To say that Avengers: Infinity War has a large cast would be an understatement. In a little over five weeks, moviegoers will head to theaters to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest heroes and many members of their supporting cast join forces to fight Thanos and his minions. It's a battle that will unfold across several locations in the galaxy, and the outcome will determine the fate of reality. By now we know who most of the Infinity War players are, but often times Marvel likes to throw in a surprise appearance or two, and if a new piece of information is to be believed, Silver Surfer will show up during the third Avengers movie.
According to an Avengers: Infinity War cast listing posted on Metacritic, an actor named Curt Clendenin is supposedly playing the Silver Surfer in the blockbuster. Clendenin is a relatively unknown actor, so assuming he is indeed playing the Silver Surfer, one would imagine that he's only physically portraying the character while someone else provides the voice (like what happened in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), or that Clendenin is temporarily playing the character, and a more recognize actor will play him later on, much like how Thanos was portrayed by Damon Poitier in The Avengers, but Josh Brolin was later cast in the role. Nevertheless, it is worth taking this casting detail with a grain of salt, mainly because of who controls the film rights to the Silver Surfer.
Like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer currently rests at 20th Century Fox, hence why he hasn't appeared in the MCU at any point over the last 10 years. Now, Disney has announced that it plans on buying 21st Century Fox, and if the deal is finalized, that would mean that Silver Surfer would be among the numerous Marvel Comics who could finally be incorporated into the MCU. However, it will be a long time until this deal is finalized. More importantly, since Avengers: Infinity War was shooting in the first half of 2017, months before this Disney and Fox deal was even announced, the Infinity War creative team would's have had access to the Silver Surfer. There's a chance that Marvel and Fox were able to work out a deal for the former company to use the Silver Surfer, similar to the Spider-Man deal arranged between Marvel and Sony, but one would imagine that something like that would have been publicly announced, if not at least rumored.
Silver Surfer would certainly make a worthy addition to the MCU, and since he was involved with The Infinity Gauntlet comic book event that's loosely inspiring Avengers: Infinity War, it would be cool to see him pop up during the battle with Thanos, potentially to tease Avengers 4. That being said, the chances of this happening are extremely slim, and even if Disney's acquisition of Fox goes through, Phase 4 is the earliest we could see him. But in this instance, I'd welcome being proven wrong if it means we could see Norrin Radd harnessing the Power Cosmic alongside the MCU's other heroes.
Avengers: Infinity War opens in theaters on April 27, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage about the movie. As for the Silver Surfer, Fox is reportedly working on a standalone movie starring the Skyrider of the Spaceways.
