Despite being an enduring fan favorite ever since debuting in a 1966 issue of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer has yet to be given his due on the big screen, which seems strange when many others that aren’t anywhere near as recognizable or popular have been subjected to the movie treatment at least once.
There was the bizarre attempt to launch Silver Surfer: The Musical in the 1980s that saw Stan Lee create a brand new character named Ardina so that Olivia Newton-John could play her in the rock opera, while Paul McCartney was approached to handle the music. That potential train wreck never happened, though, and a decade later, another version stalled that would have seen rising star Ewan McGregor in the title role.
Out of the four Fantastic Four movies that have been made so far, Silver Surfer has only appeared in one of them, but at least he got his name in the title of Tim Story’s mediocre 2007 sequel. Laurence Fishburne may have provided the silky smooth tones of Norrin Radd, but it was motion capture master Doug Jones that did the physical performance.
In a recent interview, Jones opened up about the role and admitted that he’d love the chance to play the Silver Surfer again when the character is eventually rebooted and absorbed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for both professional and personal reasons.
“If they were going to bring the Silver Surfer back to film, if it was offered to me, I would jump at the chance. I loved playing him. He was so heroic and angelic, and Christ-like even. He’s the kind of superhero that I want to be in my real life. And beautiful. He had the best ass I’ve ever had on film. So if I could play him again, I would jump at the chance, sure.”
Silver Surfer is widely expected to play a big part in the Fantastic Four’s MCU debut, and longtime fans will be hoping that justice will be done to both the team themselves and their most famous supporting player, especially when they’ve been burned four times in a row now by the various feature-length adaptations over the years.
