Merge:Skrull

The Skrulls are an alien species in the, known for their shapeshifting abilities. An advanced intergalactic civilization, the Skrulls have often encountered the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, beginning with their first appearance in Fantastic Four #2 (January 1962). The Skrulls were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The Skrull civilization is organized as a highly aggressive and militaristic empire. The Skrull Empire has been the dominant power of the Andromeda Galaxy for millions of years, and it is one of the three major interstellar empires, along with the Kree Empire and the Shi'ar Empire. The Skrulls are best known as one of the combatants in the Kree-Skrull War.

In recent decades, the Skrull Empire has attempted to conquer the Earth numerous times, bringing it into frequent conflict with Earth's superheroes. All Skrull invasion attempts have failed, though it has been hinted that the Skrulls have dozens of hidden agents on Earth and may even secretly control whole towns. More recently, a series of catastrophes have thrown the Skrull Empire into disarray.

Physical appearance
Skrulls are green-skinned reptilian humanoids, of roughly the same height and weight as humans, with large pointed ears and corrugated chins.

Most male Skrulls are depicted as bald and with no facial hair. Nearly all Skrulls depicted in the comics have been members of the Skrull military or of the political command structure; thus, it is possible that this is because the male Skrulls shave. Female skrulls have head hair.

The Skrull military wears purple uniforms and a skullcap.

Abilities
Skrulls are known for their ability to shapeshift. All Skrulls are highly-versatile shapeshifters who are not only able to mimic other humanoid species, but also to assume virtually any shape, from non-humanoid species such as cows to abstract shapes such as a box.

Skrulls are natural spies and infiltrators. They are able to mimic voices and learn foreign languages easily. This ability to infiltrate gives them a great advantage in conflict against most other species.

In addition, Skrulls are able to use their shapeshifting abilities to form weapons with parts of their bodies. For instance, they can shape their arms into blades or clubs. This ability makes them dangerous hand-to-hand combatants.

Reproduction
Skrull females do not give live birth; instead, they lay eggs like their reptilian evolutionary ancestors. Skrull children are known as "hatchlings". Despite their reptilian evolutionary roots, however, Skrull females have mammary glands and nurse their young.

It is known that Skrulls are capable of producing hybrid offspring with humans and Kree: the Skrull Lyja was able to conceive with the Human Torch, and Hulkling is the son of the Kree military officer Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle.

Evolution
Millions of years before the present, Celestials performed genetic experiments on the reptilian ancestors of the Skrull. As the Celestials did with humans, they split the species into three branches: the "normal" branch, the Deviant branch, and the Eternal branch. Members of the Deviant branch were endowed with the ability to shapeshift. As in the case with humans, the Deviant and Eternal branches went to war. Unlike the case with humans, however, the Deviant branch triumphed over the Eternals. The Deviant Skrulls wiped out all other Skrulls, and all modern Skrulls are descendants of the Deviant branch, which further split into two groups: the Skrulls and the Dire Wraiths.

According to Giant Sized X-Men Annual #11 (1987), the Skrull species, like the Kree, has been genetically frozen in place and is unable to evolve further due to a single member of the Skrull species abusing the power of the Crystal of Ultimate Vision; as punishment, the Crystal "genetically froze their evolution in place".

However, that Skrull evolution is frozen in place is contradicted by numerous other comics. Although Celestial genetic experimentation on the Skrulls may not have been as successful as Celestial experimentation on humans, the Celestial experiments were still not failures. The Kree were depicted in Operation: Galactic Storm as a species which could no longer evolve, in contrast to the humans, Shi'ar, and Skrulls. In Maximum Security, the Skrulls were shown to have a mutant gene. Indeed, the superhero group Cadre K consists entirely of mutant Skrulls.

Subspecies


The Dire Wraiths, central to the plot of Rom the Spaceknight, are an evil, parasitic, magic-using offshoot of the Skrull race, analogous to the Skrulls as vampires are to humans.

A normal Skrull can only take on the appearance of their template, not the abilities of that person. Uncanny X-Men #274-277 (March-June 1991) introduced Warskrulls, an elite group of Skrulls gifted with the ability to emulate the powers as well as the appearance of their templates. Warskrulls do not naturally have this ability; instead, special encoding technology is used to grant them their powers.

Society
The Skrulls are ruled by an Emperor or Empress, who has absolute power. There is a governor for each planet in the Skrull Empire. The commoners are subservient to the nobility.

The Skrull civilization is a warrior culture that puts great emphasis on battle and war and highly prizes feats of arms.

Skrull science is generally at a higher level than the science of human civilization. Skrulls possess interstellar flight capabilities. They also created the first Cosmic Cube.

First contact with the Kree
The Skrulls originate on the planet of Skrullos, and they have been spacefarers for millions of years. Originally, they were a mercantile civilization, primarily interested in free trade and willing to share their technology with all whom they deemed worthy. A Skrull delegation to the planet Hala, home to the barbaric Kree and the peaceful Cotati, held a contest between the two races to determine with whom the Skrulls would trade. The Cotati won, but the vengeful Kree massacred the Skrull delegation, took over the Skrull landing spaceship by force, and developed their own technology from it, with which to begin waging war against the Skrulls. Kree aggression forced the Skrulls to become a militaristic civilization, and the Kree-Skrull War would rage for millions of years with only short interruptions. About 100,000 years ago, the Skrull Throneworld was moved from Skrullos to Tarnax IV so that the capital could be more centrally located within the Empire.

Early invasion attempts of Earth
The Earth lies somewhere between the Skrull and Kree Empires, adjacent to a naturally occurring subspace warp that makes it a logical pit stop for interplanetary and intergalactic voyagers travelling via subspace. As such, it is in a highly important strategic position in the Kree-Skrull War. The first attempt by the Skrull Empire to invade the Earth was foiled by the Fantastic Four, who, after the defeat of the four Skrull agents, mind-wiped them and convinced them they were cows.

The Skrull Emperor Dorrek VII then dispatched the newest Skrull weapon, Kl'rt, a Skrull super-soldier known as the Super-Skrull, to Earth. Kl'rt had the powers of all four members of the Fantastic Four as well as the power of hypnotism; nevertheless, the Fantastic Four were able to defeat him.

Princess Anelle was the daughter of Emperor Dorrek VII and heir to the Skrull Empire. Her lover, Warlord Morrat, after another unsuccessful invasion of Earth, attempted a coup d'état against Emperor Dorrek VII which failed. Morrat was subsequently executed for treason by firing squad.

The Kree-Skrull War
The Kree Accuser Ronan staged a coup d'état of the Supreme Intelligence in the Kree Empire, triggering another round of the Kree-Skrull War. This was the war which spilled over to Earth and became a comic book classic, as told in Avengers #89-97 (June 1971-March 1972), written by Roy Thomas, with art by Sal Buscema and Neal Adams. The Super-Skrull captured the Kree Captain Marvel, with the aid of the original Skrull agents who had earlier been turned into cows (they had regained their memory). Emperor Dorrek VII, fearing a coup by the Super-Skrull, had the Super-Skrull imprisoned. Dorrek VII then coerced Captain Marvel into giving the Skrulls the secret of the Kree superweapon, the Omni-Wave. Princess Anelle fell in love with Captain Marvel; the two of them had an illicit relationship, the product of which was Hulkling. Captain Marvel then escaped Skrull imprisonment. Finally, human teenager Rick Jones was manipulated by the Kree Supreme Intelligence into temporarily stopping the Kree-Skrull War.

The Kree and Skrull political leaderships, wearying of wasting further resources to continue waging the war, agreed to settle the war with a duel between two champions. Uatu the Watcher arbitrated the duel between Colonel Bel-Dann of the Kree and Warlord Raksor of the Skrulls. Like the Kree-Skrull War itself, the duel proved inconclusive: the battle between Bel-Dann and Raksor dragged on for a year with neither being able to defeat the other.

The coming of Galactus and the rise of S'byll
Some years later, Emperor Dorrek VII's wife, Empress R'klll, staged a coup and killed him to become ruling Empress herself. Empress R'klll's rule would not be long, however: she and her daughter Anelle were both killed when the planet-eater Galactus devoured Tarnax IV, the Skrull Throneworld.

Galactus's consumption of Tarnax IV threw the entire Skrull Empire into disarray and civil war. Five warlords emerged from the chaos, each of whom claimed to be Emperor or Empress of all the Skrulls.

During this time of civil war, the insane Skrulls Zabyk and Myrn detonated a genetic "hyperwave bomb" which robbed all Skrulls, everywhere in the universe, of their shapeshifting abilities, trapping them in whatever form they occupied at the time. This event devastated Skrull society.

Shortly after this event, Kl'rt the Super-Skrull was rescued from Earth's Van Allen radiation belts, where he had been trapped as a stream of dissociated particles. Because he had not physically existed as a Skrull at the time of the detonation of the genetic bomb, Kl'rt was unaffected.

Kl'rt joined forces with the Silver Surfer, who introduced him to S'byll, one of the five claimants to the Skrull Throne. By using Kl'rt as a template, S'byll was able to regain her own shapeshifting abilities and, more importantly, to restore them to all Skrulls. Through this act, she soon became acclaimed as Empress by Skrulls everywhere. Furthermore, S'byll successfully negotiated a truce with the Kree after defeating them with the aid of the Silver Surfer.

Decline of the Empire
Paibok the Power Skrull made plans for several more invasion attempts of Earth, most involving using Lyja as an infiltrator. These plans proved to be miserable failures with major negative repercussions for the Skrulls: First, the Fantastic Four destroyed the Skrull War World, the Skrulls' largest "Destructor-class cruiser". Next, and far more traumatic for the Skrulls, Devos the Devastator destroyed the new Skrull Throneworld (the one that had been established after Galactus devoured the original, Tarnax IV).

S'byll was killed when the Throneworld was destroyed. The Skrull Empire then fell apart again, shattered by civil war as many rival warlords fought to re-unite the Empire.

In desperation, the Skrulls have sought out a Skrull-Kree hybrid raised on Earth, Hulkling, son of the late Princess Anelle, to be Emperor.

To make matters even worse, the Skrull Empire was the first of the major interstellar empires to be invaded in the Annihilation event. The Annihilation Wave has laid waste to much of the Empire, with its superweapon, the Harvester of Sorrow, destroying such Skrull planets as Zaragz'na.

Ultimate Skrulls
In the Ultimate Marvel line of comics, the Skrulls were introduced in Ultimates Vol. 1 #8 (November 2002) as the Chitauri, who attempted to conquer the Earth but were stopped by the Ultimates.

However, the Chitauri may be more akin to Dire Wraiths, since Ultimate Fantastic Four #27-29 (April-June 2006) introduced traditional Skrulls to the Ultimate universe. The Skrulls claimed to find the name Chitauri offensive and politically incorrect, and the Chitauri were identified as a subversive group of Skrull terrorists. However, since the rest of the Skrull race were exposed as being just as intent on conquering Earth, the truth of this claim is debatable.

In other media

 * The Skrulls appear in an episode of the Fantastic Four animated series.
 * The Chitauri appear in the animated movie Ultimate Avengers and its sequel, Ultimate Avengers 2.

Creative origins and evolution
In creating the Skrulls in 1962, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby drew upon stereotypes of extraterrestrial life common in science fiction. Skrull skin color suggested the concept of little green men, and Skrull shapeshifting and infiltration abilities recalled the then-recent 1956 horror-thriller film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The name "Skrull" hints at the word "skull", bringing to mind images of death (In Portuguese translations of Marvel Comics, the Skrulls are known as os caveiras, literally "the skulls"). The cover of Fantastic Four #2 (January 1962) is highly evocative of the Skrulls' origins as pulp fiction alien invaders:

THEY WERE MERCILESS! THEY WERE INHUMAN! THEY HAD POWERS FAR GREATER THAN EARTHMEN! THEY WERE THE DEADLY "SKRULLS FROM OUTER SPACE!"

Though originally nothing more than stereotypical alien invaders bent on conquest, over the years, writers have written Skrull characters into increasingly complex and multifaceted roles. Emperor Dorrek VII's rapaciousness and militancy was placed in contrast to his brother Dezan's and his daughter Anelle's desire for peace. Lyja was a dedicated Skrull spy who betrayed her Empire for love of a human. Skrull mutants, such as Cadre K, have rebelled against the regimented anti-mutant racism of their civilization. Hulkling is a homosexual, Kree-Skrull hybrid who desires only to be left out of the Kree-Skrull conflict.

Skrull royalty

 * Emperor Dorrek - reigned during the first Skrull contact with the Kree, as told in Avengers #133-134 (March-April 1975)
 * Emperor Dorrek VII - reigned during the Kree-Skrull War; first appeared in Fantastic Four #18 (September 1963); killed by his wife R'klll in Fantastic Four #209 (August 1979)
 * Prince Dezan - the younger brother of Dorrek VII, seen in Avengers Annual #14 (1985), he is a highly-unusual (for Skrulls) pacifist, and as such, was long imprisoned as a traitor to the Empire
 * Empress R'klll - becomes Empress in Fantastic Four #209 (August 1979) by killing her husband, the previous Emperor, Dorrek VII; killed in consumption of Tarnax IV by Galactus in Fantastic Four #257 (August 1983)
 * Empress S'byll - acclaimed as Empress following successful restoration of shapeshifting abilities to Skrulls in Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #25 (July 1989); killed in destruction of new Throneworld by Devos the Devastator in Fantastic Four #383 (December 1993); S'byll will appear as a villain in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Two of the current contenders for the empty Skrull Throne are Baroness S'bak, appearing in Annihilation: Super-Skrull (June-September 2006) and Dorrek VIII/Hulkling, appearing in Young Avengers.

Other Skrulls

 * Crusader (see Freedom Ring)
 * Ethan Edwards
 * Flaw
 * Kl'rt, the Super-Skrull
 * Lyja the Lazerfist
 * Paibok the Power Skrull
 * Replica
 * Skrull Kill Krew (not actually Skrulls, these are humans who gained Skrull-like powers after consuming beef made from Skrulls in the shape of cows)
 * Skymax the Skrullian Skymaster of the Squadron Supreme
 * Titannus
 * Skrullverine
 * Warlord Morrat
 * Warlord Raksor
 * Xavin
 * Z'Cann and other members of Cadre K

Skrull planets

 * Aks'lo - paradisical vacation planet, destroyed by Annihilation Wave in Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1 (June 2006)
 * Kral - the highly-unusual Kral system is populated by Skrulls fascinated with the culture of 1930s Earth and who have attempted to duplicate that time period; Skrull inhabitants of Kral maintain human rather than Skrull form
 * Skrullos - original Skrull homeworld
 * Tarnax IV - former Skrull Throneworld, consumed by Galactus in Galactus in Fantastic Four #257 (August 1983)
 * Tarnax VII - home of Xavin; engaged in a war with the planet non-Skrull planet Majesdane
 * Throneworld - can refer to either the former Throneworld, Tarnax IV, or the newer, unnamed Throneworld which was destroyed by Devos the Devastator in Fantastic Four #383 (December 1993)
 * Zaragz'na - home of the Super-Skrull's son, destroyed by Annihilation Wave in Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3 (August 2006)