Julia Garner Had The Classiest Reaction To Fan Backlash Over Female Silver Surfer In New 'Fantastic Four' Film

An enthusiastic, engaged fan base can be a wonderful thing to experience—if the fans don't turn toxic.

Unfortunately, far too many members of sci-fi, fantasy and superhero/comic book fandoms are openly hostile to anyone who doesn't resemble the cast from the "good old days" of those genres—when their fictional universes were primarily populated by White, cisgender, heteronormative, men and the "dames" they hit on.

Ozark and Inventing Anna standout Julia Garner is the latest actor to be targeted by toxic fans for creative choices made by writers, directors, producers, and studios.

For the new Fantastic Four reboot, this time set in a highly stylized alternate universe 1960s that never was in our timeline, the decision was made to make the Silver Surfer more feminine in appearance, casting a woman for the role. Prior incarnations were more masculine in appearance.

Speaking to the BBC at the film's London premiere, Garner said:

"Oh, well, you know, I was like, 'I'm just gonna still do my job'."

She added, after hearing people enjoyed the film's trailer:

"I was just happy that people are resonating with it, just like any other project. I'm grateful to be at this dance, to be completely honest with you."

This is Garner's first foray into the comics of the Marvel Universe, but not comics in general.

In 2014, Garner played Marcie in Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Nontoxic fans on the Marvel Studios subReddit broke down the issue their peers are having with Garner's casting.

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

r/marvelstudios/Reddit

The Silver Surfer, created by Jack Kirby in 1966, is a silver skinned humanoid alien that travels the cosmos on a silver surfboard. The mid 1960s to 2025 is a mighty long time, so the Silver Surfer has gone through several changes and multi-verses, like almost all comic book characters around for almost 60 years.

Originally, astronomer Norrin Radd took on the mantle of herald for Galactus, becoming the Silver Surfer to save his homeworld. But on alternate Earth X/Universe X, there are two Silver Surfers—Radd and his lover, the empress of Zenn-La Shalla-Bal, a decidedly feminine version of the character.

Garner is, in fact, playing Shalla-Bal, not Norrin Radd, in the film.

With very few exceptions, women in the sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero genres were just shoehorned into universes as the love interest, the eye candy, or the one with the lame powers.

In the Golden Age comics, as powerful as Wonder Woman has always been—legendary Amazon warrior and literal child of a God—she initially served as the secretary for the Justice Society of America for several years before being granted full membership privileges.

Meanwhile, BIPOC were relegated to the role of goofy sidekick or servant. And no one LGBTQ+ would be anything but a villain or a foil.

So when studios decided to make films or TV series featuring these classic characters, or their franchise was rebooted in comics or on camera, modern creators had to figure out how to handle problematic fiction—the racism and sexism was rife in many—that was devoid of diversity.

Some creators added new characters or retconned existing ones to make their universes a better reflection of reality.

But both options brought out the worst in some fans who felt entitled to dictate the direction of someone else's intellectual property. Some people think supporting someone else's art gives them ownership over it.

For those toxic fans, all their fandoms should always remain patriarchal and racially pure. And they take to online forums to whine to each other, harass stars, and review bomb anything that doesn't fit that mold.

Review bombing is a tactic where a large number of users post negative online reviews, often in a coordinated effort, to negatively impact its success. The reviews are often posted before anyone outside the industry has even seen the finished product, citing acting or plot.

But the tissue paper thinly-veiled real reason is misogyny, racism, and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry.

Even fandoms where the protagonist has always been a woman, BIPOC, or LGBTQ+, these so-called fans still protest and review bomb over the existence of the characters.

Like with the "fan" outrage over The Last of Us having LGBTQ+ characters, that are LGBTQ+ characters in the game the series is based on, be LGBTQ+ characters in the HBO series.

Some actors have been driven off of social media by fan harassment because of their—or their characters—gender identity, sexuality, or race.

It's good to see Garner isn't letting the tantrums of toxic fans get her down.

It's probably too much to ask toxic fans to grow up and realize they don't own someone else's art and creators don't owe them anything.

Don't like someone else's creative efforts? It's pretty simple to walk away and find something new to like.