Note: This post contains potential spoilers for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Julia Garner’s Shalla-Bal is reportedly returning in an upcoming Avengers movie, following her last appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
According to insider James Mack, who previously shared some important news on Avengers: Doomsday, he has revealed that Garner’s Shalla-Bal will return in Marvel’s Avengers: Secret Wars. But it will not be a villain arc character like the one last seen in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. James noted that “Shalla-Bal will not be a villain in Secret Wars.”
A major concept art leak has already hinted at Shalla-Bal’s return in the upcoming Avengers movie. In the leaked image, she can be seen approaching Reed Richards.
In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Shalla-Bal is revealed as the Silver Surfer and an unwilling herald of Galactus, having taken the role to save her home world, Zenn-La. Haunted by the transmissions of planets she helped Galactus destroy, she initially refuses to help the Fantastic Four stop him, but returns during the final battle when Earth is in danger.
When Johnny Storm tries to sacrifice himself to push Galactus into a portal, Shalla-Bal stops him and sacrifices herself instead, using her power to force Galactus into the portal before it closes behind them, leaving her fate unknown.
Scooper Alex Perez (via The Cosmic Circus) has reported that the Galactus and Shalla-Bal storylines in the MCU will undergo a “reset.”
In Avengers: Secret Wars, after the multiverse collapses, Doctor Doom creates a new world where all heroes lose their memories and unknowingly serve him as God Emperor Doom. Only a small group of surviving heroes, including Reed Richards, Black Panther and a few others, retain the truth and work together to undo Doom’s rule and restore the multiverse.
The cast of Avengers: Secret Wars so far includes:
• Robert Downey Jr. as Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom
• Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
• Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent
• Sadie Sink (role not yet announced)
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
• Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter
• Lewis Pullman as The Sentry
• Letitia Wright as Shuri / Black Panther
Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters and IMAX across the United States on December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars is scheduled for release on December 17, 2027.
Source: James Mack
