The Fantastic Four: First Steps isn't the first time we've seen Marvel's First Family do battle with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. In 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, both villains were heavily featured, though the Devourer of Worlds was portrayed as, well, a cloud.
Fans walked away unhappy, even if the Silver Surfer was (mostly) portrayed in a comic-accurate manner. Things got a little weird when Doctor Doom stole Norrin Radd's board, though!
In Marvel Studios' reboot, after the Surfer's warning in Times Square, the team travels to Galactus' spaceship and confronts the Devourer of Worlds. Despite speculation that he might be a Celestial, the villain confirms that he was also once a man, which lines up with the comics. Reed Richards also reveals that he predates their universe, but that doesn't necessarily confirm speculation about Galactus being a Multiversal threat.
In fact, there's nothing to suggest Galactus has been feeding on planets in any universe other than this one.
In an apparent nod to the Earth X comic book, Galactus reveals that Franklin Richards being imbued with the Power Cosmic means that he will one day take his place, freeing the villain from his insatiable hunger. The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn't really explore his past any further than that, but he's not a one-dimensional big bad, even if he is undeniably evil.
When he arrives on Earth, Galactus stops and pulls up some dirt, smelling it. Is he simply whetting his appetite for the meal to come, or might this be an indication that there's some humanity left in the cosmic vampire? That's up for debate.
As for the Silver Surfer, Johnny Storm spends a decent chunk of the movie decoding her language, and when she arrives on Earth, he plays back messages from her homeworld, Zenn-La. We learn that she had a husband and child (the former is never shown), and that when Galactus came to her planet, she offered herself up as his Herald in exchange for her world being spared.
That way her family would be safe, but hearing those messages—and the pleas from planets that were ultimately devoured by Galactus—is enough to give her a change of heart.
You can learn more about how things end for both Shalla-Bal and Galactus here, but with both stranded at the edge of the universe, might an Incursion allow them to break through to another reality? There's more storytelling potential with both characters, so we wouldn't discount them returning down the line.
As for the original Silver Surfer, Norrin Radd, he might be Shalla-Bal's unnamed husband, but doesn't appear and is never referred to by name here. Chances are, Marvel Studios is saving him for a future project, but this movie's Surfer proves to be a mighty compelling presence.
Ultimately, The Fantastic Four: First Steps' approach to Galactus and the Silver Surfer is both faithful to the comics and feels like a new approach that ensures this movie doesn't simply repeat what we saw in 2007 or what's been shown on the page. We'd have liked to see a little more of that Herald dynamic, but the movie doesn't suffer from not devoting too much time to it.
In our review of the movie, we concluded, "The Fantastic Four is an exceptional introduction to the MCU’s First Family, and thanks to a Jack Kirby-infused feel that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, it proves to be a quintessential superhero movie with Marvel Studios at its brilliant best."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters.