In 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hellboy star Doug Jones brought one of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s greatest creations to life when he played Norrin Radd, a.k.a. the sequel’s titular Silver Surfer.
The actor, known for his transformative performances, portrayed Galactus’ Herald on set but ultimately had to share the role with The Matrix star Laurence Fishburne (who later joined the MCU as Bill Foster in 2018’s Ant-Man and The Wasp). Since then, we’ve seen the Shalla-Bal version of Silver Surfer in last summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
A couple of days ago, we sat down with Jones to discuss his role in the riotously funny new comedy, Operation Taco Gary’s. After sharing his verdict on Julie Garner’s Silver Surfer, the actor opened up on potentially making his MCU debut in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars.
“Well, I would love to voice myself. Yes,” the actor said of a possible return to the role. “In fact, I did do the voice on set with all my actor co-stars and was voiced over in post-production. So I love Laurence Fishburne. He’s a brilliant actor. But I would love, if offered the role again, I would love to take on the entire thing.”
“But I just have a feeling that at my age and with their plethora of younger actors they have to choose from now that they’ll probably go with someone a bit younger,” Jones acknowledged. “And I’m okay with that because I’ve moved into a new category where I’m playing saucy, interesting, colourful old guys. And I love it.”
If 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine proved anything, it’s that Marvel Studios is open to bringing back characters from the past for Multiversal tales. Wesley Snipes, for example, stepped back into his most iconic role as Blade, despite being in his early 60s.
When we last saw Jones’ Silver Surfer, he’d regained control of his board from Doctor Doom and, inspired by Sue Storm’s humanity, vowed to stop Galactus from destroying Earth.
He confronted the villain and vanished, though a mid-credits scene later revealed that he had survived the encounter. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how much you liked the films—Fantastic Four 3 never happened. The franchise was rebooted by Fox in 2015, but once again put the spotlight on Doom.
Chances are we will see a new version of Norrin Radd in the MCU, likely in the post-Avengers: Secret Wars version of this shared world.
Operation Taco Gary’s opens in theaters on February 27.