Comics Explained: Black Widow

Black Widow, thanks to her regular appearance in Marvel movies since Iron Man 2, has made her one of Marvel's best known heroes. Debuting in Marvel's soar to supremacy over the comics industry in the 1960s Black Widow has become one of Marvel's major characters - she's appeared in most major Marvel-wide events, been part of the Avengers, dated Daredevil, and even led SHIELD. Today we'll give an overview of the main Black Widow, Natasha Romanova, and some of her appearances. I would also highly recommend watching Variant Comics' video on her here for some recommended reading. 

Creation

Black Widow was co-created by Stan Lee himself in a story written by Don Rico, and drawn by Don Heck. Her original design was quite different from her now iconic design - she had black, middle-length hair instead of her long, red hair, and she wore dresses/cat-suits instead of her black costume with wristbands. Arris Quinones from Variant Comics has pointed out how her design bore a stark resemblance to that of Catwoman from the Batman TV show - this show was incredibly popular and had a major impact on comic books. As a result, Black Widow was a Catwoman-esque femme fatale, although sexism of the period meant that even if there was no Catwoman in Batman, she would likely have been created as a femme fatale. Black Widow debuted in 1964, during the Cold War, so the paranoia associated with the Cold War resonates in her story. Natasha Romanoff, later Natasha Romanova, first appeared in Tales of Suspense #52 in a story straight out of an Ian Fleming novel. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was sent by the KGB to capture industrialist Tony Stark, and to assassinate defector Anton Vanok, the first Crimson Dynamo. Allied with fellow spy Boris Turgenov, who had his own Crimson Dynamo suit, they got into Stark Industries. Natasha tried to seduce Stark as Boris went to kill Anton, but it went wrong. Stark realised the plot and used gas to escape from Natasha, while the Crimson Dynamo shot Boris's suit blowing it, and him, up. A few issues later, Tales of Suspense #57, she encountered the incredible archer, Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, who was wrongly accused of robbing a jewelry store. Teaming up they fought Iron Man, and this initial team-up would set the stage for a long history together. 

Origins

There have been several contesting origins for Natasha Romanova, which have actually been worked into her character. With a contested past which she herself doesn't fully know it very much fits into her whole character arc. Her original origin, from Daredevil #88 from 1972, has her being saved by a Russian soldier Ivan Petrovitch during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. Ivan raised the baby as his own daughter, that is until she is picked up by the Soviet authorities who trains her to be a super-spy and a ballerina. The KGB even got her married to another operative, Alexei Shostakov, until he became the new Red Guardian, and she was told that he 'died' so she wouldn't go after him. When Black Widow got another solo title in 2005 her origins were retconned; her original story was still quasi-canon, but it became consumed in the brainwashing which she experienced. A fire broke out in a house in Stalingrad in 1928, and a dying mother passed her baby daughter to Ivan Petrovitch. However, Petrovitch wouldn't be able to solely raise the young Natasha. Instead, she was taken and inducted into the 'Black Widow Program' where she and another 28 young girls were taken to the 'Red Room' to be trained. In the Red Room they would be brainwashed in order to become efficient spies, trained to become deadly fighters, and bio-technologically and psycho-technologically enhanced. This way her ageing was extremely slowed so, by the 2010s and 2020s, she still looked like she was in her thirties. These enhancements also made Natasha reach peak physically fitness that a human can have without being classed as a superhuman. During her training she also met Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.

Joining the Avengers

After her debut Black Widow was an antagonist of several Marvel characters as she tried to take down Iron Man to win back favour with the KGB. Some of them had her fighting alongside Hawkeye, and fighting against Spider-Man. Her superiors brainwashed her again in Avengers #29 to use other villains to wipe out the Avengers, but in the next issue she shook off the brainwashing and helped her former foes. In Avengers #32-33 to prove herself to the Avengers, and to a reformed Hawkeye whom she started seeing, she helped the team fight a fascist group called the Sons of the Serpent. The Avengers were willing to accept her, but there was an issue. The Avengers had a no killing policy, something which has since changed to an extent, and, as she refused the have the same policy, Natasha was not made a full Avenger. Instead, she was made a 'reserve' Avenger - while affiliated and fighting alongside the Avengers Natasha was not a formal member of the team. While this was happening she continued having romantic interests with Hawkeye forming a 'power couple' in the media of the Marvel Universe. Imagine Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie just fighting aliens and robots. While part-time with the Avengers the head of SHIELD, Nick Fury, would approach her to become an agent of SHIELD. This began a long history of Natasha Romanova being a member of the super spy organisation, and at times she would even lead the group.

In The Amazing Spider-Man #86 from 1970, with her popularity increasing, Marvel decided to give her a costume re-design. Gone was the Catwoman inspired outfit. She now had her iconic long, red hair, and a black suit with accompanying wristbands. Called her 'Spider Bites' the wristbands could release tasers, tear gas pellets, explosives and knock out gas. Accompanying that, Natasha was still physically deadly being an expert marksmen, a master in various hand-held weapons, and knew various fighting styles ranging from jiu jitsu to sambo. Throughout the 1970s she would be a member of SHIELD taking missions to disrupt organisations, like Hydra, and allying herself with 'street-level' heroes, like Spider-Man. In 1970 she somewhat got the first of several solo titles - The Inhumans and Black Widow. This comic was split into two, with half focusing on stories about the Inhumans by Jack Kirby and the other half focusing on Black Widow by Marie Severin. However, the comic didn't last long. After the eighth issue Black Widow was dropped, and two issues later it was cancelled altogether. Meanwhile, she continued fighting for social justice issues. Writer Les Daniels, in 1971, noted how Marvel used her Left-wing upbringing to fight for oppressed people in the US. This was a greater reflection on how Marvel started moving away from the fairly conservative Comics Code Authority which restricted what comics could or could not write about. Among her adventures she helped Puerto Ricans fight against police brutality and hippies against organised crime.

Daredevil and the Champions

In Daredevil #81 in 1971 Black Widow started teaming up with Daredevil, this was during a time when he had started to become an alcoholic. She helped him start to recover, and the two formed a romantic relationship. They actually made comic book history by being the first romantic couple in comics, who weren't married, to cohabit. The Comic Codes Authority had frowned upon non-married couples living together, so, as soon as the Authority's influence started to wane, Marvel jumped at the chance to experiment with stories. It was during this period that Black Widow began helping oppressed people, part of which was facilitated by Daredevil. Although Daredevil has regularly become involved with the Avengers he is very much a street-level hero; with Natasha regularly appearing alongside Daredevil this gave her the chance to tackle real-world issues. Marvel also decided to tackle misogyny. Natasha became angered by how Daredevil kept on trying to protect her; quite ironic considering that she was a near-superpowered super-spy. As a result, in 1975 she left to go to the West Coast, and she co-founded the Champions in Champions #1. This was a smaller version of the Avengers, based on the East Coast, consisting of Black Widow, the former X-Men Iceman and Angel, the Spirit of Vengeance Ghost Rider, and the literal god Hercules. In their debut they teamed up to stop the Greek/Roman god of war Pluto from taking over Olympus. However, the team did not last long. They were bankrolled by Angel's fortune, and, unsurprisingly, funding a super team is expensive. Due to bankruptcy the Champions had to fold - in real life sales were low so Marvel canned it. Since then the Champions have occasionally reformed, and characters have regularly made fun of it. In the 1990s Iceman called it an embarrassment...

2000s - Marvel Heavy-Hitter

After the folding of the Champions in the 1970s Black Widow remained a big Marvel character, but it was largely through appearances alongside the Avengers, SHIELD, and Daredevil. That is until the 2000s. Black Widow, especially since the resurgence of her own title which began in 2004, has become such an important character in Marvel - she has played a major role in most of Marvel's universe-wide events. In her own title, her past came back to haunt her. After seeing her husband, again, (he was constantly believed dead and turning up alive), she retired to Arizona until the other Black Widows were soon being found killed. It was here that we found out her new origin. Natasha had to hunt down who are killing off the other Black Widows, and avoid being killed herself. In 1999 we were introduced to another Black Widow who was also trained in the Red Room - Yelena Belova. The two have since had a somewhat antagonistic relationship - while occasionally working together they have an intense rivalry. Later, she took part in the Secret War event. Supervillains had somehow been getting new, improved weaponry, and Nick Fury found out the new leader of Latveria was using the master engineer Tinkerer to fund American supervillains. She went on a covert mission with Fury, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Daisy Johnson to take her down. During the Superhero Civil War she sided with Iron Man, and when Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) took over SHIELD she knew that he would use it for his own means. Osborn formed his own Avengers, and hired Yelena to be his version of Black Widow. However, it wasn't Yelena - it was Natasha. 

Death and Resurrection

In 2017 the Secret Empire event happened - you might remember it from the now infamous image of Captain America saying 'Heil Hydra'. For my sins as a comic fan I have still yet to read Secret Empire, so most of this next part is what I've learnt from later comics and general discussions. To basically summarise, Captain America has been replaced by a copy created by the Red Skull manipulating a Cosmic Cube - this version lived a life where he had been raised by Hydra. A fascistic Captain America helped Hydra take over the US, so many heroes formed a resistance called the Underground. Black Widow, however, was angry at the Underground for not adopting more direct, and lethal, methods. Following the events of Civil War II the new young heroes re-formed the Champions, and they followed Natasha with the hope to talk her out of killing Cap. She decided to train the Champions in order to fight, and they went after the fascist doppelganger. However, trying to protect Miles Morales she was killed by the evil Cap. Because comics there turned out to be a clone with all her memories. So, as usual, comics ended up reversing the emotional impact of death for characters and readers.

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Comics Explained: Galactus

Created by the legendary pair Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Galactus is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. The only beings more powerful are the beings which literally embody aspects of the universe, or the universe itself. Galactus is if a hurricane had the powers of a god - a natural force beyond concepts of good and evil with the ability to create and destroy. Does to his popularity Galactus has made a regular appearance in comics since the 1960s with him appearing in many major events, even just briefly, ranging from Infinity Gauntlet to Age of Ultron. First, we need to see why Galactus was created by Lee and Kirby.

Creation

In his biography of Stan Lee Bob Batchelor has described the 'Marvel Revolution' of the 1960s as being a slightly fraught time despite successes. Marvel's owner Martin Goodman was only interested in profit, so he kept a close eye on comic sales, and if a genre started to dip he would pull the plug. Lee and Kirby knew how fickle the comic market could be, so they experimented a lot with characters and concepts with the view that Goodman could cancel it at any moment. As a result, writers at Marvel were eager in the 1960s to experiment with storytelling because otherwise they might not have another chance. This led to the creation of Galactus. Lee was interested in creating an ultimate villain, one which potentially was beyond good and evil. Kirby was smitten with the idea, and can be credited with creating what would become Galactus. Looking for inspiration for a villain, and his heralds of destruction, Kirby turned to the Bible:

My inspirations were the fact that I had to make sales and come up with characters that were no longer stereotypes. In other words, I couldn't depend on gangsters. I had to get something new. For some reason, I went to the Bible and I came up with Galactus. And there I was in front of this tremendous figure, who I knew very well because I've always felt him. I certainly couldn't treat him in the same way I could any ordinary mortal. And I remember in my first story, I had to back away from him to resolve that story. The Silver Surfer is, of course, the fallen angel. When Galactus relegated him to Earth, he stayed on Earth, and that was the beginning of his adventures. They were figures that had never been used before in comics. They were above mythic figures. And of course they were the first gods.

DC fans might notice that this inspiration may have shaped the later New Gods when Kirby was writing for DC. Anyhow, the duo planned to go all out with Galactus creating which would become known as the 'Galactus Trilogy'.

The Galactus Trilogy

The trilogy would begin in Fantastic Four #48 debuting in March 1966. The Fantastic Four had always been used to investigate Marvel's space and celestial stories, and the comic opens with their enemies, the Skrulls, desperately trying to hide their planet from the angelic Silver Surfer. The Fantastic Four are visited by a tall, bald humanoid calling himself Uatu the Watcher. Watchers are an ancient and near-immortal race which vow to watch the comings and goings of the universe, but Uatu could not resist interfering in the events of Earth. It turns out that Uatu had been manipulating the planet's atmosphere with the hope that doing so it could hide Earth from the Heralds of Galactus. The Heralds are scouts who find planets for Galactus to consume, and his most famous one is the Silver Surfer. The Surfer arrives but is knocked out by the Thing, only for Uatu to inform the Four that it is too late. Galactus has arrived. The comic ends with the mighty Galactus declaring 'My journey is ended! This planet shall sustain me until it has been drained of all elemental life! So Speaks Galactus!'. Cliffhangers had long been used in comics, but such a cliffhanger left readers eager for more. Issue #49 sees the Fantastic Four try and fail to negotiate with Galactus, and then fight him, but they cannot fight a literal god. Meanwhile, friend of the Four Alicia Masters treats the defeated Surfer who begins to respect humanity. Although, there are some things he had to learn - such as why humans eat. Finally, in #50, the Human Torch is sent to Galactus's ship to steal a valuable weapon called the Ultimate Nullifier while the Surfer joins the Four in attacking Galactus. The Torch gives Mr Fantastic the Nullifier which actually frightens Galactus. The Nullifier is a weapon so powerful that it can wipe out galaxies, but the weapon itself can consume the user and become out of control. Eventually, Galactus concedes 'The prize is not worth the battle', and vows to leave Earth in return for the Nullifier. However, before he goes, in punishment for betraying him Galactus creates a force field which prevents the Silver Surfer from leaving the planet - it took until the 1980s for Surfer to be freed.

Galactus was Kirby's baby, and the Silver Surfer was Lee's, so it was Kirby who decided what to do with Galactus. While Lee regularly had Silver Surfer interact with other characters, Kirby really wanted Galactus to be a one-off. If he was going to appear, he wanted it to be a monumental moment which inspired awe. Galactus's next two appearances, in Thor #134 and Daredevil ##37, were two non-speaking cameos. However, fans wanted more of Galactus, so over the years he began appearing more and more until he became a mainstay of the Marvel Universe.

Origins

Galactus's popularity meant that Kirby had to create an origin story for the 'Devourer of Worlds' in Thor #169. Galactus was once a regular humanoid called Galan from the planet Taa. The people of Taa had effectively created a paradise with no forms of inequality, disease, or trouble, but they were unable to fend off the end of their universe. As radiation started wiping out the last individuals on Taa, Galan proposed going on a last-ditch space mission to destroy the 'Cosmic Egg' which was emitting radiation. Everyone on board was killed, except for Galan. Instead, as one of the last living things in the universe, he was merged with the embodiment of his universe. Locked inside the Cosmic Egg they merged, and was reborn in a new universe which had just been created via a Big Bang. Over eons the new being slept as life evolved, and they were discovered by a Watcher called Ecce. Seeing the potential that the sleeping being had to destroy worlds Ecce went to destroy the slumbering giant, but was stopped by the other Watchers. They reminded Ecce of their purpose: to watch and not interfere. While the Watchers later realised that Galactus was a natural part of the universe, like a hurricane or volcanic eruption, Ecce still felt guilt over his inaction, for the billions killed by Galactus's hunger. Ecce woke the energy being, and using the newfound Cosmic Eternal, (the literal power of the universe itself), it constructed a suit to contain its immense energy, and went back to sleep. That is, until eons later when the Cosmic Egg was accidentally attacked in a war. A newly awakened and hungry Galactus wiped out a nearby fleet as easily as someone swats a fly, and fed on their homeworld of Archeopia. Using the energy of the Cosmic Eternal he created an immense ship named Taa II to inhabit as he swept through the cosmos.

Taa II

There was some mortal still left within Galactus, but he also needed energy. The immense power of the Cosmic Egg needed an immense number of kilocalories to sustain itself. Not wanting to repeat the fate of Archeopia he consumed lifeless planets, only for them to not give him the sustenance which he needed. Using his cosmic powers he easily shut off that aspect of his mind. Eventually, Galactus arrived on the planet of Zenn-La, much like his own Taa, in Silver Surfer #1. A brilliant scientist called Norrin Radd pleaded with Galactus to spare Zenn-La arguing 'for even ants have a right to live'. Galactus, instead, gives us a good insight into the psychology of a force of nature. 'In order to live Galactus must have energy which only a healthy planet can provide. If some must fall, so that Galactus may endure... it is lamentable'. Galactus does not consume out of malice or hatred. Instead he consumes because he has to. Radd managed, however, to strike a deal. In return for becoming his herald and scouting out planets, Galactus would spare Zenn-La. Galactus can do virtually anything - even resurrect the dead. With his power he turned Norrin Radd into a virtually mortal being known as the Silver Surfer. Norrin initially took Galactus to lifeless planets, however Galactus eradicated the Surfer's empathy so he would seek out planets with life.

Other stories

Galactus's popularity has meant he has appeared in lots of stories, as is expected from a Lee-Kirby creation. It is interesting to see the evolution of the character over the years. Although Galactus has always been presented as being above concepts of good and evil, and still is seen as a villain, over the years comics have presented the World Devourer in different lights. In several Fantastic Four stories in the early-1980s we find out that Galactus does feel remorse over his consuming of worlds, he just cannot help himself. In the Secret Wars event of 1984 and 1985 Galactus played an important role. Another god-like being, (Marvel has a lot), called the Beyonder was intrigued by the concept of powered individuals, and wanted to see the ultimate battle between good and evil. Creating a planet known as 'Battleworld' he took heroes and villains to duke it out - whichever side won would get a wish. This story introduced many new concepts and characters: the villain Titania, the new Spider-Woman, Spider-Man's black suit (giving rise to Venom), and Magneto as a grey hero. Galactus was also brought in on the side of evil, but he declared himself neutral in the battle. The heroes had an issue, how could they defeat Galactus, who could anything, without the Ultimate Nullifier? Meanwhile, Dr Doom had a plan. While the other villains wanted to just fight the heroes, Doom wanted the power of the Beyonder. Why settle for a wish, when with the Beyonder's power you could get whatever you wished? To get the Beyonder's power, he needed that of Galactus, and that is easier said than done. Throughout Secret Wars Galactus literally wipes out Doom's plots with little effort, although the villain ended up obtaining the powers of Beyonder.

Galactus and Gah Lak Tus

At the end of Age of Ultron (2013) a series of missions to change time in order to stop Ultron rising to power weakened the fabric of reality. This resulted in Galactus falling into the Ultimate Universe. In the early-2000s Marvel created the Ultimate line of comics which aimed to reboot the Marvel Universe without directly impacting the mainstream comics. The Ultimate version of Galactus was not a god-like being, but instead a hivemind of city-sized robots called Gah Lak Tus. Created by the ancient Kree to 'purify' the universe, i.e. kill their enemies, it became out of control having the aim to wipe out all life in the universe. Gah Lak Tus was fighting in the Chitauri-Kree War when Galactus fell into the Ultimate Universe. Unexpectedly, Gah Lak Tus merged with Galactus forming a greater, united being; some of the robots were even used as new heralds. When he attacked that universe's version of Earth he was trapped in an in-between dimension where no life exists called the Negative Zone. As expected in comics, Galactus wasn't left for too long to starve in the Negative Zone and was eventually returned to his original self. Recently, Galactus crashed on Asgard after seeing a vision that Thor would kill him - to avoid this he converted Thor into his herald, the Herald of Thunder...

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Comics Explained: Morbius, the Living Vampire

Recently, the movie trailer for Morbius has been released, so we'll be seeing the live-action debut of Morbius the Living Vampire. One of Spider-Man's foes, and an anti-hero as well, he has been an interesting character in the Marvel Universe. Although vampires do exist in the Marvel Universe, Blade being the most famous of Marvel's vampire, Morbius isn't really a vampire - that's why he's the 'Living Vampire'. 

Creation

Morbius debuted in the early-1970s when the now infamous Comics Code Authority started amending their draconian rules; fearing that the big publishers would abandon the Code, something which happened anyway, they started reforming some of their rules. One of the rules they amended was lifting the ban on featuring the walking dead, vampires, ghouls, zombies, and werewolves. Marvel decided to jump straight into the supernatural genre - after all, Stan Lee had worked on the supernatural comics of the 1940s and 1950s which were killed off by the Code. As Lee was working on a movie screenplay, and Spider-Man creator Steve Ditko had moved on by the 1970s, the task of creating a vampire antagonist for Spider-Man fell to one of Marvel's biggest writers - Roy Thomas. Years later, Thomas would be quoted as saying 'We were talking about doing Dracula, but Stan wanted a costumed villain. Other than that, he didn't specify what we should do'. Teaming up with artist Gil Kane they ended up creating Morbius the Living Vampire. Thomas was inspired by a movie he had watched years ago, and Kane modelled their living vampire off of actor Jack Palance. As a result, Morbius made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 in 1971 becoming one of the earliest vampiric characters in comics for decades.

Origins

Morbius debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101, but his origin was explained in the next issue through flashbacks. Dr. Michael Morbius was a Greek scientist specialising in biochemistry; he was such an expert in his field that he even won the Nobel Prize. However, he began developing a blood disorder which was slowly wasting him away. Not wanting to slowly die he began trying to find a cure, and he relied on a mixture of vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy - if you notice a similarity between Batman's Man-Bat it is no coincidence. DC similarly wanted to take advantage of the Code's reforms, so also introduced their vampire-like villain in the comics of one of their most popular characters. Just like DC's Kirk Langstrom, Morbius's experiments went wrong and made his situation worse. Although he no longer suffered from his debilitating disease, his body underwent changes. He gained the ability to 'psionic glide', rapid health regeneration, super-speed, super-agility, and super-strength. However, at the same time, he became reliant on drinking fresh blood to survive, became injured by sunlight, became pale, grew sharp canines, and his nose flattened to resemble of bat's. Unlike actual vampires, he was a 'living vampire'. Morbius was still alive and lacked some of their weaknesses - he is unaffected by garlic, religious icons, and he cannot be killed by sunlight. When he does bite someone, and doesn't kill them, he too can create other living vampires - he can control these new vampires and he is far stronger than they are.

Now to his debut - in typical Spider-Man and Marvel fashion it is over-the-top. In The Amazing Spider-Man #100 Spider-Man grew four extra arms - finally he was a 'Spider-Man' having eight limbs. Wanting to reverse this he tried to find the Lizard - a scientist who, just like Morbius, tried to use animal DNA to help his body, but ended up turning him into an anthropomorphic lizard. Morbius moved to New York hoping that it could offer a place for him to research a cure for his condition. However, in his blood thirst, he slaughtered the crew of the ship which brought him to New York - just like Dracula slaughtering the crew which brought him to Britain. Unlike Dracula, with his blood thirst cured he is guilt-ridden, so tries, and fails, to kill himself. Secluding himself in what he thinks is an abandoned building, it is actually where Spider-Man and Curt Connors (the human form of the Lizard) are working on the cure for their conditions. When it fails, a frustrated Spider-Man smashes their test tubes waking up Morbius. Powered by blood-lust he attacked and almost killed Spider-Man unlike Connors, now transformed into Lizard, stopped him. During the battle Morbius bites Lizard partially transforming him back to Connors. Realising that Morbius holds the cure the duo track him across New York, and eventually extract his blood curing him - Spider-Man permanently, Connors wasn't as lucky.

Other Appearances

Since his debut Morbius has periodically appeared in a wide range of comics - sometimes as a villain and sometimes as an anti-hero. In Marvel Team-Up #3 his fiance Martine Bancroft tracked Morbius to the United States. One of the reasons why he travelled across continents was through the fear that he could lose control and kill Martine. She was adament that she could help Morbius, in fact she would be one of the regular occurring characters associated with Morbius. Naturally, she knew the smartest people around could help the vampire, so she tracked down the Fantastic Four. Together the Human Torch and Spider-Man tried to capture Morbius, but he was too strong and managed to flee. In 1973, to get around the Comics Code Authority Marvel started publishing magazines with maturer content and one of these was Vampire Tales. Among the stories to find its way into the 11-issues were those including Blade, and an adaptation of one of the earliest vampire novels - The Vampyr. Morbius was featured in most of the issues, and this would pave the way for his regular appearance in Marvel's Adventure into Fear which began publishing in 1974. He would periodically appear until 1992 when he gained his own title which lasted for 32 issues. This was to tie into the Midnight Sons. Dr Strange regularly formed temporary teams to act as hit squads into the wider Multiverse - when a supernatural threat appeared he could send them to swiftly deal with it. The same year Morbius debuted, one of Strange's teams also debuted - The Defenders. The Midnight Sons were formed to stop demonic and supernatural threats seemingly by the Ghost Riders Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch in Ghost Rider Vol.3 #28, but behind the scenes it was due to Dr Strange. Morbius fought alongside the Ghost Riders, Damien Hellstorm the Son of Satan, sorceress Jennifer Hale, and Werewolf-by-Night. Among their foes have included the Mother of Demons Lilith and zombies from the Marvel Zombies universe. Of course, Morbius has had run-ins with Blade - during Civil War he even registered with the government in an effort to get Blade to.

Morbius has had a sporadic history, and often with other bigger characters - most notably Blade or the Midnight Sons - so that's where we will leave it for today. I hope you found it interesting, and for future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Different Versions of the Hulk

Anyone who has seen Avengers: Endgame will know that the Hulk is quite different from how we normally see him. Being one of Marvel's oldest and most popular characters the Hulk has gone through various iterations in the mainstream comics alone. As a fun little short post I thought it would be good to look over some of the various versions of the big green monster. Most importantly, don't get them angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Savage Hulk

This is the Hulk that everyone knows. A manifestation of Bruce Banner's rage and anxiety he turns into the tall, muscular monster. Savage Hulk's power is connected to his anger - the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. As a result, in theory, there is nothing stopping the Hulk from getting stronger and stronger. However, there are drawbacks. The Savage Hulk has his intelligence and reasoning skills decreased so he often becomes a destructive force of rage that causes more damage than good. In the comics written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s the Hulk could hold basic sentences and reasoning, but as the comics have progressed the Savage Hulk has become increasingly volatile. That's why his most famous phrase is 'Hulk Smash'. Not everyone sees Savage Hulk as a hero. The Planet Hulk storyline involved Earth's heroes jettisoning an unruly Hulk to an apparently uninhabited planet so he cannot hurt anyone again, and the world cheered when Bruce Banner was accidentally killed during the Civil War II event. Finally, on top of his super strength the Hulk has intense durability so bullets, and even tank fire, cannot hurt him.

Grey Hulk

This was the original Hulk, and Stan Lee was heavily inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when he co-created the Hulk with Jack Kirby. Instead of a formula it was a gamma bomb which turned Bruce into the Hulk. In the original comics the Hulk was more like a Mr. Hyde to Bruce Banner's Jekyll. Like all other incarnations, he is a manifestation of Banner's repressed anger, but, unlike many other versions, Grey Hulk retained most of his intelligence, was shorter, and not as strong. He was a brute, but a cunning one. He also only turned into the Hulk at night, his anger levels had nothing to do with his transformation. Kirby had differing opinions on the Hulk to Lee - for one, he argued that he shouldn't be grey for the simple fact that it was hard to keep a consistent shade over panel to panel with their printing techniques. He was correct. In the first few issues the Hulk's skin kept changing shades, and at times even looked green. Lee had to back down, and with that, Savage Hulk replaced Grey Hulk. Grey Hulk has, however, resurfaced a few times.

Joe Fixit

This was a version of Hulk who first appeared in Hulk #324. The writers wanted to spice up the Hulk so had Banner permanently stuck in his Hulk form. With his mind trapped in the Hulk's subconscious this allowed the beast out, however, he was different to the Savage Hulk. Instead, he was more like the Grey Hulk - he was grey, had some intelligence (albeit not a lot), was shorter, and was weaker but still easily stronger than any human. Unsure about what to do with himself now that he couldn't turn back into Banner or Savage Hulk, he became an enforcer for Las Vegas casinos. He even got his own suit! Eventually Banner managed to regain control of the Hulk and we got the Savage Hulk back.

Merged/Professor Hulk

In the 1990s Marvel wanted to do something different with the Hulk again, and Merged Hulk was the result. Bruce Banner, Savage Hulk, and Grey Hulk were all fighting for dominance in the mind of Banner himself, so an ally of the Hulk, Doc Samson, decided to use hypnosis to solve the situation. He managed to hypnotise Banner and merge the three identities together. He would have the body of the Savage Hulk, the drive of Grey Hulk, and the mind of Bruce Banner - he was the Merged Hulk. No longer fearing that he could lose control and hurt people, Banner decided to become a regular member of the Avengers. When the Marvel vs. DC event came around it was this version of the Hulk who fought Superman (and lost), and was later merged with Solomon Grundy to form the Skulk. Despite Doc Samson's best efforts, the psyches in Banner's mind kept on fighting and tearing each other apart. One time he reverted back into Banner form but with the Savage Hulk's mind! Due to this, Merged Hulk gave way to Savage Hulk once more. Later, in the alternate future MC2 it is revealed that Banner managed to solve this issue and become Professor Hulk - he had the body of Savage Hulk and the mind of Banner. This version would become the Hulk which we saw in Avengers: Endgame.

World War and World Breaker 

During the Planet Hulk storyline, the ship which sent the Hulk to space went off course and landed on the planet Sakaar where the Hulk was enslaved, and forced to fight as a gladiator. His mind improved, despite locking Banner deep down in his subconscious, and he retained his Hulk body. He managed to overthrow the planet's ruler, get a wife, and almost became a father. The ship which sent him to Sakaar then exploded killing most life on Sakaar, including his pregnant wife, Caiera. Blaming the heroes of Earth he formed a team to return to Earth and get revenge - this gave birth to World War Hulk. When arriving on Earth he had so much rage that his power levels grew to unknown levels. Upon seeing Mr. Fantastic he yelled 'None of this would have happened. I'll hate you forever, almost as much as I hate myself'. His anger peaked and the force of him slamming his feet started breaking the tectonic plates of the Earth! This was World Breaker Hulk.

Maestro

Maestro is the only alternate reality version of the Hulk that we're going to look at - if we were going to look at more we would be here for a long time. Maestro was introduced in The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect in 1992 when the regular Hulk was sent into a future where nuclear war had dosed the Hulk with radiation. Instead of dying it made him even stronger, and somewhat merged the minds of Banner and the Hulk. Maestro had Banner's intelligence with the malevolence and strength of the Hulk creating one of the most powerful superheroes. Maestro then wiped out the Earth's heroes and became king of the planet for a century. Just like Red Skull in Old Man Logan he had a room of the paraphernalia of the slain heroes and villains including Dr Doom's mask, some Iron Man suits, Spider-Man's mask, and Magneto's helmet. Truly showing Maestro's power you can even see Thor's hammer and the broken board of the Silver Surfer.

Red

The Red Hulk is not Bruce Banner - it is instead the father of Betty Ross (Banner's love interest) Thunderbolt Ross. In 2008's Hulk #1 a Red Hulk appeared and killed the Abomination, and we later find out that, two years later, that it's Ross. Ross underwent a project by the US military to create a more powerful version of the Hulk that had a tactical mind. As a result, Ross became the Red Hulk - a being stronger than the Hulk, and had the ability to increase his power by absorbing radiation from others. This power makes him hotter to the point that his skin can go on fire! With ease, in his initial appearance, he caused an earthquake in San Francisco, killed two of Hulk's enemies, destroyed the SHIELD Helicarrier, and had to be defeated by the combined forces of the Hulk and Thor. Despite being far stronger than the regular Hulk his own power was his undoing. When fighting the Hulk got madder, so Red Hulk absorbed more energy, which made the Hulk even madder, so the Red Hulk absorbed too much that he could handle and collapsed. Betty also underwent this project becoming a red version of She-Hulk.

Totally Awesome

The final version of the Hulk that we're going to discuss today is also the most recent introduction. Since the mid-2010s Marvel has updated its roster to include younger and more diverse heroes - these include Miles Morales and the new Ms. Marvel. This new version of the Hulk was Amadeus Cho, who had been introduced as a close ally of the Hulk in Amazing Fantasy Vol. 2 #15 when the Hulk saved him. Amadeus is one of the ten smartest people on Earth, something serious considering that some Marvel characters can make a time machine as easily as a mechanic can make a car, and when Banner was hit by a new dose of radiation he decided to help the scientist. Making a device that could absorb the radiation he took all the gamma radiation from Banner and stored it in himself which he could control via a machine. As a result, in Totally Awesome Hulk #1 in 2016 Bruce Banner finally could stop being the Hulk, and Amadeus Cho became the new one. Cho could control his Hulk identity so he basically became a version of Professor Hulk - super strong and super intelligent. However, the strength of the Hulk kept on pulling at him, and he quickly found it hard to keep control. When Banner died in Civil War II he almost lost control of the Hulk and came close to rampaging. Since 2018, in Champions Vol 2. #22, Cho has given up most of his Hulk power becoming Brawn instead. He still looked like the Hulk and was very strong, but not nearly as strong as the Hulk.

These are just a fraction of the many different versions of the Hulk. We haven't covered the Old Man Logan Hulk, MCU Hulk, Marvel Zombies Hulk, and, of course, She-Hulk (she deserves an entire post for herself). Anyway, I hope you found this interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

At D23 this year Disney announced a wide range of upcoming movies and TV shows, and, in regards to comics, I am most excited for seeing the TV debut of Kamala Khan, the most recent Ms. Marvel. Kamala was introduced formally in 2014 as part of Marvel's attempts to diversify its comics line, and she has been well received by both critics and fans. Out of the newly introduced characters, Kamala is my personal favourite, and it is unsurprising that she is getting her own TV series.

Comic Origins

Kamala's first appearance alongside Captain Marvel

Kamala was created by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona, but Marvel editor Sana Amanat played a great role in the character's creation. As the daughter of Pakistani immigrants to the United States the idea of Ms. Marvel came to the Marvel team when she and fellow editor Stephen Wacker were discussing her childhood. Consequently, and possibly contributing why she is such a good character, Kamala Khan reflects a lot of Sana's teenage years. Her design aimed to blend Carol Ann Danvers's present costume, the original Ms. Marvel and current Captain Marvel, her classic costume, and a shalwar kameez. Further connecting her to Carol Ann Danvers she debuted in Captain Marvel #14 in an unnamed cameo watching Captain Marvel fight, but she made her proper debut in All-New Marvel NOW! Point One #1. Kamala was born to Pakistani parents in Jersey City, and grew up close to two friends who were also children of immigrants - Nakia Bahadir and Bruno Carrelli. Due to her 'nerdy' interests and strict parents, made worse by being the daughter of immigrants thanks to xenophobia, she regularly faced ostracism. However, her love for superheroes gave her hope, but her favourite was Carol Ann Danvers who had recently adopted the moniker of Captain Marvel.

In Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 #1 Kamala gained her powers and became a superhero. Tired of being left out she decided to sneak out and attend a popular party, but her 'friends' used it as an excuse to mock her. Upset she set off home just as a world changing event took place. Showing how the movements of gods, aliens, and heroes have such an impact on ordinary people Kamala gained her powers thanks to Thanos and the Inhumans in the Infinity story. Thanos attacked the Inhuman base on the Moon with the intention of reclaiming, and most likely murdering, his son, but he was opposed by the Inhumans and Earth's heroes. A bit of backstory about the Inhumans is needed here. The Inhumans are a species closely related to humans, thousands and thousands of years ago the Kree experimented on humans giving some of them superpowers - the experimented on humans became the Inhumans. The Inhumans also had access to the Terrigen Mists, mists which can give individuals superpowers, and as a right of passage young Inhumans enter the mists to undergo 'Terrigenesis' giving them powers. During Thanos's invasion the leader of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, deployed the Terrigen Bomb to destroy Thanos. Instead it destroyed his city and the mists spread across Earth causing humans with latent Inhuman genes to undergo Terrigenesis. This is what happened to Kamala. A Terrigen Cocoon formed around her, and she saw visions of her three favourite heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel. Talking with the visions she stated that wanted to be like the 'beautiful and awesome and butt-kicking and less complicated' Captain Marvel. When the mists cleared she found she was wearing a version of Marvel's costume. When trying to come to terms with what happened her bullying friends fell into a river and drowned, and Kamala went to rescue them realising that she had powers. She could drastically enlarge, shrink, or stretch her body, so she used it to save her friends becoming a hero.

Becoming Ms. Marvel

Kamala and the Inventor

In issue three, while visiting Bruno at her local convenience store, robots attacked and she was shot, but found out that she had healing powers. This started Kamala's surreal and insane stories after Bruno revealed the attack was done by his younger brother working for a mysterious person called 'the Inventor'. Making a costume inspired by her favourite hero she set out to use her powers to stop the Inventor who turned out to be a human-cockatiel hybrid straight out of The Island of Dr. Moreau. The Inventor had been creating robots and animal experiments, including his monstrous alligators called 'megagators', to wreck havoc on New York. Kamala managed to learn the backstory of the Inventor. A scientist called Gregory Knox wanted to clone Thomas Edison, because reasons, but his pet cockatiel got in the way so a bird-human hybrid was created. Naturally it became an evil genius. In her challenges against the Inventor she encountered Wolverine who was searching for a missing school girl, and he decided to help her fight the Inventor. The Inhumans on Earth also sent their giant dog Lockjaw to keep an eye on the young hero, and the two quickly warmed to one another. Using Lockjaw's ability to teleport to find out how a bird-man could generate enough energy to power his many robots: he was kidnapping teenagers and using their bodies to power them, including her friend Nakia. Her final battle with the Inventor saw her shrinking into the scientist's giant robot, almost being killed by the robot's electro-magnetic wave (which destabilises her body), and the grateful teenagers helping her defeat the robot and freeing a captured Lockjaw. 

I don't want to go over too many stories that Ms. Marvel has appeared in, because I don't want to spoil any too much. They are all fun and well-written so I would recommend reading them in person. Among them include stopping Loki during a Valentine's Day party at her school; fighting against an Inhuman coup who wanted the Inhumans to rule over humanity; helping fight during the 'Incursion' when different universes started smashing against one another; and eventually joining the Avengers. In her journeys she encountered many of the other new and young heroes, such as the new Nova and Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man, at a school science competition. Then the Second Superhuman Civil War broke out. A mutant called Ulysses had the ability to see into the near future, specifically when crimes or disasters were going to happen. The superheroes became divided about Ulysses's power: some, like Captain Marvel and She-Hulk, wanted to use his power to stop crimes before they happened a la Minority Reporty, whereas others, like Iron Man and Captain America, still subscribed to 'innocent until proven guilty' and that people were only guilty when they commit a crime. Things could possibly change between the vision and the event. The Civil War challenged Kamala's views and her loyalty to Captain Marvel. When Ulysses predicted that Bruce Banner would turn into the Hulk and destroy significant parts of Times Square a team was sent to calm him, but Hawkeye unexpectedly, and accidentally, killed a calm Banner. Kamala doubted herself, and had to be comforted by Miles and Nova, but the war began escalating. As Bruno lost his hand thanks to the war, and decided to go to Wakanda possibly never seeing Kamala again, she left Captain Marvel's side. Cutting a long story short, thanks to the breaking of Tony Stark's back by Carol Ann Danvers it caused Ms. Marvel to become fully distanced from the Avengers.

Forming the Champions

The Champions: Cyclops, Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Nova, and Viv

Following the aftermath of the Civil War Kamala had come into contact with many of the other new young superheroes. Leaving the Avengers she, Nova, and Miles formed their own group: the Champions. They were soon joined by Amadeous Cho, the new Hulk, the Vision's daughter Viv, and a time-displaced young Cyclops (the reason for this is stupidly confusing). One of my favourite panels is when the old Nova meets the Champions after being away for years, and is confused about the new heroes. He got confused that Kamala is now Ms. Marvel, and that Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, and states 'I hate every word that you've just said' when Cyclops told him that he is a past version of the adult Cyclops taken from an alternate past by a time-travelling Beast. The Champions continued many of the weird and wacky adventures which makes it a really good read, as a result I won't go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil anything. Among them include fighting the Atlantean Navy, fought a sheriff causing hate crimes in his town, and helped fight Hydra during their takeover of the US in the Secret Empire event. Kamala is still a member of the team, and when Cyclops decided to leave when the team expanded he felt comfortable to tell Kamala in person - the only person he told in person.

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: What If?

The first issue

Marvel recently revealed its new line-up for Phase Four, and one of the newly announced titles is the TV series What If?. This will be based off of the comic series which has been intermittently published since 1977, with a short thirteenth volume being released in 2018! These one-off stories allowed writers to dabble in new stories normally unavailable to them in mainstream comics. You can imagine it as an officially licensed fanfiction from Marvel itself. Today we'll look a bit at the alternate universe writings of What If?.

Origins and Style

Alternate realities have always been a major part of comic book history - DC's Silver Age continuity was explained by alternate realities. Naturally, Marvel thought it could entertain readers by investigating unique scenarios caused by one, or more, divergences in the timeline. Compared to other alternate reality stories, such as Marvel 1604, What If? looked at one specific event, and how a change would lead to a new reality. Until late on in Volume 2 in the 1990s What If? stories were introduced and partially narrated by Uatu the Watcher - imagine a non-horror, comic book version of The Twilight Zone. If you don't know, Uatu the Watcher is a member of an omnipotent, celestial beings who are tasked with watching planets with life to see how life evolves and develops. Unlike most Watchers, Uatu has a habit of interacting with inhabitants of the planet he watches, Earth, and even beings from another universe who believe that the Marvel Universe is a series of comic books... Especially by the end of the 1980s and 1990s, Marvel had been publishing stories for decades, so Uatu would set the scene of how an event originally went allowing readers to understand what was happening. Uatu would introduce the stories until 1995 with What If? Vol. 2 #76 due to him being stripped of his position for killing another Watcher in Fantastic Four #400. Following this the stories would start with no introduction, but occasionally a guest narrator came in - one Daredevil What If? was introduced by Daredevil and Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis! Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe parodied the What If? style by having Uatu explain why Deadpool has become evil and has decided to kill the Marvel Universe, until he himself is killed at the end of the first issue by Deadpool.

For most of its history What If? would change one or two points during a signature issue, and Marvel would give the story which ensued its own reality number - the mainstream reality is Earth-616. Volume 4 was an exception. Uatu returned explaining that he found records from alternate universes where everything was different, the entire world was different instead of one event. Among them included Thor becoming a herald of Galactus, Wolverine becoming the Punisher in 1920s Chicago, and the Fantastic Four emerging in Soviet Russia instead of the US. From Volume 6 What If? focused a lot on major events - Volume 6 saw several specials about the Civil War event. Volume 11's series is actually tied to canon Marvel; the Age of Ultron event created and shattered several realities which What If? explores. A key plot line is that the Invisible Woman and Wolverine travel back in time to kill Hank Pym before he can create Ultron, but removing a key Avenger caused unforseen ripple effects. Volume 11 explored what would happen if other major Avengers were taken from time, including Iron Man and Thor, and one looked at if Ultron never existed, with the accompanying side-effect of Vision never existing. Also, several What If? stories eventually became reality in comics. The second issue, 'What if the Hulk had the brain of Bruce Banner?', somewhat came true when Bruce Banner briefely managed to keep control of his brain when he turned into Hulk. Most importantly, issue 10, 'What if Jane Foster had found the hammer of Thor?', became an official story in Thor Vol. 4 #1 in 2014 when Jane became the Goddess of Thunder when Thor became unworthy. This is important for MCU fans, as the next MCU Thor film has been confirmed to feature Jane Foster becoming a wielder of Mjolnir.

What is Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four?

This was the first What If? story and set the stage for the rest of the comic line. It saw at point in divergence in one of Marvel's most signature stories - The Amazing Spider-Man #1. In the original story, a moneyless Spider-Man hopes to join the Fantastic Four in order to get money so gets into their base, the Baxter Building, and proves himself capable of joining. However, he is rejected as the Fantastic Four doesn't pay to be a member. In What If? #1 Spider-Man is accepted turning the team into the Fantastic Five. Instead of regularly being criticised by the Daily Bugle Spider-Man is constantly being called a hero by everyone in the general public. However, his presence causes the Invisible Woman to be pushed out of the group - while Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Thing, and Mr Fantastic go on adventures she is relegated to support. Being neglected the Invisible Woman helps break the King of Atlantis, Namor the Sub-Mariner, from being controlled by the Puppet Master, and she leaves the group to live with him. This story would later get sequels exploring what happens after Spider-Man replaced the Invisible Woman.

Spider-Girl

What If? Vol. 2 #105 in 1998 introduced one of the most famous creations of the What If? series: Spider-Girl. She was created by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz who started an alternate reality story stemming from the very confusing Clone Saga, I would recommend this video here to understand what happened. The story sees Mary Jane and Peter Parker having a daughter, and Spider-Man retiring after losing his leg in a battle with Green Goblin. Naming their daughter May, after Aunt May, they hoped to keep her father's past a secret, but she developed spider-powers regardless. Finding the costume formerly worn by her father's clone she donned it to become the Spider-Girl. Her popularity exploded and May Parker got her own comic line lasting for a hundred issues. An entirely new comics imprint began thanks to Spider-Girl called MC2. MC2 served as a 'sequel' to the mainstream comics featuring stories revolving around the children of classic heroes, or the elderly heroes. Although Spider-Girl's original run was cancelled after the first volume in 2006 her title would be occasionally resurrected, and would later appear in multiverse stories.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

Comics Explained: The Skrulls

The Skrulls have been present in Marvel comics since the very start of the Lee-Kirby run. Since then they have remained a present force in Marvel's cosmology, and have managed to make many non-comic appearances, including the recently released Captain Marvel. As the Skrulls have appeared so regularly in comics we cannot go through every appearance, so we'll go over the basics and some stories which are worth reading.

Comic Origins

The Skrulls were some of the earliest parts of the Marvel Universe to be introduced - they, at times barely, predate the debut of the Hulk, Spider-Man, Dr Doom, and Thor. The Skrulls debuted in The Fantastic Four #2 which was released in January 1962. Paranoia and fear of infiltration were gripping the United States at the time - in 1956 the famous sci-fi movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was released - and the Skrulls reflected that fear. Skrulls could shape-shift and take the appearance of anyone, or anything. The Fantastic Four #2 opens with members of the team committing various crimes as another version of the team listens in horror from a remote lodge. The crime-committing team are revealed to be members of a reptilian race known as the Skrulls - with the Fantastic Four being the only super-powered individuals they offer the greatest threat to the invading Skrulls. By committing crimes disguised as the Fantastic Four the invading Skrulls hope for Earth to lose faith in the heroes. Instead, the Fantastic Four manage to capture the Skrulls and using comic books, in reality panels from Marvel's own Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery, convince the Skrulls that Earth actually has many defenders. With their plan thwarted Mr Fantastic hypnotises three of the Skrulls into thinking that they were cows as the last one left to tell the Skrull mothership what had happened.

History of the Skrulls

The Skrulls in their debut

A common criticism of the sci-fi genre is that all the alien species are humanoids - Marvel has a loophole to explain this. A species of humanoid aliens called Xorrians spread their DNA millions of years ago which caused humanoid species to evolve across the universe. One of those planets Xorrian DNA was spread to was Skrullos in the Andromeda galaxy which would become the Skrull homeworld. The Xorrians would not be the only alien species to impact the evolution of the Skrulls. There is a race of god-like beings known as the Celestials who travelled the universe performing genetic experiments on the species they found - their experiments on Earth are why people can develop superpowers instead of just dying when exposed to radiation. Their experiments on Skrullos lead to the creation of three branches of the Skrull species: the Prime or Latent Skrulls, the unmodified Skrulls; the Deviant, the shape-shifters; and the Eternals, given superpowers and longevity. A war broke out between the three branches and the Deviants ended up wiping out the other two branches. Following the war the Skrulls began advancing their technology and formed a centralised state under the rule of a monarch. However, as the Skrulls began expanding off of Skrullos they started abandoning their initial violent ways. Upon arriving on new planets which were already inhabited they were happy to share their technology with other species. That is until they arrived on Hala. Hala was inhabited by two intelligent species - the blue-skinned humanoid Kree and the tree-like Cotati. Fearing that granting both the technology would lead to conflict the Skrulls devised a test: each would be dropped on a barren moon and had a year to do something fantastic. The Kree, on Earth's moon, built a great city while the Cotati grew a great forest. The Cotati was chosen enraging the Kree who massacred the Skrull party, including the emperor, and the Cotati. Skrull technology was reverse-engineered and the Kree formed their own empire to rival the Skrull Empire. An endless war began and the Skrulls lost their peaceful ways once more - they would conquer worlds now.

Kree-Skrull War

The periodic arrival of the Skrulls and Kree to Earth in the past were part of a wider war where Earth was caught in the crossfire. In a story beginning in 1971 by Roy Thomas we finally got to see the Kree-Skrull War in action. Thomas got the idea from This Island Earth and described it as 'apacious, galaxy-spanning races ... would be at war in the far reaches of space, and that their conflict would be threatening to spill over onto the Earth, turning our planet into the cosmic equivalent of some Pacific island during World War II.' Earth was a beachhead that both empires wanted in order to easier fight their opponents. Beginning in Avengers #89 when the Kree Captain Marvel returns to Earth we found out that a leading member of the Kree Empire, Ronan the Accuser, had seized control of the empire and aimed to fully bring the war to Earth. Ronan wanted Marvel assassinated for insubordination and planned to 'devolve' Earth - that way it would be no threat to the Kree and they could use it as a way to battle the Skrulls. The Avengers manage to fight off Ronan and the Kree, but some are attacked by cows which turn out to be the same cows who originally impersonated the Fantastic Four. In The Avengers #97 the Kree-Skrull War came to an end. The Kree Supreme Intelligence, a quasi-AI that once ruled the Kree Empire, gave friend of both Captain Marvel and the Hulk Rick Jones amazing powers which immobilised the space fleets of both empires. Unable to fight the sides stopped fighting. However, the Kree and Skrulls would occasionally restart their war after.

Secret Invasion

In 2008 we saw a story where the Skrulls had fully infiltrated Earth in a story by the fantastic Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. This followed a series of story arcs which had already ruptured the superhero community - the Avengers had been disassembled, the Civil War had forced half the community underground, supervillains were gathering legal power through a team called the Thunderbolts, and most of the mutant population had lost their powers. During the Kree-Skrull War the Skrulls had gathered the DNA of major heroes as a Skrull diaspora emerged. Princess Veranke and her followers had been exiled from the Throneworld after predicting the planet's destruction; Galactus the World-Eater destroyed the Throneworld leaving Veranke as empress. Ninja Elektra was killed revealing that she was really a Skrull, and as Hank Pym and Mr Fantastic were performing an autopsy it turned out Pym was a Skrull who then attacked Fantastic. No hero or villain could tell if their allies were a Skrull or not. Vernake herself had taken over the identity of Spider-Woman and used that to undermine the Avengers. Skrull infiltration allowed simultaneous attacks on the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier, the Raft (the prison for supervillains), the base of the Thunderbolts, and the Baxter Building (the HQ of the Fantastic Four). During the final battle the Wasp is killed and tensions arise about who is fighting who. Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, went almost insane and relished the killing of several Skrulls who attempted to turn into Spider-Man. Using a weapon stolen from Deadpool Osborn shot and killed Veranke ending the invasion. The aftermath was not pleasant. S.H.I.E.L.D was dissolved, and a new organisation called HAMMER was formed under Osborn's rule. He formed his own version of the Avengers as the regular heroes went underground and he began solidifying his rule.

Some Skrulls

Super Skrull

The first Super Skrull was Kl'rt who debuted in Fantastic Four #18. He was a fierce Skrull warrior and Emperor Dorrek wanted him to battle the Fantastic Four after their earlier defeat. The Skrulls were adept at genetic manipulation so they gave Kl'rt new powers - the powers of the Fantastic Four. He managed to hold back the Fantastic Four, using their own powers against them, until Mr Fantastic realised that Super Skrull's powers were being augmented by an energy beam from the Skrull Empire. Invisible Woman managed to place a device on him disrupting the beam which stripped him of his powers. Since then Super Skrull has been a regular in Marvel and in Infinity #6 was even crowned emperor. Kl'rt has not been the only Super Skrull - any Skrull with modified powers has been classed as a 'Super Skrull'. For example, Veranke was a Super Skrull as she had been modified to also have Spider-Woman's powers - Skrulls normally cannot replicate superpowers.

Lyja

Lyja 'officially' debuted in 1991's Fantastic Four #357 but she technically appeared a lot earlier. Lyja was a female Skrull who impersonated the Thing's girlfriend, Alicia Masters, who then fell in love with, and married, the Human Torch. When her identity was revealed she decided to help the Fantastic Four save Alicia Masters from Skrull captivity and was willing to sacrifice herself to do so. Lyja and the Human Torch would have an off-and-on relationship until Secret Invasion. Due to her knowledge of the Fantastic Four she was tasked with eliminating them before the invasion began. As she had loved the Fantastic Four she refused to bomb the place, hence it was sent to a dimension to the Negative Zone instead. She travelled there as well and helped those trapped inside return to their regular universe. However, she wanted to remain in the Negative Zone to find who she was, and that was the last we have seen of her.

Talos

As Talos appears in the new Captain Marvel it seems right that we mention him in our section on notable Skrulls. Talos debuted in The Incredible Hulk #418 in 1994 and is unique among Skrulls. Thanks to a birth defect he was unable to change shape which would normally force him into a life of discrimination and prejudice. Talos made up for his inability to shape-shift by augmenting his body with machinery and earning a reputation for his brutal fighting earning him the title of Talos the Untamed. However, during the war against the Kree he was captured and he refused to commit ritual suicide vowing that he would only die in battle - the other Skrull disagreed, thought him dishonoured, and called him Talos the Tamed. Talos sought a new way to regain his honour and thought that by besting the Hulk he would regain his honour. However, the Hulk, at this stage, was intelligent and refused to fight and kill Talos - he even pretended to surrender so he wouldn't have to badly hurt Talos. The Skrull left outraged only to find that, as the Hulk refused to fight him, he had regained his honour. Since 1994 Talos has made a few small appearances here and there.

Reading Recommendations

Here are a few reading recommendations if you want stories featuring the Skrulls:

-The Fantastic Four #2

-The Fantastic Four #18

-The Fantastic Four #357

-The Avengers #89-97 - the Kree-Skrull War

-Skrull Kill Krew - a story where humans drank milk from the Skrull cows giving them superpowers and a desire to wipe out Skrull spies

-New Avengers #40 - where Spider-Woman is revealed to be a Skrull

-Secret Invasion

Thank you for reading and I hope you found it interesting. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.