Chapter 12: Lost Paradises: The Silver Surfer as Shining Counterpoint to John Milton’s Satan: FILM: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

This chapter focuses on the concept of order and disorder from the perspective of the trope of a fallen angel character. Using selected passages from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, excerpts of Jack Kirby’s comic series of the Silver Surfer, and a clip from the film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), this lesson explores the motif of identity and the loss and change of that identity by falling from a state of grace. Students will compare and contrast the characters of Satan and the Silver Surfer based on recorded interviews with the comic author Jack Kirby and his design of the character of the Silver Surfer. Students will also have an opportunity to draw their own comic panels of the epic poem to engage and visualize the events of the story further.