Review: Marvel Legends Silver Surfer from The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Mephitsu
- Jul 1
- 6 min read
“I herald his beginning. I herald your end”
Our reviews of The Fantastic Four: First Steps Marvel Legends wave is written ahead of the movie release. It contains no spoilers other than the imagery used on the packaging and figures, all of which has been seen in the trailers.
The first MCU Fantastic Four figures landed on the 1st of July 2025 to collectors worldwide, a six figure wave that incorporated the full Fantastic Four team as well as a ‘flame on’ version of Johnny Storm and the new Silver Surfer. The packaging mirrored the dimensions and layout of the current Legends packaging, but completely redesigned everything else. The look of the Fantastic Four figure boxes moves away from the usual sleek black to an off white base colour, with deep blue logos and nameplates, and even a blue colour to the ‘Legends’ wording of the Marvel Legends logo. This is very much intended to give the figures the same feel as the movie, as though coming from an alternative timeline with a 50s and 60s vibe. This even extends to the use of the old Hasbro logo bottom right.
The artwork on the box side is retained, but shaped in an offcentre blue frame. These are realistic illustrations against deep orange coloured backdrops. The full image is placed on the box reverse, where we find the character posed against a bold orange circle. Unusually, there is no background text or synopsis for the movie itself. The figure is set against a blue card back which incorporates the four circular designs that are applied to our four main characters - designs that are also used on the box itself around the character name plates, apart from on the Silver Surfer.
The Silver Surfer release is the heaviest in terms of content, giving fans the new figure, alternative hands, her surfboard, and a flame effects base. These are packed into the standard plastic tray with a double-decker design to incorporate a second tray at the back for the surfboard stand. The figure is based on Julia Garner’s portrayal of the Surfer and is very much a slimline female body cast in a base silver and with swirls of a bronze or gold effect applied to the silver surface to try and simulate the metallic sheen and reflection that the CGI effects have on screen.
The headsculpt appears to replicate the onscreen character's look well enough, with Garner’s proportions and features built into the sculpt. The eyes are ringed in black as we see on screen, but include printed eyes, and the eyebrows and lips appear to be similarly applied. The Silver Surfer’s hair, an individual piece, is slicked back over her head, around the ear,s and down to the nape of her neck where it flicks out slightly. This is given a marginally darker silver decor with what could be a dark wash to trim the fringe line and the depths of the hair strand sculpting.
The Silver Surfer features a pair of clenched fists on arrival, but comes with additional hand options for variations in poses. Alongside the fists, you can choose from a pair of outstretched hands, and a solitary right hand with a 90-degree finger bend and grip. In the promotional images, this hand is designed to be used for holding the surfboard when not being ridden, either under the arm or propped up along side here. In reality, both are difficult to achieve as the hand grip itself is not strong enough, nor is there enough weight in the figure to offset the much larger and heavier board.
Articulation is entirely pin-less and unencumbered, with 18 points of articulation in total. Considering this is a figure who had to have extensive movement for riding the surfboard, this configuration is slightly disappointing and is certainly missing a butterfly shoulder and probably a more robust ab-crunch rather than the rudimentary ball joint in the torso.
As a figure, without any accessories, the Silver Surfer can stand and be posed in a number of positions, holding each of them well enough alongside the other Fantastic Four characters.
Moving on to the Surboard and this is an 8.5 inch silver cast shaped piece, complete with sculpted striations and ‘cosmic damage’ down the entire length. It lacks any paint applications, relying only on the base silver colour. It incorporates a single footpeg approximately a third of the way down the length from the front and slightly off to the right to favour the figures right foot.
As well as the Surfboard, Hasbro has provided a diorama base, which is an orange translucent shaped piece representing some form of flames of entry into a planet’s atmosphere or similar. The flame-waves darken as they reach the top section, which is flat and shaped for the surfboard to slide into position. There is no holding mechanism or fixing clips; the board is held in solely by gravity and the downward slope of the base, becoming more secure the further you slide it back, allowing the slanted sides of the orange section to grip the board.
On paper this is much more display friendly than the more traditional clear bases, my Green Goblin was one of the most unstable pieces in my collection until I finally removed the Hasbro base and gave it a fixed perspex pedestal to sit on.
Our Silver Surfer obviously engages with the board via the footpeg, the fit of which is pretty loose straight out of the box. Once the foot is engaged the rest of the body is then posed around this ‘secured’ foot, bringing the other leg back and flat to the board for additional support. There are a fair few surfing positions the figure can hit, alternating the hands for differing gestures while doing it. The more extreme poses you try to achieve, the more you find the issues in articulation, particularly around the torso, which needs much more ab-crunch, but also on the ankle rockers, which are very fluid in their sideways motion, lacing any ratchet, and also devoid of any forward leaning movement.
Stability is the biggest issue, and while the base and board are pretty robust, relying on that single ankle joint with its extensive lateral play and a fairly loose fitting foot peg will see your Silver Surfer take a few tumbles- usually to the side rather than forward - until you get her balanced correctly.
The Silver Surfer, as we mentioned in the opening, presents a significant level of value for money considering the figure, the hands, an 8.5-inch sculpted surfboard, and the effects base. Visually, she looks the part, but the Marvel Legends line still struggles with metallic finishes, and while attempts have been made to add reflection and ripples in the supposed metal surface, it still looks too flat and plastic. The same issue has plagued MCU Iron Man figures for numerous years.
The surfboard itself is well designed and engineered, the figure less so, and the articulation to ride the board, both in terms of movement and stability, is a little lacking. The box art shows the pose we would all probably most like to achieve, but that is sadly not physically possible with what we have been given. I suspect those who are more in the know will see that much of the base female body is re-used from other figure base bodies rather than designing a figure from the ground up to work with the surfboard and hit the poses we will see on screen.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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