Shalla-Bal has made her big screen debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps as the Silver Surfer. The comic character was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, starting as the love interest of Silver Surfer Norrin Radd and later the Empress of Zenn-La. She was introduced in The Silver Surfer #1 (August 1968) when Galactus came to her planet and Norrin Radd volunteered to become his herald if the planet consumer would spare Zenn-La.

Galactus trapped Silver Surfer on Earth after he rebelled against destroying the planet. Mephisto, who wanted Surfer’s soul, saw an opportunity to craft a scheme against him. He manipulated Shalla-Bal’s consciousness to make her believe that she was a citizen of Latveria and Doctor Doom’s betrothed. His goal was to make Silver Surfer and maneuver him into a fight with the Fantastic Four.

As this was happening, Galactus consumed the life energy and ecosphere of Zenn-La, although he did let the people flee beforehand so that they could live and return to the lifeless planet later. Once Mr. Fantastic freed Surfer from being imprisoned, he saved Shalla-Bal and shared a portion of the Power Cosmic with her. Shalla-Bal returned to Zenn-La, used her new power to restore life on the planet, and was then named Empress.

Her new role put Shalla-Bal in danger on a regular basis. She was tricked by the Kree leader Nenora (a Skrull in disguise) who made a false offer to protect her planet from the Obliterator. Then she was held captive by the Enslaver and was briefly dead following a battle between Silver Surfer and Moondragon against the Great One.

Later after she was resurrected, Shalla-Bal became Zenn-La’s Keeper of the Great Truth and started a mission to share the perfection of her planet throughout the universe via the Illuminatrix. When she came to Earth to convert it, Silver Surfer refused to join her, so she put some of Earth’s heroes under her thrall and made them fight Surfer. To stop the conversion from happening, Silver Surfer used the Power Cosmic to destroy the Illuminatrix which destroyed Zenn-La. In retaliation, Shalla-Bal made Surfer forget that he was a Zenn-Lavian and then she and her armada left Earth.

The version of Shalla-Bal that appears in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is based on the Earth X miniseries. The book is set in a dystopian future where Shalla-Bal and Norrin Radd are both heralds of Galactus. In the end, she was killed during a battle with the Celestials.