and in a perhaps-not-entirely-serious answer, he chose Arnold Schwarzenegger as the former and Bruce Willis as the latter, explaining:
“I want to see him in a big funny hat, I want to see him eating planets. Then you’ve got your Stallone, you’ve got your Schwarzenegger, and then in your Planet Hollywood triumverate, you get [Bruce] Willis to play The Silver Surfer.”
Thing is, the longer I imagine it, the more I think Willis would actually be a good fit. The star’s last few movies have been straight-to-VOD trash, with the Die Hard actor clearly completely checked out, there for a paycheque and nothing else. But his detached, emotionless and blank current style would work for the Silver Surfer, especially if by the end of the film he’d snapped out of his funk and sided with the heroes against Galactus. Plus, as the character would likely be mostly CGI anyway, his age might not be much of a factor.
Of course, the Silver Surfer has already appeared in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In that, he was voiced by Lawrence Fishburne and though the movie was awful, it take on him wasn’t half bad (at least he wasn’t a cloud!). I wouldn’t expect the eventual MCU version to be that different, but if they do a solo pic that drew inspiration from some of the more psychedelic Silver Surfer comics, we could be in for a wild time.
