Skrull
The Skrulls are a race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They originated from the planet Skrullos and their empire is located in the Andromeda Galaxy. Their infiltration of Earth was a major event in the Marvel Comics universe as shown in the crossover event Secret Invasion.
The Skrulls have made numerous appearances in animated television and video games before making their live-action cinematic debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain Marvel. Skrulls have also appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home and the Disney+ series WandaVision, What If...? and Secret Invasion, and the film The Marvels.
Publication history
The Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The Skrulls next appear in Fantastic Four #18. The four who impersonated the members of the Fantastic Four next appear in The Avengers #92. The concept of the Skrulls would be explored and used throughout multiple storylines, spin-off comics, and derivative projects.Fictional history
Millions of years ago, in the main Marvel continuity, the Celestials perform genetic experiments on the reptilian ancestors of the Skrulls, resulting in three branches of Skrulls: the Prime, the Deviants, and the Eternals. Eventually, the three branches battled with one another and the Deviant branch – due to possessing the innate ability to shapeshift – were triumphant, and wiped out all members of the other two races until only two were left: the Skrull Eternal Kly'bn, and the Prime Skrull of the original non-Deviant Skrull race. Kly'bn implored them to spare his life, as killing him would kill part of their heritage. The Deviants' leader Sl'gur't eventually fell in love with Kly'bn, with the two eventually becoming the gods of the Skrull pantheon. Taking the name the Prime Skrull, the last original Skrull escaped to Earth in the 20th century and later became a member of the Underground Legion. From that point on, the Skrulls began to expand their territory. The Deviant branch later split into two more groups, the modern Skrulls and an anomaly called the Dire Wraiths.The Skrulls originated from the planet Skrullos, and were originally a mercantile civilization, primarily interested in free trade and willing to share their technology with all races they deemed worthy. When they encountered a new race, they simply transformed themselves to resemble that race. The Skrull Empire that resulted from these contacts was based on free trade and mutual cooperation.
Kree–Skrull War
Eventually, the Skrulls developed long-distance space travel; a great tour of the universe was undertaken, led by Emperor Dorrek. Finally, the Skrull delegation reached the planet Hala, home to the then-barbaric Kree and the peaceful Cotati, and held a contest to determine which of the races would represent Hala to the Skrull Empire. Seventeen members of each race were taken to different uninhabited planetoids, where they were left with sufficient supplies for one year. At the end of that period, whichever group had done the most with themselves would be adjudged the most worthy. The Kree were taken to Earth's Moon where they built a great city, while the Cotati were taken to another barren world in a different solar system and used their abilities to create a beautiful park. Realizing that the Cotati were going to win, the enraged Kree killed all of them. When the Kree revealed that they had solved the question of who would represent Hala to the Skrulls by destroying their opposition, the Skrull delegates were appalled and vowed that Hala would forever be banned from their circle of favored worlds—so the Kree massacred them as well, took over the Skrull landing spaceship by force, and developed their own technology from it.Because of the immense distances involved, decades passed before the Skrulls learned of the Kree's activities. By this time, however, it was too late. The Kree were now advanced and audacious enough to attack the Skrulls in their home galaxy. During the millennia that followed, the Kree aggression forced the Skrulls to become a militaristic civilization, and the Skrulls eventually developed the vicious streak needed to conduct intergalactic war. Their entire culture was remade in the warrior image. The Kree–Skrull War continued for thousands of years with only brief interruptions. The Skrull Throneworld is later moved from Skrullos to the more central Tarnax IV, with their empire encompassing over fifty worlds. The Skrulls also created the first Cosmic Cube, which later became the Shaper of Worlds; the Shaper related that, upon attaining self-awareness, he lashed out blindly, destroying two-thirds of the Skrull Empire and casting the civilization back into barbarism. It is suggested that these events occurred prior to the war with the Kree.
The Kree Accuser Ronan had wrested control of the Kree Empire from the Supreme Intelligence and attacked the Skrulls, reigniting hostilities. The Avengers become involved once the Super-Skrull kidnapped Captain Marvel and, in turn, they battled a Kree Sentry robot, three of the four original Skrulls that had fought the Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, rogue Inhumans and legions of Skrulls. The Supreme Intelligence ended the conflict by revealing to the Avengers' ally Rick Jones that he had vast mental potential, which was then used to freeze all combatants in place. The Supreme Intelligence announced that, while the Kree and Skrulls had reached genetic dead ends, the human race displayed incredible untapped potential. It is revealed years later that the conflict produced a Kree-Skrull hybrid, Hulkling, who was the child of one-time lovers Captain Marvel and Skrull princess Anelle.
Empire-changing events
The Skrulls became aware of Earth when they discovered a space warp linking Earth and Throneworld. Later, they discovered Earth possesses an equidistant link to Hala. They see Earth as a world to conquer, but they are content to hold off a full invasion. Because of their caution, the Skrulls have sent only a handful of scout warriors to infiltrate Earth, but failed to take into account the presence of the modern superhero.In 1958, Skrulls attempted to sabotage Earth's space program. They battled the 3-D Man, and set the Cold Warrior against the 3-D Man. Later, a small scouting party used their shape-shifting powers to impersonate the Fantastic Four, committing crimes so the country would turn against the Fantastic Four, at that time the only ones with the power to stop them. The Fantastic Four were able to locate the Skrulls and tricked their leaders into believing Earth was full of threats, so the Skrull fleet was withdrawn. Mister Fantastic directed three of the four Skrulls that were left behind to shape-shift into cows, and he hypnotized them to remember nothing about their true heritage.
In retaliation, the Skrull Emperor Dorrek VII dispatched Kl'rt, a Skrull transformed into the Super-Skrull, to Earth to defeat the Fantastic Four. Kl'rt possessed the combined powers of the entire Fantastic Four, and he held the team at bay until Mister Fantastic discovered the source of his power and used a device to jam the ray which powered the Super-Skrull; the Human Torch imprisoned him inside a crater. The Super-Skrull posed as Franklin Storm after transporting him to the Skrull Throneworld, and battled the Fantastic Four as the Invincible Man. Another Skrull killed Storm by attaching a bomb to his chest before he was transported back. The Fantastic Four later traveled to Tarnax IV and found the Skrull responsible for Storm's murder. Skrulls were involved in other events, such as sending the Super-Skrull to battle Captain Mar-Vell, and abducting the Thing as a contestant in the Skrull Games.
Later, the cosmic being Uatu the Watcher adjudicated a duel between champions from both races, Colonel Bel-Dann of the Kree and Warlord Raksor of the Skrulls. After one year of conflict, the duel remained deadlocked and was ultimately abandoned, without resolution. Years later, during a conflict with Xandar that included the Fantastic Four and the Champions of Xandar, Emperor Dorrek VII's wife, Empress R'klll, staged a coup, killed him and become ruling Empress.
Empress R'klll's reign was short-lived, however, as the greatest blow to the Skrulls arrived in the form of the world-devourer Galactus. After his herald Nova annihilated the Skrull fleet, Galactus consumed Tarnax IV, killing seven billion Skrulls, including R'klll and Princess Anelle. With the destruction of the central government, the Skrull Empire collapsed into hundreds of bickering factions. Their galaxy was filled with Governors who declared themselves to be Emperor of the Skrulls and soon, a civil war began. The Shi'ar maintained a heavy presence in the former Empire as well, constantly dealing with pockets of resistance.
Second Kree–Skrull War
Later, Reed Richards discovered that another Governor-turned-Emperor, Zabyk, had created a genetics bomb. When it exploded, all Skrulls lost their shapeshifting abilities. Whatever form they were in at the time of the explosion became their permanent form.In desperation, since they were vulnerable without their powers, the Skrulls managed to kidnap Nova in an attempt to compel Galactus to destroy Kree worlds for them. Their plot failed when the Silver Surfer helped Galactus rescue Nova in exchange for his freedom from Earth.
When the Celestials made an appearance, this scared the Skrulls into starting a second war with the Kree to demonstrate that they were not powerless. The attack was first made by Kylor, one of five governors claiming to be Emperor. His spy Nenora in the Kree Empire gave him an advantage.
Kylor, and the entire Skrull race, were eventually betrayed by Nenora. She assumed control of the Empire, wanting it for herself. Later, Empress S'byll stepped up to control the Skrulls and finish the war. She was able to resurrect the Super-Skrull, who returned to find the empire in shambles. The Silver Surfer was tricked into attacking a Badoon fleet, unaware that they were allied with the Kree. As the Kree waged war on the Surfer, he allied himself with the Skrulls to save his home world Zenn-La from destruction.
To restore their powers, the Super-Skrull's DNA needed to be transferred to S'byll, because only a female could spread the ability to the other Skrulls. The Surfer helped them to power a machine that would return the Empress' shape-shifting abilities. The device was successful, and with this power she was able to restore every Skrull she touched. She became the true Empress of the Skrulls.
S'byll and the Super-Skrull waged war with the Kree with the help of the Silver Surfer. She replaced the Super-Skrull with Captain Reptyl, who helped to change her into an emotionless reptile. But Reptyl was betrayed by one of his own and the Skrull fleet was utterly destroyed by the Kree. S'byll and the Silver Surfer went alone to attack Hala.
Gaining the knowledge that Nenora was actually a Skrull gave them the advantage. S'byll gave her shape-shifting abilities back to Nenora, crippling her and showing the Kree her true self. A peace treaty was created.
The Skrulls eventually broke the peace treaty, preferring to fight rather than negotiate. Among the other races contained within the Skrull Empire are the Druff, Guna, Kallusina, Morani, Pheragot, Queega, Tekton, and Yirbek races. Other races remain independent, whether through treaties or open resistance. Such races include the Clegrimites, Gegku, Krylorians, Wilameanis, and Xandarians. The Skrull-Xandarian war ended with Nebula destroying Xandar.