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
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| 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.
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