You have purged the Unworthies from this world, but there are countless galaxies of Fossil Ones beyond Skrullos, trapped in their singular forms and their ignorance, waiting, though they know it not, for you to save them. For I say to you that the entire universe is a Book of Worlds with blank pages, upon which the Changing People shall write their destiny. 
The Deviants of Skrullos, commonly known as just the Skrulls after exterminating both the Eternals and the Primes,[14] are a race of green-skinned, humanoid shapeshifters from the Andromeda Galaxy. They are a ferocious warrior race, one which may also be the most devious race in the cosmos and yet, in their own way, they are also a noble warrior race[15][16][17] who have carved for themselves the oldest interstellar empire in the universe's history. The Skrulls conquered or colonized every suitable world in the Andromeda Galaxy,[16] dominating a galaxy with millions of inhabited worlds.[11][18] The Skrulls are a race who have ravaged a thousand galaxies.[19] In the last 100 years, the Skrulls have waged interstellar warfare with the Kree,[20] the Badoon,[21] the Dire Wraiths,[22] the Brood,[citation needed] the Xartans,[23] the Majesdanians,[24] the Xandarians,[25] the Annihilation Wave,[26] and the Builders.[27][19]
History
Genesis[]
Skrulls under the command of Sl'gur't
The Skrull race is a species of green-skinned humanoids that originated on Skrullos in the Andromeda Galaxy many eons ago.
Their earliest origins and evolution are lost to time. Xorr the God-Jewel has claimed that the Skrulls, along with most other humanoid races, are the descendants of the ancient Xorrians.[28] Another group called the Builders have also claimed to be responsible for creating the Skrulls and other races.[29] However, these claims are unsubstantiated. Whatever the case, the Skrulls — like many other races in the universe — were selected by the enigmatic Celestials for experimentation, creating three distinct Skrull variants: the Prime Skrulls with no inherent abilities but having the capacity for mutation, the nigh-powerful Skrullian Eternals, and the Skrullian Deviants.[14][30]
Yet another offshoot developed from the Skrulls, a race of black magic practitioners who became known as the Dire Wraiths who soon departed Skrullos to inhabit the Dark Nebula and espoused plans for universal domination.[13]
The Deviant of Armechadon known as Tantalus, created by the rogue Celestial known as the Dreaming Celestial, convinced the Deviants of all other races to eliminate their Prime and Eternal counterparts, including those of the Skrull race.[31] Whatever the case, millions of years ago,[citation needed] the Deviant Skrulls went to war against the other offshoots of their race under the command of the warrior princess Sl'gur't until the vast majority of the other Skrull races were exterminated. At the time they believed that they had driven all of the other races to extinction, except for a single Eternal Skrull named Kly'bn.
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The ascension of Sl'gur't and Kly'bn to godhood
When Sl'gur't's forces stormed the "Unworthies"' stronghold in the Valley of the Esul, Kly'bn convinced Sl'gur't not to kill him, as doing so would ultimately mean the death of their race and their greater destiny. Kly'bn spoke of a destiny beyond the stars where the Skrull people would rule over all those who were inferior to them. Accepting this truth, Sl'gur't and Kly'bn were married and transcended into godhood. This became the foundation of the Deviant Skrulls' religion; they formed a religion called the Book of Worlds that was based on a manifest destiny over the entire universe. Sl'gur't and Kly'bn were worshiped as gods by the Skrulls and over the centuries that followed the religion endured; however, many of the Skrulls believed that the tales from the Book of Worlds to be myths, but devout followers endured over the ages. These devout worshipers formed a religion called the Dard'van Sect.[4]
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Nogor in the aftermath of an ancient Skrull battle
Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the worlds that were invaded by the Skrulls and the various pantheon gods of the 978 other worlds were either killed or enslaved. Among those gods, Hadith, Omen-Maker, Path-Lighter, the god of the Queega of Quolan, Blessed-of-Litters of the Druff of Ryas, and Ceffyad the Righteous of the Idoidea Swarm Collective had been co-opted and enslaved by the Skrullian gods. Statues commemorating their fall and assimilation into Skrull culture soon became much of the imagery used in Skrullian places of worship.[32] One of the most powerful and longest-living Skrulls was Nogor, who was the talisman of the Skrulls and a step below the gods themselves. Nogor was often present in the vicinity of Skrullian conflicts as a show of approval for the Skrullian gods.[33]
The opening strike of the Kree/Skrull War
Ancient History[]
About 10 million years ago, the Skrulls became a great technologically advanced empire and a peaceful race for a time; they established colonies all over the Andromeda Galaxy, establishing a new throneworld on Tarnax IV. Under the rule of Emperor Dorrek I, the Skrulls sought to share their technological advancement with another race. They discovered the planet Hala, which was home to two distinct races: the blue-skinned humanoids known as the Kree and the plant-like Cotati. Unwilling to share their gifts with two races, the Skrulls placed a number of each race on the Blue Area of Earth's Moon with the challenge to see which one could build the most advanced city within a year. When the Skrulls returned they found that the Kree used Skrullian technology to build a massive technological metropolis, while the Cotati managed to breath new life on the surface of the Moon, creating a lush forest. The Skrulls ruled in favor of the Cotati, angering the Kree, who slaughtered Dorrek and his party. They then reversed engineered Skrull technology to build their own warships and attack the Skrulls' homeworld. This act of aggression led to the beginning of the centuries-long Kree-Skrull War; the Skrulls abandoned their peaceful ways and became a race of conquerors, taking over planets by force and expanding their galactic empire.[34][35] Around this time, a Skrull ventured into the Citadel of Light and Shadow on a quest to obtain the reality-altering device known as the Crystal of Ultimate Vision. The Skrull managed to get to the Crystal and sought to claim it for his own. The quest was, in fact, a test of a mature species renouncing that power and the Skrulls, therefore, failed the test: the Skrulls ended up at an evolutionary dead end and the Skrull who failed the test was turned into a statue that would go on to stand before the Citadel.[36]
An average Skrull male
Thousands of years ago, the Skrulls were involved in a scientific endeavor to invent the Lifestone Tree, a collection of powerful gems that endowed the Chosen Eight of Fate to be the guardians of the galaxy; one of their number included a Skrull.[37] The Chosen Eight of Fate were active for about 200 years. During this time four members died in battle, two died of old age, one retired, and the final member's whereabouts became a mystery for centuries. The fate of the Skrull who fought with the Chosen Eight of Fate is unknown. Ultimately, the gems making up the Lifestone Tree were lost after an attack by space pirates and the gems were lost on Earth well into more modern times.[38] Relatively around this time another Skrull was responsible for creating a Cosmic Cube, a powerful device that could alter reality to the whims of its user. When given to the Skrull emperor at the time, he used the power of the Cube to make himself a god; however, the Cube gained its power through the realm of the Beyonders and soon developed a megalomaniacal persona that matched its user and laid waste to the entire Skrull Empire, destroying many of its worlds and reducing the Skrulls to barbarism. Eventually the Cube matured, changing itself into the so-called Shaper of Worlds and left to seek those with imagination enough to utilize his power, leaving the Skrulls to rebuild their crippled empire.[39]
An average Skrull female
The Skrulls rebuilt their empire over the centuries, continued their age-old war with the Kree and continued to expand their empire. They soon became aware of Earth, a planet that was strategically between the Kree and the Skrulls' galaxies and this world became the focal point of many invasion plots by the Skrulls to gain it as a tactical advantage in their war.[40] Presumably, hostilities between the Kree and the Skrulls cooled around this time, and it is possible that it was at this time the Convention of Fornax was signed[41] which, among other probable provisions, included a moratorium on torturing prisoners of war.
Early Interactions with Earth[]
The Skrull cows circa 1776
The earliest known interaction between the Skrulls and Earth dates back to the Spanish Inquisition at some time between the late 1400s or the early 1500s. The religious natives who found the corpses believed the Skrulls to be demons and cast their bodies in an inaccessible ravine. While persecuting a group of Inhumans, they were tossed into the ravine and were forced to feed off the corpses, infecting their bodies with the highly invasive Skrull DNA which mutated them and caused them to endure for centuries.[42] In the year 1776, a Skrull arrived on Earth and briefly disguised himself as Thomas Jefferson during the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The Skrull attempted to affect the writing of the Bill of Rights so that slavery was still allowed in early America so that humans would be prepared for a life of slavery during an eventual Skrull invasion; however, this plot was thwarted by the Fantastic Four, heroes from the 21st century (who, in future years, had been the Skrulls' greatest enemies) who were searching for a Chronal-Anchor. The Four foiled the plot and their leader, Mr. Fantastic, used hypnosis to turn the Skrulls into cows, a trick that he would use on the Skrulls the first time that the Four met them a number of centuries in the future.[43]
The next recorded incident of the Skrulls being active on Earth occurred in the 19th century during the days of the American frontier. A Skrull invasion party set up operations in the town of Wilcox, Oklahoma. The Skrulls there disguised themselves as famous outlaws in order to steer people away; however, the local Apache tribe became aware of their duplicitous nature, if not their origins. A chance encounter with outlaws Kid Colt and Arizona Annie uncovered the truth and the two gunslingers fought for their lives, decimating the entire town with dynamite and slaying the Skrulls who lived there.[8] The Skrulls were then not reportedly seen on Earth again until the early half of the 20th century. By this point, Skrulls living on the planet Kral IV established Slave-Masters who took to abducting aliens from other worlds. They kidnapped mobster Machine Gun Martin after he had escaped from prison. The Skrulls on Kral IV became highly interested in the styles, mannerisms and society of Prohibition era America through their interactions with Martin; many Skrulls on the planet adopted human forms for forming gangs and adopted the culture. Skrull mobsters such as Boss Barker, Lippy Louie, and others resolved Mob disputes with gladiatorial combat between their slaves.[44]
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Velmax infiltrates the United States government circa the 1940s and 1950s
A Skrull scientist at one point stated that he was the earliest attempt at a "super" Skrull, being experimented on in the 1930s. The resulting experiment did not endow him with super-powers but instead with a leg encased in stone, which rendered him useless as a soldier.[45] In 1947, the last known surviving Prime Skrull attempted to flee capture from the Deviant Skrulls and his ship crash-landed on Earth in Roswell, New Mexico. He was quickly captured by the United States government, who experimented on him for years.[46] Another ship, part of an scouting party for an upcoming invasion, also crash-landed on Earth in the American Southwest during that year; aboard the ship were Skrull agents Velmax and Zuhn. Exiting their ship, Zuhn was shot by a hunter named Jacob Scott who died in a car crash while trying to flee the scene. Velmex stole Scott's identity and fled the scene, leaving Zuhn and their ship to be recovered by the government. Velmex used his identity to work his way into the ranks of the CIA to learn what he could about Earth's defensive capabilities, but soon came to love Earth and its culture and decided to thwart his master's plans.[47] In the early 1950s, Velmax considered taking up the role of Captain America, but decided against it.[48] Velmex was not the only Skrull active on Earth at that time, however. In 1958, a Skrull spy named Zirksu came on a infiltration mission. He kidnapped test pilot Chuck Chandler and tried to probe him for answers. Chandler managed to escape and, bombarded with strange energy, was transformed into the 3-D Man and imprinted on his brother Hal's glasses, but could be freed at will. Zirksu, meanwhile, attempted to subvert American society, taking advantage of the Cold War hysteria at the time and posing as Diabolik, a Communist agent. However, this initial attempt at causing hysteria in America was thwarted by the 3-D Man, but Zirksu escaped.[49]
Zirksu then changed his modus operandi, deciding to use pop culture as his weapon to further the Skrulls' invasion plans. As the leader of a biker gang, he attempted to eliminate any sighting reports of his invasion fleet.[50] Posing as recording studio agent Doc Rock, he attempted to manipulate American youth through the music of up-and-coming rock 'n' roller Vance Rivers.[51] Both plots were foiled by the 3-D Man. After failing to free Rivers from prison, Zirksu took on the form of then-Vice President Richard Nixon and assisted in empowering Eric Sinkovitz, who attacked the 3-D Man as the Communist-themed Cold Warrior. When the 3-D Man defeated the Cold Warrior, Zirksu abandoned his Nixon disguise and has not been seen since.[51] Also in 1958, Velmex tracked his ship to a government facility in Long Island, New York. There, he encountered the super-hero team known as the First Line and prevented the ship from falling into Communist hands. Exposed to the energies of his ship, Velmax briefly reverted back to his Skrull form, but convinced the heroes that the energies mutated him into a shapeshifter and joined the First Line's ranks. Unknown to Velmax, his commander Zuhn had survived the past decade and escaped from the facility to resume his mission.[52]
By November 1963, Zuhn had aligned himself with super-powered villains of Earth under the guise of Chimera and attacked a Stark Industries facility in Dallas, Texas on the 21st of that year with the super-human known as Lupine. The First Line stopped Chimera from stealing technology that he needed to get off-planet, and he was slain in the process, although Velmax kept Chimera's true nature a secret from his teammates.[47] Later on July 16, 1969, Skrull invaders attempted to sabotage the Apollo 11 Moon landing using Earth operatives Lupine, Typhoon, Positron, Blackjack, and Axis, but this attempt was also thwarted by the First Line.[53] With a Skrull invasion impending and President Richard Nixon threatening to dismantle the First Line, Velmax used his inside knowledge to expose the Watergate scandal, which ended in Nixon's impeachment and allowed the First Line to continue to operate — if only underground.[54]
_(Earth-616)_from_Wisdom_Vol_1_6_002.jpg){kind=link}
The Skrull Beatles invade the music scene
On top of their ongoing invasion plans, the Skrulls sent yet more spies to infiltrate Earth society. A group of Skrulls apparently replaced the popular British rock group The Beatles sometime around what music critics called "the British Invasion" with the intention of infiltrating Earth through popular culture. Another group apparently took the places of Gerry and the Pacemakers, another popular British rock group, as well. However, like the Skrulls of Kral IV, these Skrulls soon came to adopt the culture and continued their musical careers. By December 1974, the "Skrull Beatles" went their separate ways; "Skrull John" left to join Captain Boko in the Kree Liberation Army, "Skrull George" went on a pilgrimage into the Dark Dimension with its ruler, the Dread Dormammu, "Skrull Ringo" sought fame and fortune, while "Skrull Paul" went to see how the Skrull versions of Gerry and the Pacemakers were coming along with their invasion plans.[55] While the Skrull Beatles have since resurfaced, the Skrull Pacemakers' fate is unknown.
By this time the Skrull throne was taken by Dorrek VII, who slew his predecessor and married his daughter, R'Klll. Their coupling gave them a daughter they named Anelle, a born pacifist who sought peace, unlike her warmongering father.[56] Dorrek's brother Prince Dezan, a Skrull who sought a peaceful way of life, began conspiring with the like-minded Zabyk and Myrn. When Prince Dezan's peaceful goals were revealed, Dorrek encased him in an iron mask and had him imprisoned. Zabyk and Myrn pushed their goals underground and continued to operate in Skrull society to further their ends.[57] Shortly after his own rise to power, Dorrek became the target of an assassin named Krimonn; however, Dorrek managed to thwart this attempt and, as punishment, entrapped Krimonn in a device commonly known as a Power Prism.[58] Dorrek sent a Skrull named Zankor to Earth with memory implants that led him to believe that he was merely a human; however, his ship crashed, causing massive head injuries that submerged his memories so deep that he believed himself to be a human aware of some alien invasion, and frantically tried to warn the authorities.[59] The truth was revealed when Zankor was directed to young scientist Reed Richards, who deduced that Zankor was really the alien, as he was the only one who was able to decipher the language from the recording device that held his proof and he was turned over to the authorities.[60][61] Also at this time, the Skrulls managed to find a weak link in the First Line. When First Line member the Yeti was reeling over the death of his teammate and love Rapunzel, they sent a female operative to gain his trust.[62] Ultimately, the Skrulls pushed forward with their invasion plans and the First Line, along with a squad of their allies and enemies, opposed them. Despite betrayal from the Yeti and large casualties, the First Line destroyed the Skrull invasion fleet, sacrificing nearly their entire roster in the process to stop it.[63] Meanwhile, the Yeti and his Skrullian lover fled to the Himalayas, where she eventually died.[62]
The Modern Age[]
Early Incursions[]
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The first Skrull invaders of the Modern Age
The Skrulls apparently did not make another attempt to take over Earth until over 10 years ago, shortly after the birth of the Fantastic Four, a new group of super-heroes who, ironically, had Reed Richards leading the group. Seeing the Four as the only threat to their plans, they sent four of their agents to impersonate the Fantastic Four, committing crimes to discredit the heroes; however, the Four managed to escape captivity and uncover their doppelgängers. Richards then forced the Skrulls to take him to their invasion ship and convince the crew that Earth was protected by invincible warriors and giant monsters, using pictures that had been cut out of Johnny Storm's comic books. The Skrulls were easily duped and while one of the spies was allowed to return home with the mothership, the remaining three captive Skrulls were forced to shapeshift into cows and were then hypnotized into believing that that was just what they were.[64]
Soon after discovering this deception, Dorrek was furious and invested the entire Skrull Empire's fortune in trying to create an artificial means of giving super-human abilities to Skrulls. Their first tests were on a Skrull named Titannus, a weakling Skrull who was unable to shapeshift. He was given enhanced strength, eventually went on a rampage across the Skrull homeworld and eventually left the Skrull planet to find conquest elsewhere.[65] Dorrek's ambitious plot eventually bore fruit and soon a Skrull warrior named K'lrt was endowed with all the powers of the Fantastic Four; however, the source of his power needed to be beamed to him from the Skrull homeworld. As the so-called Super-Skrull, K'lrt clashed with the Fantastic Four on Earth until Reed Richards discovered the source of the Super-Skrull's power and used a jamming device to cut off the energy source. The Super-Skrull was then buried in a dormant volcano.[66]
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The Super-Skrull arrives on Earth
However, Dorrek had his scientist eventually increase the power to free the Super-Skrull. Seeking revenge against the Fantastic Four, the Super-Skrull abducted Franklin Storm, the father of two of the Fantastic Four's members, the Invisible Girl and the Human Torch. Using his shapeshifting powers, the Super-Skrull took Franklin's place in prison, where he had been serving time for vehicular homicide. Using his powers to break out of prison, the Super-Skrull developed the identity of the Invincible Man to commit crimes and discredit the Fantastic Four in the public eye by making it appear that they were letting the Invincible Man get away with his crimes due to his "family connection" to the Fantastic Four. However, Richards eventually deduced the true identity of their foe and built a weapon that threatened to destroy the Skrull throneworld unless they returned Franklin and took the Super-Skrull away. Dorrek agreed to these terms;[67] however, his warlord Morrat placed a bomb on Franklin to try and kill the Fantastic Four in a double cross in order to curry Dorrek's favor and win the right to marry Anelle.[68] However, this plan was thwarted when Franklin sacrificed his life to save those of his children.[67] For his failure to defeat the Fantastic Four, the Super-Skrull was punished and forced to carry out menial tasks for the Skrull Empire as punishment.[69]
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Morrat
Following Franklin's death, the Fantastic Four travelled to the Skrull throneworld to avenge his death. There they clashed with Warlord Morrat, and were easily captured due to their powers failing them on the Skrull throneworld. By this time, Morrat had grown impatient and sought to use the capture of the Fantastic Four as leverage to oust Dorrek as Emperor of the Skrulls; however, Anelle informed her father and he ordered Morrat's execution. The Four managed to break free and restore their powers. When Dorrek's firing squad shot at Morrat, Anelle tried to shield him, but she was in turn shielded by the Invisible Girl and Morrat was killed. In thanks for protecting his daughter, Dorrek allowed the Fantastic Four to return home, offering them the false promise that the Skrulls would no longer attack Earth.[68] Also around this time, the Krellek Council assigned five young Skrulls to impersonate and discredit the young mutant heroes known as the X-Men. They did so by unleashing some of the Mole Man's creatures on the surface; however, they grew sympathetic to the X-Men and assisted the group in subduing the creatures before they were reigned in by their superiors.[70] The Super-Skrull was later briefly manipulated by the Fantastic Four's enemy Doctor Doom, who used his Emotion Changer device to set a number of super-villains to crash the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. In the end, the Super-Skrull and the other attackers were shunted back to where they belonged with no memory of the attack when Reed was given a Time Displacement device by Uatu the Watcher.[71] When the Skrulls detected the approach of the World Devourer Galactus, they used a device to shield their world from his view, directing Galactus to Earth;[72] however, he was ultimately defeated by the Fantastic Four.[73] About this time, the Super-Skrull was manipulated by the Asgardian trickster god Loki into attacking his half-brother Thor, but was soundly defeated.[69] Yet another Skrull infiltrated Earth society, this time within the FBI, an agent named Baker was replaced by a Skrull. "Agent Baker" then briefly replaced the X-Men's liaison Fred Duncan. Baker had the X-Men's member the Beast investigate recent reports of alien sightings before being transferred to another department.[74]
The Skrull mobsters of Kral IV
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Emperor Dorrek VII observes Kree activity on Earth
The Resumption of the Kree/Skrull War[]
With the awakening of the Kree Sentry #459,[79] the Kree Empire renewed its interest in Earth, sending a crew on an information gathering mission; among the crew was the decorated Kree soldier Captain Mar-Vell, whose early interactions on Earth were mistaken as a new super-hero calling himself Captain Marvel.[80] The increase in Kree activity on Earth prompted Emperor Dorrek to send the Super-Skrull to learn what the Kree were up to. On Earth, the Super-Skrull clashed with Mar-Vell near Cape Canaveral, Florida;[81] however, before the Super-Skrull could probe Mar-Vell's mind and learn his mission, he fell victim to his own hypnotic gaze and was commanded by the Kree soldier to flee from Earth.[82] Not long after this, a Skrull device crash-landed near Cape Canaveral that was purposely sent there to scan DNA information of Earth warriors. It was collected by Carol Danvers and Mar-Vell in his alter ego of scientist Walter Lawson. When Danvers touched the device the Skrulls copied her DNA, allowing them to assume her form almost perfectly. A Skrull invader then posed as Carol and attempted to kidnap Mar-Vell in an Earth space shuttle launch, but he was thwarted by Danvers, who rescued Mar-Vell.[83]
It was around this time that the cosmic entity known as the Grandmaster came into possession of the Power Prism, which still had Krimmon imprisoned inside. This device was given to transform Ugandan finance minister Kinji Obatu into Doctor Spectrum, one of the members of the Squadron Sinister, a group of super-powered villains that the Grandmaster had created to pit against the heroic Avengers, who were pawns of the time traveller Kang the Conqueror, in a contest.[84] The Avengers defeated the Squadron, but Obatu retained the Power Prism.[85]
Renewed hostilities in the Kree/Skrull War
Meanwhile, the Kree targeted Earth again, with their then-leader Ronan the Accuser attempting to devolve the human race into primitive cavemen, leading to a clash with Captain Mar-Vell and the Avengers. However, Ronan abandoned this plot when the Skrulls resumed full-on hostility against his homeworld.[86] It was about this time that the the lone Skrull that had escaped the Fantastic Four in their first encounter with the Skrulls began working with the Super-Skrull, who had been exiled following his last failure. The pair used a hyper-beam to revive the forms and memories of the three Skrulls on Earth who were hypnotized into thinking they were cows.[87] They then joined the Super-Skrull in a plan that he hoped would win him the favor of his Emperor and win the hand of Anelle in marriage in a bid to gain control of the Empire.[41] When the Avengers' battle with Ronan became public knowledge,[88] one of the Skrull spies took the place of U.S. Presidential candidate H. Warren Craddock,[89] using his political position to spread xenophobia toward the Kree in general, Mar-Vell in particular and to besmirch the reputation of the Avengers. He also formed the Commission of Alien Affairs to begin witch hunts to find aliens hiding among the population. When the Avengers helped Mar-Vell go into hiding, this turned the public against them. They were also brought in for questioning by the Commission under "Craddock". Meanwhile, the Skrulls captured Mar-Vell and his confidant Carol Danvers at their safe house. The remaining three Skrulls then posed as the founding Avengers Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, and ordered the current roster to disband.[88]
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The former Skrull cows posing as the Fantastic Four
Going to reconvene with Mar-Vell, the Avengers were attacked by the three Skrulls, who then captured the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver, but the Vision escaped. He brought the real founding members of the Avengers with him later, while the Super-Skrull — posing as Carol Danvers — tried to trick Mar-Vell into building a Omni-Wave Projector, a communications device which could also double as a devastating weapon. Mar-Vell saw through the ploy, but this did not stop Kl'rt from knocking him out and escaping the arriving Avengers, who bested the three Skrull spies.[87] The three captured Skrulls were once more forced into becoming cows and to resume thinking that they were cows, where they eventually ended up in the town of King's Crossing,[90] while the Super-Skrull took Mar-Vell and the prisoners to the Great Refuge of the Inhumans, whom he knew were empowered by the Kree, and tried to destroy it, but the city was too well protected. He then took his prisoners to the Andromeda Galaxy to deliver to Emperor Dorrek, while the Avengers were attacked by "Craddock" using S.H.I.E.L.D. Mandroids. On Tarnax IV, Dorrek subdued the Super-Skrull and forced Mar-Vell to agree to build an Omni-Wave Projector in exchange for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's lives.[41] Back on Earth, the Avengers fought free of the Mandroids and assisted Inhuman leader Black Bolt from liberating his people from his mad brother Maximus the Mad, but the Avengers' ally Rick Jones was captured by the Kree.[91]
Skrulls immobilized by the Destiny Force
Hostilities by this point had escalated to the point where Dorrek ordered a Skrull armada to destroy Earth. The Avengers, on their way to rescue their friends, intercepted the invasion party and then fought them head on. Mar-Vell, meanwhile, tricked Dorrek into thinking that he was compliant, but used the distraction to break free, while on the Kree homeworld of Hala, Rick was imprisoned with the disposed Kree ruler, the Supreme Intelligence, who awakened the dormant Destiny Force within Rick.[91] With the Intelligence's guidance, Rick used the Destiny Force to immobilize the Kree and Skrull armies while the Avengers halted the Skrulls' attempt to blow up Earth, while at the same time on Earth, the Skrull posing as H. Warren Craddock was reverted to his Skrullian form and beaten to death by an angry mob.[89] In the aftermath of the battle, a Skrull Monstroid crash-landed on Earth and was briefly used by both the Puppet Master[92] and Master Khan.[93] The robot was stopped by Spider-Man, the Vision[92] and Iron Fist,[93] respectively. With the Kree-Skrull War over for the time being, Captain Mar-Vell met and conspired with Anelle to try to bring peace to their worlds. While a solution was not found, a brief romance between the two impregnated Anelle with a child.[94] When born, Anelle named him Dorrek VIII. Learning of his grandson's mixed heritage, Emperor Dorrek ordered the baby killed, but Anelle managed to smuggle the child to Earth, where he spent the coming years unaware of his royal heritage.[95]
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Skrulls experimenting on Reed Richards following the capture of the Illuminati
Skrulls torturing a Reed Richards clone for answers
Recovery from the War[]
The Skrulls were slow to recover from the outcome of the Kree/Skrull War. A number of Skrulls ended up aligning themselves with the Mad Titan Thanos, including the Super-Skrull and Skragg. Thanos sought to obtain a Cosmic Cube that was created on Earth and targeted Captain Mar-Vell and his partner Rick Jones to try and obtain its location. After a failed attempt by Skragg to drive both Mar-Vell and Jones insane,[99] they attempted a physical attack by tricking him into fighting the Thing; this also failed and Skragg was slain by Thanos. Ultimately, Thanos stepped in and captured Mar-Vell and Jones.[100] The Super-Skrull accompanied him to the Saturnian moon of Titan, where Thanos extracted the location of the Cube and left the Super-Skrull in charge. Mar-Vell was freed by Mentor and Starfox of the Eternals of Titan, they defeated the Super-Skrull in combat and retook the moon for the Eternals. The Super-Skrull, meanwhile, was left for dead.[101] Eventually, Thanos gathered an invasion fleet to attack Earth; many of his troops were Skrulls who were slain when the Avengers thwarted the invasion.[102] The Super-Skrull managed to flee to Earth, where he took on the guise of Joshua Plague and took control of a band of raiders calling themselves the Rat Pack, using them to steal experimental serums to heal his injuries from battling Mar-Vell. The group clashed with the feline heroine Tigra[103] when they slaughtered a Cheyenne reservation to obtain a mystical object called the Soul-Catcher.[103] This slaughter also brought the hero Red Wolf on their trail as well.[104] The two heroes tracked down the Rat Pack and in the heat of the battle, the Super-Skrull revealed his true identity to them.[105] Unfortunately for the Super-Skrull, his plan backfired when he attempted to use the Soul-Catcher against Tiger and found himself sucked into the object instead, trapping him inside.[106] The Soul-Catcher was then turned over to the Fantastic Four for safe keeping.[107]
Medieval Skrulls
Around this period, the Fantastic Four were tasked with trying to save Counter-Earth from being consumed by Galactus. To this end, the High Evolutionary sent two teams to different worlds suitable for Galactus to consume to ensure that they were not inhabited.[108] One team consisting of the Human Torch and the New Man called Gorr the Golden Gorilla found a world where a group of Skrulls were living out fantasies based on Earth's medieval period. The Skrulls dropped their guise and explained their being there after the Human Torch accepted a challenge to battle a dragon. With the last of the dragons on that world destroyed, the Skrulls had no reason to stay there and left that world to find new worlds to master and transform.[109] Ultimately the Fantastic Four won the battle when Galactus was seemingly destroyed,[110] but he would eventually return from the dead to consume planets again. Back on Earth, a battle between Spider-Man and the villain called Equinox the Thermodynamic Man at the Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four, resulted in the Soul-Catcher being knocked loose.[111] This allowed the Super-Skrull to free himself, and he battled both Spider-Man and the Human Torch.[107] The Super-Skrull managed to escape and sought out a power crystal to build a warp drive capable of allowing him to finally escape from Earth; however, this attracted the attention of Ms. Marvel, who assisted Spider-Man in pursuing the Super-Skrull. The Super-Skrull was defeated when Spider-Man created a jamming device to prevent him from gaining more power that reacted with the power crystal, opening a warp gate that the Super-Skrull was seemingly lost in forever.[112]
The Skrulls later resumed plotting against their age-old enemies, the Kree. A single Skrull infiltrated the Kree Empire posing as "Por-Bat", a member of the Kree Science Council, and instigated preparations for a conflict dubbed the War of Three Galaxies. He then tried to trick the Kree into using the Inhumans as soldiers on a supposed "sneak attack" on the Skrulls; however, the Skrulls had laid a trap and were prepared to destroy their enemies once and for all. The plan was foiled, however, when the Science Council was interrupted by Captain Mar-Vell and Black Bolt, who held off their opening strike long enough for Mar-Vell to reveal that Por-Bat was really a Skrull spy. The Kree put a halt to their attack plans for the time being.[113] Shortly after this the former ruler of Kral IV, Boss Barker, decided to get revenge against the Thing for ruining his dominion over the planet. To this end, he beheaded the robot Torgo and went after the Thing on Earth. Captain Mar-Vell detected Boss Barker's presence on Earth and came to the Thing's aid. In the end, it was the severed head of Torgo who put Barker's threat to an end when he used the last of his energy to slay Barker before he could finish off the two heroes.[114]
The Death of Dorrek VII[]
The Skrull invasion of Xandar
Emperor Dorrek then turned his sights to Xandar, one of the last worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy that was not already under Skrull rule. The Xandarians sent their ruler Adora to Earth to seek the help of the Fantastic Four. A Skrull assassin (really a robot) followed her, but it was waylaid and left for dead by the Four. Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, and the Thing agreed to help Adora defend her world.[115] As the heroes were transported to Xandar,[116] the Skrull assassin — having survived — hid himself in the Baxter Building to await the team's return.[117] When the Fantastic Four arrived on Xandar, they drove back the latest wave of Skrull attackers. Emperor Dorrek then became aware of another ship heading to the planet and ordered his troops to destroy it.[116] This ship was formerly owned by the Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey and was enroute to Xandar from Earth. It happened to be carrying the hero Nova, his allies Powerhouse, the Comet and the Crime-Buster and their foes the Sphinx, Doctor Sun and Diamondhead. This combination of super-humans easily fought off the Skrull armada and continued toward Xandar.[118] Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four continued to battle the Skrulls on the planet, but were abducted and brought to the Skrull homeworld.[116] There Emperor Dorrek had them put before a trial by the Jury of Six, who sentenced them to death for their "crimes" against the Skrull Empire. The three members of the team were then blasted with an aging ray by the Skrull executioner Jaketch. As the Four broke free and attempted to make their escape, Dorrek's estranged queen R'Klll returned to oversee her husband's attack on Xandar, found that Dorrek was a coward and began aspiring to take over his rule.[56] The Four were rescued from space by Nova and his party and brought back to Xandar and they brought the Human Torch to the planet with them; however, the Sphinx absorbed information from the Xandarian Worldmind and fled to Earth. Meanwhile, the Protector of Xandar led warriors to fight the Skrulls in space.[119] The Fantastic Four then left to find Galactus to ask for his help to stop the Sphinx, leaving Nova and his newly formed New Champions to defend Xandar from further Skrull attacks, while on the Skrull homeworld, Dorrek had decided to cut his losses, but before he could pull his troops back he was murdered by R'Klll, who then took control of the Skrull Empire. Her first order was to launch an all-out attack on Xandar.[25]
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The death of Dorrek VII
Back on Earth, the Fantastic Four brought Galactus with them to deal with the Sphinx as the effects of the Skrull aging ray began to reach their fatal conclusion. They were unaware that the Skrull that they had felled earlier was still alive and plotting against them.[117] After both the Sphinx and Galactus were defeated, the aging Fantastic Four were forced to be put in stasis, with the Human Torch the only member unaffected.[120] The robot Skrull assassin then attacked Johnny while his guard was down, but the Torch destroyed the robot. He revived Reed, who used the robot's technology to build a device that would reverse the effect of the aging ray, restoring the stricken Fantastic Four back to normal. Meanwhile, the Skrulls continued to launch attacks against Xandar.[121] Another Skrull attempted to manipulate the Avengers into going back in time and collecting the Resurrection Stone for him; however, the Avenger known as the Beast smashed the stone and the Skrull was ultimately defeated.[122] A group of Skrulls later attempted to assassinate Reed Richards by crashing their ship into the Baxter Building, but their attempt was stopped by the super-powerful Sentry.[123] Also around this time, the Super-Skrull kidnapped both Wolverine and novice X-Man Kitty Pryde, taking them into space to examine as part of an invasion plan.[124] The pair were assisted by the arrival of Captain Mar-Vell, who helped the two mutants escape to Earth and foil Kl'rt's plans.[125]
Empress R'Klll[]
As one of her first duties as Empress of the Skrull Empire, R'Klll assigned a Skrull named Raksor to act as an ambassador to the Shi'ar who, at the time, were seeking to persecute Phoenix of the X-Men for the destruction of the D'bari star system.[126] Raksor accompanied the Shi'ar along with Bel-Dann, his Kree counterpart, to the Blue Area of the Moon where the X-Men were to battle the Shi'ar's Imperial Guard to determine the fate of Phoenix. Raksor was unimpressed to work alongside a member of the Kree. When Raksor tried to attack the X-Man Wolverine, he was rescued by Bel-Dann. Furious at being saved by a hated enemy, Raksor attacked BelDann and the two began to fight each other deep below the surface of the Moon.[127] They would spend the next few months below the surface of the Moon still fighting each other and completely oblivious to events that would later unfold.[20]
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Empress R'Klll
Out in deep space, the Skrulls began working on a matter transference device to boost their war effort. They found the key when their device linked to Reed Richards' similarly designed energy transfer device on Earth. Seeking to obtain Reed's device, and fearing interference from the Kree, the Skrulls sent agents to stop Captain Mar-Vell while sending their best warriors — dubbed the Prime Ten — to Earth. The Prime Ten ambushed the Fantastic Four at their headquarters, but were ultimately defeated by the Four and Mar-Vell. Using the transference device they sent the Skrulls back to their asteroid base, causing the device to overload and explode, ruining their plans of ever using it against the Kree,[128] while back out in Skrull space, the Skrulls managed to defeat the Protector and his warriors thanks to the assistance of Diamondhead who had betrayed his "allies", killing the Crime-Buster in the process. Shunting the Protector and his crew into another dimension, a Skrull war party disguised themselves as the crew and returned to Xandar to launch an ambush attack. There they were opposed by Nova, Powerhouse and the Spaceknight Rom who was on Xandar trying to learn the location of his homeworld, Galador. With the assistance of Rom, the New Champions managed to thwart the Skrull invasion.[129]
When it was learned that Captain Mar-Vell was dying of cancer, the Skrulls sent General Zedrao to award their greatest enemy the Royal Skrull Medal of Valor and to pay his respects on behalf of the Skrull Empire;[130] however, the duplicitous Skrulls also took advantage of this situation to continue their constant infiltration and spying. Among the gathered heroes come to pay their respects to the dying hero was a Skrull named Bartak, who initially infiltrated the gathering posing as the hero known as the Devil-Slayer; however, upon noticing that the real Devil-Slayer was in attendance, Bartak changed his shape to resemble the Silver Surfer who, at the time, was exiled and stranded on Earth after betraying his former master, Galactus. When the heroes inquired as to how the "Surfer" managed to escape Earth, Bartak convinced them that Galactus had set him free. His deception a success, Bartak returned to the Skrull homeworld and underwent augmentation to imitate the Surfer's powers and continued to pose as the hero in space while he was still exiled on Earth.[131] The Skrulls soon planned another invasion of Earth, the plans of which were learned by the Shi'ar, who sent their agent Gladiator to warn the Fantastic Four; however, Skrulls impersonating the X-Men intercepted Gladiator and convinced him that the Fantastic Four had been replaced by Skrulls, leading to a battle between the famed group and Gladiator;[132] however, with the assistance of Spider-Man and Captain America, the Fantastic Four managed to reveal the Skrulls' trick and defeated the X-Men imitators. They were then taken into custody by Gladiator, who took them into space.[133]
During all this time, the three Skrulls who were trapped in the form of cows on Earth were being milked in the town of King's Crossing. When the town's people began ingesting the milk, their bodies were infected with the invasive Skrull DNA. These now-half humans/half Skrulls became increasingly xenophobic and began shutting off the town while mass-producing the Skrull DNA-infused milk. When the Fantastic Four's friend Sharon Selleck stumbled upon the town and was forced to stay there, she managed to contact the Fantastic Four who came to her rescue. Getting a sample of the tainted milk, Reed Richards managed to develop an antidote, cure the locals and destroy all of the tainted milk and all of the crops that had been irrigated with it.[90] The three Skrull cows, however, were not located at this time and continued to endure for a time;[134] some of them even began breeding, producing Skrull/cow hybrids.[135] R'Klll was also in talks with the Kree's ruler, the Supreme Intelligence, and they made an agreement that the outcome of the Kree/Skrull War would be determined by proxies and selected both Raksor and Bel-Dann on the Moon. They had Uatu the Watcher gather the two combatants and they agreed that whoever won the one-on-one battle would then determine whose race was the victor in the war.[20] Also around this time, a Skrull scholar named Klobok was exiled from the Skrull throneworld for his obsessive research of magic.[22]
Destruction of the Skrull Throneworld[]
The destruction of Tarnax IV
The Skrull homeworld soon came under threat of consumption by Galactus when his newest herald Nova who was able to detect the Skrull throneworld even though it was cloaked, as in previous close calls with the World Devourer.[136]
Shortly before the arrival of Galactus, a group of X-Men from the near future found themselves transported to the Skrull homeworld by the other-dimensional being known as Ejulp.[137] There, the group discovered an elaborate training facility that was designed to resemble New York City where Skrulls were training as disguised super-heroes for yet another planned invasion of Earth. These new Warskrulls were designed to be locked into the form of those that they impersonated. The X-Men clashed with their spies-in-training who posed as various super-heroes both dead and alive, including some based on the X-Men themselves.[138] The battle raged until suddenly Galactus arrived to consume the planet.[139] The X-Men's leader, Professor X, then attempted to convince Galactus not to consume the Skrull throneworld; however, his efforts were in vain. The X-Men were then forced to flee the planet in a ship that would pilot them back to Earth on an extended course that would bring them back to their proper time.[140] Despite their efforts to fight off Galactus, the World Devourer succeeded in consuming the Skrull throneworld. Among those slain in the destruction were Empress R'Klll and her daughter, Anelle.[141] Reed Richards was ultimately blamed for the destruction of the Skrull throneworld due to the fact that he had previously saved the life of Galactus.[142] He was then kidnapped by the Shi'ar, who were acting on behalf of the Skrulls at the behest of Prelate Karant Kiar.[143] During the so-call "Trial of Galactus", Karant Kiar sought to have Richards found guilty for the slaughter of his homeworld and executed; however, testimony from Uatu the Watcher, the Asgardian All-Father Odin, the embodiment of the universe known as Eternity and from Galactus himself convinced the court that Galactus was an integral part of the universe and the destruction of the Skrull homeworld was part of a greater destiny, so Richards was acquitted of all charges and released.[143] Following the destruction of their homeworld, Skrulls that were determined to have mutant abilities were no longer culled and were used for experimentation and weaponization purposes, although they passed along the legend of Charles Xavier, the man who tried to save the throneworld when none of the Skrulls would stand up to the World Devourer.[144]
One of the few survivors of the destruction of Throneworld was the son of the Skrull scientist who helped created the Super-Skrull. When Galactus was destroying Throneworld, he used his technology to endow his son with enhanced abilities and sent the boy to Earth in the hopes that he would conquer it;[145] however, when this Skrull child's ship landed in the American Midwest, he was found by a devoutly religious family who, unaware of his Skrullian heritage, raised the boy as their own under their Christian values system under the name Ethan Edwards.[146]
The Skrull Civil War[]
With the death of R'Klll five,[147] then six Skrull governors all vied for control of the empire. These governors included Gorth,[148] Kylor,[149] Yorak,[150] an unnamed overweight female Skrull,[16] S'Byll of Satriani,[151] and Karza.[131] All began their own agendas and the Skrull Empire fell into complete chaos, with the governors of each Skrull world claiming the title of Emperor or Empress. Civil war broke out between the various Skrull worlds, claiming more lives than Galactus had destroyed in his devouring of Throneworld. This made the Andromeda Galaxy ripe for the picking for the space pirate known as Nebula, the self-proclaimed daughter of Thanos the Mad Titan, and she began raiding world after world, eventually forming an alliance with the Skrull governor Gorth.[148] It was during this ensuing chaos that Skrull scientists Myrn and Zybek were reunited, and they began working on a Hyper-Wave Bomb that would change their empire completely; however, they were unaware that their entire plan was overheard by Raksor, who sought out allies to stop their mad schemes.[57]
With their empire crippled, the Skrulls began focusing on other external threats. The Dire Wraiths, offshoots of the Skrull race, were gaining a foothold on Earth and other worlds despite the intervention of the Spaceknight Rom. As such, the Skrulls sent a landing party to the town of Clairton, West Virginia, a town that was a beachhead in the Dire Wraiths' invasion of Earth. The Skrulls' arrival coincided with the Dire Wraiths' final push to wipe out the town and defeat Rom and his ally, Starshine, whom the Wraiths banished to a shadow dimension.[152] The Skrulls held off the Dire Wraiths until Rom and Starshine could free themselves and assisted the Spaceknights in wiping out the Dire Wraiths there. Needing to return to their crippled empire, the Skrulls left but their leader — named Supremor — warned Rom that if he failed to exterminate the remaining Dire Wraiths on Earth, the Skrulls would destroy the planet.[13] Over the past few months, the Super-Skrull had been caught in a hyperspace gateway travelling to the Skrull homeworld; however, with the destruction of the planet at the hands of Galactus, the Super-Skrull found himself shunted back to Earth.[153] His return to Earth brought him to the Mount Logan Cosmic Research Station in the Yukon of Canada. There, he decimated the crew and clashed with the Canadian super-hero known as Sasquatch.[154] When it became determined that Kl'rt had contracted an advanced form of leukemia from the months spent travelling unshielded through hyperspace radiation, Sasquatch agreed to build a device that would transport the Super-Skrull back to Earth; however, the hirsute hero was merely waiting for the Super-Skrull to buckle in pain from his illness again to ram him into the partially completed warp-gate, seemingly destroying him.[153] By this time, the battle on the Moon between Raksor and Bel-Dann interrupted the wedding of the Inhumans Black Bolt and Medusa. The Inhuman Royal Family and the Fantastic Four then attempted to stop the hostilities between the two; however, learning from Uatu the Watcher why the two aliens were fighting, the Earthlings attacked the two combatants and forced them to work together. With the Earth heroes pretending to be slain, Uatu declared the battle won, telling the Skrull and the Kree that the outcome was that both races need to strive together. They were then teleported away.[20]
At this time, General Kalamari of the Skrull High Command decided to focus his efforts on destroying the Fantastic Four by placing an impostor into their midst. With the cost of creating a new Super-Skrull to imitate one of the Four, Paibok the Power Skrull suggested that they instead have a Skrull replace one of their closest allies. They selected Alicia Masters, a blind woman who was close friends of the Fantastic Four and at the time was dating the Thing. Paibok selected a female Skrull named Lyja as his candidate and she spent months studying to be the perfect imitation of Masters. They then kidnapped the real Alicia and Lyja then took her place;[155] however, the plans had to change as the kidnapping of Alicia coincided with the male members of the group being abducted by the omniscient being known as the Beyonder to fight in the so-called Secret Wars.[156] When they returned to Earth, the Thing stayed behind on Battleworld as he could revert back to human form and he was replaced by the She-Hulk.[157][158] Lyja instead changed her focus from the Thing to his partner the Human Torch and spent the ensuing months romancing him.[155][159] Meanwhile, the Super-Skrull was pulled out of his exile in the Van Allen radiation belt by Master Khan, who was plotting against his old foe Iron Fist. Khan cured the Super-Skrull of his leukemia and then had him transform into a young boy whom he named Bobby Wright. Khan imprinted false memories into the Super-Skrull of Bobby Wright that were so thorough that they could even fool his old foe.[160] For months, the Super-Skrull posed as a young orphan who believed that he had gained super-powers (and the ability to transform into an adult version of himself dubbed Captain Hero). Bobby and his alter-ego of Captain Hero became integral in the lives of Iron Fist and his partner Luke Cage.[161][162]
The Hyper-Wave Bomb[]
In the Andromeda Galaxy, Nebula began acting on the behalf of Governor Gorth in demanding that General Zedrao commit his military fleet to his cause. When Zedrao refused, she sent her minion Captain Marvel to spy on the base, unaware that she was a member of the Avengers. Nebula then used her ship, the Sanctuary II, to blow up the Skrull base, but Marvel helped the Skrulls escape and alerted her comrades the Avengers, who came to assist along with the former Herald of Galactus known as Firelord. While they mobilized to deal with Nebula and her forces, the notorious space pirate slew Gorth in her bid to take over the Andromeda Galaxy herself.[148] With the aid of the Avengers the Skrulls fought Nebula's forces, but the battle was not truly won when the Beyonder arrived, seeking to join the Avengers in order to learn how to be a hero. In the heat of the battle, he teleported Nebula and her minions away, suddenly ending the fight.[163] At this time the prison planet Klarr attacked Raksor, who freed the long-imprisoned Prince Dezan. They then got passage to the Power Asteroid where Zybek and Myrn were working on the Hyper-Wave Bomb. They travelled aboard Kral IV's Big Casino starship which was fashioned after a 1930s era zeppelin and piloted by a Skrull calling himself Floyd Donahue. Along the way they intercepted the Avengers, who had pledged to assist General Zedrao in capturing Nebula and sought the Power Asteroid's equipment to try and track her.[57] At that same time, a female Skrull governess sought to secure herself as Empress of the Skrull Empire by destroying the Fantastic Four. To this end, she had one of her minions disguise himself as the Elan creature known as the Infant Terrible to lure the Fantastic Four to the Skrull homeworld under the false pretence that Elan had been decimated by the Skrulls. Reed Richards saw through this plot and defeated the Skrull governess on her homeworld and took them prisoner. Reed and the Fantastic Four then brought their prisoners to the Power Asteroid to dispose of.[16]
Meanwhile, Zabyk completed the Hyper-Wave Bomb just as the Avengers were attacking his fortress, revealing that the Hyper-Wave Bomb would erase the Skrulls' shape-shifting ability, trapping them in whatever form they were in. Zabyk then slew Myrn and sealed him in what he believed would shield him from the effects of the bomb, which he believed would make him the new Emperor of the Skrulls. Despite their efforts, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were unable to stop Zabyk from unleashing the Hyper-Wave Bomb. The weapon froze all of the Skrulls in whatever form they were in at the moment that the bomb went off.[57][16] Many Skrulls who were on espionage missions found themselves trapped in those forms. These included Al'Arok, a spy on Zenn-La;[149] Aptak, a male Skrull who was spying on the Waziliah in female form; Nenora, who posed as a Kree and was infiltrating her way into the Kree Science Council;[150] a Skrull posing as the Elder of the Universe known as the Contemplator;[164] and Bartak, who was still posing as the Silver Surfer.[131] Incidentally the Super-Skrull, who was still under the guise of Bobby Wright, was still able to change from the child form of Bobby Wright and the adult Captain Hero, likely due to the influence of Khan's magic.[162] Following the incident with the Hyper-Wave Bomb, General Zedrao and his soldiers then destroyed the Sanctuary II before thanking the Avengers for their help and sending them on their way.[165] It was then greatly accepted by the Skrull Empire as a whole to try to keep the loss of their shape-changing powers a secret, otherwise it might provide their many enemies with an advantage.[166]
On Earth, Master Khan's manipulations reached fruition. "Bobby Wright" was diagnosed with an illness as Captain Hero — insane from the pain that was racking his body — beat Iron Fist to death before he seemingly disintegrated.[167] Not only was the Super-Skrull's involvement a mystery, but also the fact that Iron Fist had secretly been replaced by a H'ylthri impostor.[168] The Super-Skrull was not dead, but returned to the hyperspace prison where Khan had pulled him from.[147]
Renewed Hostilities Against the Kree[]
In order to keep the loss of their shapeshifting abilities a secret, the Skrulls entered into an alliance with the Elders of the Universe for protection.[166] This, however, was to benefit the Elders, as they were also seeking to destroy Galactus and create a new Big Bang in which the Elders would be the new Galacti of the universe that formed as a result.[14] Unknown to the Elders, their ranks were infiltrated by the Skrull who was posing as the Contemplator.[164] The Elders convinced the Skrulls to capture Galactus' new herald Nova to force Galactus to consume only Kree-ruled worlds. They then sent the Champion to slay the Silver Surfer on Earth. The Surfer defeated the Champion and learned of Nova's capture. Freeing himself from the barrier that had kept him on Earth for years, the Surfer made a deal to rescue Nova in return for Galactus allowing the Surfer to remain free. The Skrulls' prison was unable to keep the Silver Surfer from rescuing Nova and returning her to Galactus.[166]
The Skrulls then sent Ptakr as an emissary to petition Shalla-Bal, who was now the ruler of Zenn-La, to join them in their war against the Kree. Shalla-Bal refused to side with the Skrulls, deciding to remain neutral and warned them against attacking her, as her planet was now under the protection of the Silver Surfer. After a failed attempt to assassinate the Surfer, Ptakr and his entourage were ejected from Zenn-La.[149] Not long after this, the Silver Surfer and the Avengers were involved in a scheme by the Grandmaster to make all the Elders of the Universe immortal, bringing them a step closer to succeeding in their machinations.[169][170] While the Elders once again sought to destroy the Surfer, Ptakr's crew was attacked by Kree soldiers, but the Skrulls committed suicide before they could be boarded and the secret of their lost shape-shifting abilities could be discovered.[171] Following their bid for immortality, the Elders met with the phony Contemplator among their numbers. The meeting was interrupted by the Silver Surfer and his new ally Mantis, who had managed to escape destruction. Meanwhile, the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree correctly deduced that the Skrulls had lost their shape-shifting abilities. This also coincided with the arrival of the Celestial known as Jemiah the Analyser, who landed on the Skrull world that was under the rule of Kylor.[172] Kylor ordered that Jemiah be destroyed, but none of the Skrull weapons were powerful enough to destroy the Celestial. Meanwhile, a Kree spy was sent to confirm the Supreme Intelligence's suspicions but, despite his efforts to disguise himself, he was discovered and captured by Skrull authorities.[14]
By this time the Skrull spy Nenora had became a member of the Kree Science Council, who were second only to the Supreme Intelligence in power. The Intelligence ordered an attack on a Skrull armada that was passing the Kree world Sandomar II; however, the attack was a failure as Nenora alerted Kylor and the Skrull armada withdrew. This, however, tipped off the Supreme Intelligence to the fact that there was a spy in his midst, but Nenora's cover was so deep that the Supreme Intelligence was led to believe that his aide, Nullet, was the Skrull spy. Kylor's renewed aggression toward the Kree started a feud between himself and another would-be Skrull Emperor, Yorak.[150] At this time, the Elders of the Universe came to believe that the six Soul Gems had the power needed to destroy Galactus and create a new Big Bang. Having collected five of the six, they sent the Skrull impersonating the Contemplator to the Kree homeworld where the sixth was under the control of the Supreme Intelligence. The phony Contemplator was denied the Soul Gem, as the Intelligence required it to maintain his sanity that had been caused by the racial conflict between the blue- and pink-skinned Kree minds that made up the part of his collective form. When the Silver Surfer came to warn the Supreme Intelligence to stay away from Zenn-La, the Intelligence used the Soul Gem to trap the Surfer inside him;[164] however, the Surfer broke free and absconded with the Soul Gem, leaving the Intelligence insane.[173] The Elders then kidnapped Mantis and Shalla-Bal in order to force the Silver Surfer to turn over the Soul Gem. The Surfer agreed, and the Elders then tried to use them to destroy Galactus, but this plan was thwarted by the Surfer and Nova when Nova destroyed the star which the planets that the Elders were using in conjunction with the gems to destroy the World Devourer. The resulting black hole swallowed the Soul Gems, as well as the Trader, the Possessor and the Astronomer,[174] while the Grandmaster, the Gardener, the Collector, the Champion and the Runner were consumed by Galactus. The phony Contemplator escaped and Galactus ordered the Surfer and Nova to apprehend him, while on the planet Hala, Nenora had become the Supreme Leader of the Kree. She then decided to take her ambitions beyond the Skrull Empire's age-old war and slew her former lover Apatk, who came to Hala posing as a Wazilian ambassador.[175]
Meanwhile on Earth, a group of Skrull Slavers disguised themselves as a Kentucky fair in order to collect slaves. Their activities coincided with the arrival of Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Richtor, and Boom Boom of the New Mutants, who were visiting Cannonball's family at the time. When they visited the carnival, the Skrulls attempted to make them slaves as well, but the Skrulls proved no match for the young mutants and were forced to flee into space.[176]
Back out in space the Silver Surfer and Nova, with information from Nenora, tracked the Skrull who was impersonating the Contemplator in the Coal Sack Nebula, the home of the real Contemplator. There the impostor gained the protection of the space pirate Cap'n Reptyl, who briefly managed to capture the Surfer and Nova. During this period he contemplated the Elder known as the Obliterator, renewing his sense of purpose after a defeat at the hands of the Surfer.[177] Meanwhile, under orders from Governor Karza Bartak, the Skrull who was posing as the Silver Surfer began attacking Kree outposts in order to taint the Surfer's reputation.[178] When the Surfer and Nova broke free, Reptyl and his minions retreated back into the Coal Sack Nebula. Angered over this defeat, Reptyl then seemingly slew the phony Contemplator, consuming his body[179] and leaving his severed head in space to be found later by the Surfer and Nova.[151] As Bartak had planned, the Kree blamed the real Surfer for the attacks and Ronan the Accuser was sent to eliminate him, but the Surfer bested him in combat. Meanwhile Nanora, now deciding to rule over the Kree Empire, led Kylor and his armada into a Kree trap, leading to their deaths. With Kylor's death, Governess S'Byll decided to make her move to become the next Skrull Empress and ordered one of her minions to Earth.[151] The Silver Surfer and Nova, meanwhile, were attacked by Bartak who defeated the Surfer in combat and trapped Nova, but before he could get away to cause more chaos, he was slain by Ronan the Accuser, who upgraded his weapons to be more than a match for the real Surfer. This was apparently Karza's only attempt to vie for leadership of the empire, as he was never seen or heard from again. Meanwhile, S'Byll's minion arrived on Earth and fired a device into the air before being felled by a pair of hunters.[131]
Empress S'Byll[]
This blast reconstituted the Super-Skrull, who had no memory of his experience as "Bobby Wright" and was led to believe that Skrull science had cured him of his leukemia as well as freed him. His return coincided with the arrival of the Silver Surfer to Earth. The two battled but were captured by the Eternals, who sought to map the DNA of the Silver Surfer and the Super-Skrull on behalf of the High Evolutionary. Unwilling to let the Eternals force their own ends, the Surfer and the Super-Skrull worked together to free themselves. The Surfer, telling the Super-Skrull what had happened and that because he was the only Skrull left who could still shapeshift, convinced him to return to his empire to try and restore to the glory that it once was in the hopes that this would end the current Kree-Skrull war.[147]
The Skrull posing as the Contemplator survived his previous encounter and managed to relocate his severed head to a moon near the Coal Sack Nebula and awaited Cap'n Reptyl and his crew to land there. Reptyl left his oafish subordinate Clumsy Foulup in charge, and the phony Contemplator slowly began mentally manipulating him for his own ends. While Nenora continued to intensify her assaults on the Skrulls, they were soon reunited with the Super-Skrull who had aligned himself with S'Byll and her faction of Skrulls. Meanwhile, Nanora went to Zenn-La to offer her apologies to the Silver Surfer for her empire attacking him previously when Bartak framed him. This visit prompted the Cotati, who had been using their connection to all plants to start hinting to Empress Shalla-Bal that Nenora was really a Skrull.[180] Unfortunately for Shalla-Bal, Nenora's visit was also to secretly plant listening devices in her home and place a Kree Sentry to capture her if need be.[181]
By this time the Kree Empire had formed an alliance with the Badoon, causing massive casualties for the Skrulls. S'Byll and the Super-Skrull then tricked the Silver Surfer into defending the Skrull armada from the Badoon, forcing him to ally himself with the Skrulls in order to defend Zenn-La, as the attack would be viewed by the Kree as the end of his neutrality in the war. The Skrulls came to the Silver Surfer's aid in fighting off a Kree invasion fleet that was poised to attack Zenn-La. Arriving on the planet's surface, Shalla-Bal also accepted the alliance and S'Byll and the Super-Skrull revealed the reason for the entire deception: duplicating the machine that the Eternals had used on the Super-Skrull and the Silver Surfer, they devised a way to reawaken the shapeshifting ability in S'Byll and give the ability to restore that power to the entire empire. The Surfer and the Super-Skrull then pooled their powers to power the device, not only restoring S'Byll's shapeshifting abilities but enhancing them to cosmic levels. She then joined the Surfer and the Super-Skrull in driving the remaining Kree ships from Zenn-Lavian space.[15] Nenora then led an entire invasion fleet to attack Zenn-La again, forcing the trio to fight a losing battle; that is, until the Silver Surfer managed to broker a deal with Nenora: he would leave Zenn-La forever if she agreed to stop attacking his homeworld, and she agreed, pulling her forces back. This coincided with the phony Contemplator moving ahead with his plans, manipulating Clumsy Foulup into contacting the Kree and offering them the means of defeating the Skrulls.[182]
S'Byll returned to her homeworld of Satriani with the Surfer and the Super-Skrull. There, she began using her newfound powers to restore the shapeshifting abilities of the Skrulls that resided there. This drew the attention of the enigmatic Stranger, who came to apparently capture S'Byll; however, the Stranger returned her when Cap'n Reptyl came to offer his alliance to the Skrulls and offered the Stranger the mutants aboard his crew.[21] Reptyl's addition to the Skrull forces was not without turbulence; when Reptyl started paying too much attention to S'Byll, the jealous Super-Skrull attacked him but was seemingly slain when Reptyl ripped out his throat.[181] The Super-Skrull survived, however, his body recovered by the Badoon who attempted to experiment on him. Fully healed, Kl'rt broke free from his captors and escaped.[183] This was all part of a ruse on the part of S'Byll, orchestrated with the intended purpose of making the enemies of the Skrulls believe that the real Super-Skrull was dead and that when Kl'rt returned, they would be led to believe that he was merely an impostor.[17] At some point during the conflict S'Byll's uncle, dubbed Talos the Untamed due to the fact that he has superior strength although being born without a shapeshifting ability, was defeated and captured by a Kree war party, earning him shame among the empire.[184]
Meanwhile on Zenn-La, Shalla-Bal deduced the secret of Nenora, but her Kree Sentry captured Shalla-Bal before she could tell anyone. And on Hala, Clumsy Foulup set the beginnings of a trap for Cap'n Reptyl, distracting the Kree enough for the astral form of the "Contemplator" to gain access to the chamber of the Supreme Intelligence.[181] With Shalla-Bal as her prisoner, Nenora had the human named Midnight augmented into a cyborg and launched another attack against the Skrulls. Meanwhile, the "Contemplator" began manipulating the pink-skinned Kree to further his goals of taking over the Kree Empire. In Skrull space, while the Silver Surfer was detracted fighting Midnight, Clumsy Foulup — who had been made Reptyl's second in command after being smuggled back to the moon where he was left prior to his betrayal — seemingly slew Reptyl and made his escape back to the Kree.[185] With the seeming death of Reptyl, the Skrull armada was decimated by the Kree, leaving only S'Byll and the Surfer the sole survivors. They fought their way to Hala, where they gained entrance into the Kree palace thanks to Shalla-Bal, who was freed by the influence of the Cotati. As Clumsy Foulup was being thanked as a war hero by the Kree, they stormed Nenora's throne room. There, under the witness of the Stranger, S'Byll used her powers to restore Nenora's shapeshifting ability and slew her.[186] S'Byll then revealed the truth to the Kree and brokered a truce, failing to convince the Kree to declare peace. After she was taken back to her homeworld by the Silver Surfer, the "Contemplator" attempted to put his plan into fruition: with Foulup seen as a hero, especially to the pink-skinned Kree, the "Contemplator" would then pose as a "restored" Supreme Intelligence" and have Foulup back him up, making the "Contemplator" the secret ruler of the Kree Empire; however, Foulup ended up betraying the impostor when the Cotati offered Foulup the chance to be the actual ruler of the Kree. When the "Contemplator" attempted to pull his ruse, the Cotati overpowered him with their superior telepathic abilities, obliterating his mind and making it seem like the Supreme Intelligence endorsed Clumsy Foulup's ascension to leadership.[187]
In an unrelated note, a Skrull was a prisoner on Captain Orack's slave ship. He was freed by the alien Beta Ray Bill.[188] A Skrull by the name of Kholdsor, trapped in human form due to the Hyper-Wave Bomb and not yet restored by Empress S'Byll, attempted to obtain a copy of Rick Jones' book Sidekick in the hopes of learning the secrets of how Rick used the Destiny Force to win the Kree/Skrull War; this mission was a failure.[189]
Covers Exposed[]
Following the end of the most recent Kree/Skrull War, S'Byll was named the new Skrull Empress and she ruled from the planet Satriani, slowly restoring the Skrulls' natural ability to change their shape. Her world was briefly invaded by the Impossible Man and his family, who made a stop of Satriani from a vacation on Earth to show the Skrulls their vacation slides, much to S'Byll's irritation.[190] Not long after this the Super-Skrull returned to Satriani to a hero's welcome, but was unhappy with the deception as it worked against his honor; however, he sought religious guidance from a statue of Sl'gurt. Finding resolve, the Super-Skrull then tracked down Cap'n Reptyl and seemingly slew him. Returning to S'Byll to inform her of what he had done, he was stripped of his rank and told to serve under Commander K'Targh's imperial starfleet until further notice.[17] The Super-Skrull, however, sought to win back the adoration of his leader and so he and a team of Skrulls then returned to Earth in order to capture Rick Jones and harness the Destiny Force as a weapon for the Skrulls. Learning that Rick was currently on a book tour for his new book Sidekick, they took over the town of Buckport, Utah, and invited him to a phony book signing. They then kidnapped him and tried to torture him into subservience.[191] This failed, and when Rick's allies the Hulk and Betty Ross came to his aid, a battle broke out. Ultimately the Skrull team — including the Super-Skrull — were seemingly slain when the energy core of their ship destabilized and exploded.[183]
Despite S'Byll's rule over the Skrull Empire, there were those who sought to remove her from rule. A rogue Skrull (possibly a rare mutant Skrull)[citation needed] named De'Lila attempted to obtain a Skrull Inorganic Technotroid egg to use against the Empress; however, it ended up crashing on Earth.[192] Following it there, De'Lila subdued the Fantastic Four in hopes of using Reed Richards' technology to locate it; however, she was followed to Earth by Skrull warriors who took control of the Mole Man's monsters on Monster Isle and used them to search for her, angering the Mole Man for this trespass. Seeking to waylay these monsters from finding her, De'Lila used her telepathic abilities and shapeshifting power to resemble the Invisible Woman to trick Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk, and the Ghost Rider into thinking the Fantastic Four were dead and to help her. This New Fantastic Four were sent out to stop the Skrulls.[193] Unable to locate the Inorganic Technotroid on her own, De'Lila used blackmail and her powers to coerce Reed Richards into helping her, successfully tracking it to Monster Isle; however, this also brought them before the other Skrulls, the Mole Man and his Moloid army and the New Fantastic Four, who had formed an uneasy alliance after piecing together De'Lila's deceptions.[194] Learning what De'Lila was after, it was a race to see who got to the Inorganic Technotroid before it hatched, as the creature was made to biologically imprint itself on whomever it first saw. A pitched battle between all three parties erupted over the creature until the original Fantastic Four arrived to stop De'Lila. In the end, the Inorganic Technotroid imprinted itself on one of the Mole Man's creatures, which took it as its child. De'Lila fell victim to the Ghost Rider's Penance Stare and was driven insane and turned over to the Skrulls.[192] Returning to the surface, the Skrulls and the two Fantastic Four groups were attacked by the Mole Man now that they were out of his domain; however, Spider-Man convinced the Mole Man of the futility of their continued battle and the Skrulls were allowed to take De'Lila back to the Skrull homeworld for punishment.[195]
Also on Earth, the Super-Skrull survived his encounter with the Hulk and, apparently now remembering his time as Bobby Wright, sought out a new plan to destroy Earth. At the time Daniel Rand, the hero known as Iron Fist, was still believed to be dead. He sought out Ward Meachum, the part controller of Rand-Meachum, the organization that both men owned. He offered Meachum the hand of the most beautiful woman in the universe and a world to rule if he assisted in drilling into using the Nuwali devices in the Savage Land to destroy Earth. Meachum agreed in return for the taste of power and a beautiful woman. The Super-Skrull then used his hypnotic powers to make Ward's niece, Joy, follow their cause.[196] Disguising himself as Daniel Rand, the Super-Skrull convinced the world that Rand was still alive.[197] "Iron Fist's" resurrection brought the suspicions of his former lover Misty Knight, who confronted the phony Daniel Rand to learn the truth, but the Super-Skrull had researched his role well and thoroughly convinced her of Rand's apparent "resurrection".[198]
Around this time the Warskrulls program had made many advancements, allowing Skrulls to copy the shapes, powers, memories and personalities of templates that were caught in their Nexus Amplifier devices.[199] To this end they captured the Starjammers and impersonated their members as well as Charles Xavier, the former teacher of the X-Men, who was travelling with them at the time. Using Xavier's powers they also took telepathic control of and disposed of the Shi'ar Empress Lilandra in a bid to take over the Shi'ar throne from her sister, Deathbird.[200] They began a campaign of genocide across the Shi'ar galaxy, wiping out many races such as the P!ndyr of Epsilon Seikosha IX.[201] Blaming these atrocities on Deathbird, they managed to remove her from the throne and place Lilandra back in her rightful title, albeit a puppet ruler for the Warskrulls' agenda. This forced Deathbird and teleporter Lila Cheney to seek out the X-Men's aid in freeing the empire.[202] The X-Men initially did not believe Deathbird due to the fact that she did not know the full scope of the Skrull incursion and they sided with "Professor Xavier" and the "Starjammers" in apprehending Deathbird. As key members of the X-Men were slowly being replaced by Warskrulls, the X-Men Gambit and Jubilee stumbled upon part of the truth.[203] Jubilee was captured, but Gambit managed to escape. The X-Men arrived on the scene, unaware that their teammate Psylock had been replaced as well; however, Wolverine detected the truth and slew the Warskrull that was posing as Xavier. The Skrull that was posing as Psylock knocked out Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men were teleported away by Lila Cheney and Deathbird to Epsilon Seikosha IX. A Warskrull named the Skrull Prime took the place of Xavier and Wolverine and Jubilee were templated as well. Meanwhile, the Warskrulls that were posing as the Starjammers were sent after the X-Men.[199] The X-Men learned the truth and defeated the Starjammer impostors and returned to the Shi'ar homeworld. During the ensuing battle, the real Charles Xavier freed himself and took down the Warskrulls with his telepathic powers. With the primary Warskrulls defeated the X-Men left the Shi'ar galaxy, leaving Lilandra and her Imperial Guard to weed out any other Warskrulls that might be operating in the area.[200]
When the recently revived Thanos gathered the six Infinity Gems, he combined their power into the Infinity Gauntlet and used it to wipe out half the universe as a gift to his lover, Death. This included half of the Skrull Empire. Unaware of Thanos' involvement, S'Byll suspected that the Kree were involved and called her people to prepare to go to war again;[204] however, it appears that this conflict did not happen as a gathering of surviving heroes eventually defeated Thanos and restored the universe to normal.[205]
Around this time on Earth, the Super-Skrull and Ward Meachum were bringing their plans to fruition, meeting with Ka-Zar, the ruler of the Savage Land, and getting his permission to "mine" in the area;[206] however, these activities brought Namor the Sub-Mariner and his niece Namorita to the Savage Land to investigate. The Super-Skrull, disguised as Iron Fist, easily captured Namor[207] and his allies Namorita, Phoebe Mars, and Carrie Alexander with the help of Misty Knight, who believed that "Rand" was really her former lover.[208] Ka-Zar's wife, Shanna the She-Devil, rescued Namor and his captives and they launched a counterattack, forcing the Super-Skrull to reveal himself.[209] As the Super-Skrull battled Namor, his allies convinced Ward to believe that he was being betrayed when they had him consider what the "most beautiful woman in the universe" would be interpreted as by a Skrull. Meachum then tried to smash the machine, but the Super-Skrull burned him alive; however, this did not stop Namor from smashing the device and saving Earth, forcing the Super-Skrull to flee.[196] Not long after the departure of the Super-Skrull, another Skrull calling himself Samuel J. Skrull was sent to Earth as part of yet another invasion. His ship crashed in the Savage Land and he was worshipped as a god by the natives. When the Impossible Man and his Impossible Family came back to Earth to search for one of their missing children, they encountered Samuel who had since grown to find the life of a god boring and agreed to become part of the Impossible Family and took on the form of one of their children. He eventually returned with them to the planet Poppup when they found their wayward child.[210]
Meanwhile Lyja the Lazerfist, the Skrull spy who had posing as Alicia Masters for months, was uncovered thanks to the machinations of the Mad Thinker, who deduced this situation and orchestrated a situation where Reed needed to do brain scans of those living in their headquarters, Four Freedoms Plaza.[211] When Lyja was revealed as a Skrull she revealed how she infiltrated the group, but also admitted that she fell in love with the Human Torch in the process and was pregnant with his baby. The group then went out into space with Lyja to rescue the real Alicia from the Skrull Empire. They clashed with Paibok the Power Skrull, who had used Skrull science to gain super-human abilities. Ultimately, the Fantastic Four managed to rescue the real Alicia. During the conflict, Lyja seemingly sacrificed her life to save Johnny from danger and the Four left her body behind as the Skrull outpost exploded.[155] However, Paibok managed to escape in a life support vessel with the injured Lyja kept in stasis until he could get help.[212]
Operation: Galactic Storm[]
Also around this time the Skrulls' enemies, the Kree and the Shi'ar, were involved in a galactic conflict that was later dubbed Operation: Galactic Storm, a conflict that also drew in the Avengers as the war also threatened Earth.[213] Seeing this as an opportunity, the Skrulls began covert operations to escalate the conflict between the two sides. On the Shi'ar side, a Skrull posed as Empress Lilandra's advisor Araki to encourage her to increase hostilities.[214] Another group of Skrulls then attacked a Shi'ar world in a Kree ship, incurring the wrath of Gladiator who fought the Avengers, thinking them to be allied with the Kree. The Skrull pilots committed suicide before the Shi'ar could find out, but Avengers Captain Marvel and the Living Lightning discovered the truth before their ship was detonated.[215] The conflict escalated to the point where Lilandra sent a Nega-Bomb ship toward the Kree galaxy, unaware that a Skrull flagship was heading to intercept it.[216] When the Kree Starforce teleported to the Shi'ar throneworld and attacked the Imperial Guard and the Avengers, the Skrull posing as Araki attempted to assassinate Lilandra, but could not get the chance to do so; however, the attack did prompt Lilandra to order the arming of the Nega-Bomb.[217]
The Skrull posing as Araki then inflamed tensions between the Avengers and the Imperial Guard, manipulating Lilanra into continuing hostilities toward the Kree; however, a blast from the Living Lighting knocked "Araki" out, causing him to revert back to his Skrull form. Realizing that she had been manipulated into war by the Skrulls, Lilandra ordered a halt to the Nega-Bomb's transport between warp-gates, but by then it was already too late: the Skrulls had captured the Nega-Bomb with the Vision and Wonder Man trapped on board.[214] Passing through the Shi'ar warp-gate, the Skrulls with the Nega-Bomb were impeded by Quasar, Her, and Binary, but they were forced to allow the Skrulls' advance when it was learned that the Nega-Bomb's proximity to Earth's Sun was threatening to destroy it.[218] The Skrulls were opposed by Wonder Man and the Vision and while they succeeded in setting off the bomb, they were only able to do so in the outer fringes of the Kree galaxy. Although they failed in wiping out all the Kree, they slaughtered billions, sending their age-old enemies into utter chaos.[219]}
Renewed Aggressions[]
Eventually, Paibok the Power Skrull's ship was rescued by Devos the Destroyer, a being who sought galactic peace by destroying violent beings, even wiping out entire races. Paibok managed to convince Devos from trying to slay the Skrull Empire by focusing on their mutual hatred of the Fantastic Four.[212] Soon Paibok and Devos became close allies, working to empower Lyja with the ability to shoot lasers from her fists while on their way to Earth.[220] They soon arrived on Earth just as Lyja was restored to full health.[221]
Elsewhere in the universe, another group of Skrulls were en route to wipe out the planet Dandesh IV in the Coal Sack Nebula where the Xartans, a.k.a. the Carbon-Copy Men, who had similar shapeshifting powers due to the fact that the Skrulls found them inferior to themselves. The Xartans, however, tried to disguise themselves as the nearly extinct D'bari race to try and confuse their would-be attackers.[23] Along their way to Dandesh they encountered the She-Hulk and her allies Weezie and the U.S. Archer on their quest to that same region to save their friends Razorback and Taryn O'Connell from the "D'bari". The Skrull commander agreed to help them due to the She-Hulk's slight resemblance to a Skrull.[222] Ultimately the She-Hulk and her comrades rescued their friends and escaped while a D'bari petrification ray went off, turning all of the Xartans and the Skrulls into stone.[23]
Meanwhile back on Earth, the Skrulls continued their plans for infiltration. They began tracking the West Coast Avenger known as the Mockingbird,[223] and during the West Coast Avengers' battle with Ultron the Mockingbird was replaced with a Skrull impostor, who then infiltrated the group.[224][225][226][227] The Mockingbird woke up on a Skrull world and found herself in a Skrull simulation of her life at the West Coast Avengers compound, but she soon saw through the ruse, broke free and escaped. She was pursued by a Skrull posing as her husband, Hawkeye, for years while she used her skills as a spy to survive,[228] while on the East Coast of Earth, having convinced Lyja the Lazerfist that the Human Torch had abandoned her and left her to die, the trio attacked Johnny at Empire State University. The shock of seeing his wife alive and well and a relentless assault forced Johnny to unleash a nova blast that forced his enemies to flee, but lit Empire State University on fire.[229] Wanted by the police, the Human Torch surrendered to the authorities, but Lyja and Paibok the Power Skrull attacked the Torch at the courthouse, using their shapeshifting powers to make it look like the Torch had gone berserk and forcing Johnny to flee from the law.[230] Johnny became a hunted fugitive and when he and the Fantastic Four clashed with the Secret Defenders, Lyja could not bring herself to hate her former husband any more and abandoned Paibok and Devos to help him.[231][232] Undaunted, Paibok and Devos next targeted Johnny during his court trial over the fire at Empire State University; during the battle they joined forces with Klaw and Huntara, who also sought to battle the Fantastic Four;[233] however, the villains were thwarted by the Four with the help of their allies Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Sandman and Silver Sable.[234]
Also during this period, the Skrull who had posed as the Contemplator resurfaced. Continuing his charade he joined fellow Elders the Possessor, the Obliterator, the Judicator, the Explorer, and the Caregiver to investigate the strange embryonic space creature known as Origin. Their examination was interrupted by Quasar and his ally Thunderstrike, who had come to recover Quasar's missing Quantum Bands. The "Contemplator" grabbed one of the bands before Quasar could put it on, but Quasar managed to recover it by overloading the band, blowing off the "Contemplator's" hand. Sharing his knowledge that the "Contemplator" was an impostor, the Judicator used his powers to revert the impostor back to his Skrull form. Furious at this deception, the Elders grabbed the Skrull and teleported away so that the impostor could face judgement;[235] his subsequent fate is unknown. The Skrull Empire was soon adversely effected by the so-called Infinity Crusade when Adam Warlock's aspect of goodness, the Goddess, was attempting to create universal peace. By this time the Skrull Empire was locked in a battle with the Shi'ar, but the Goddess's influence caused both sides to cease fighting and depart.[236] Seeing what had happened to his people and learning of the Goddess's involvement the Super-Skrull, seemingly unaffected, flew into space to hunt her down. Sensing the Super-Skrull's approach, the Goddess's assistant, Moondragon, dispatched Thor to battle the Super-Skrull, who was easily defeated;[237] however, the Skrulls eventually returned to their hostile ways after the defeat of the Goddess at the hands of Adam Warlock, Thanos and Professor X.[238] Shortly after this, the Silver Surfer encountered a Skrull bounty hunter named Raze who was seeking revenge against his brother Vranz.[239]
Back on Earth, Paibok the Power Skrull and his minions had regrouped[240] and attacked the Fantastic Four during a period in which they believed their leader, Reed Richards, was dead. Paibok and Devos captured the Invisible Woman, the Thing, the Human Torch and Lyja the Lazerfist and brought them back to the Skrull homeworld, where they were taken prisoner; however, matters were complicated when Devos decided that was the time to lay waste to the Skrull Empire and ordered his ship to destroy the Skrull throneworld. During the chaos, the surviving members of the Four broke free and recovered a vial of Lacaroo, a medicine to help with Lyja's now-complicated pregnancy and fled the Skrull homeworld. Meanwhile, branded a traitor by Sy'Bll, Paibok attempted to make amends by seemingly sacrificing his life to stop Devos' ship by hurtling it into sub-space.[241] Around this time, while on a mission with the West Coast Avengers, the Skrull who was posing as the Mockingbird was killed battling Mephisto, Satannish and the Lethal Legion.[242] While in space, a Skrull known as Muraitak was a member of the Centurion Nova Corps. He was once ordered to bring Nova back to the planet Xandar to battle the Luphomoid known as Kraa.[243] After Nova helped defeat Kraa, Muraitak allowed Nova to go free.[244] Elsewhere on Earth, thanks to the impulsiveness of the Impossible Man, invitations for the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler in Las Vegas were issued to many of the Hulk and Rick's enemies, including a delegation of the Kree and the Skrulls. Despite some initial tension between the two delegations, Jones managed to convince them to sit on either side of the wedding. Incidentally, for once there was not a conflict between the two.[245] Among the Skrull party was Talos the Untamed, who drunkenly attempted to commit suicide to the cheers and adorations of his fellow Skrulls. The Hulk clashed with him, but realizing that Talos needed to restore his honor the Hulk threw the fight, making Talos a hero among his people again and restoring his will to live.[184]
The Super-Skrull once again tried to attack the Silver Surfer not longer after this against the orders of Empress S'Byll and was soundly defeated once more.[246] S'Byll has not been seen ruling the Skrulls since; her subsequent fate is unknown.
Infiltration of Earth[]
Following the fall of the Kree Empire, a group of Kree terrorists calling themselves Starstealth began raising havoc across the universe, including Earth. A group of Starstealth terrorists were apprehended by the new group called Force Works and imprisoned in the Vault.[247] Part of the Skrull military became part of a war crimes tribunal against Starstrealth. Under the command of Major Hokk Algol, they brokered an extradition tour with the Avengers; however, their arrival coincided with members of Starstealth breaking out of prison with the assistance of Recorder RE-404.[248] The combined might of the Avengers, Force Works and the Skrull soldiers saw the escapees recaptured and extradited into space.[249] Other Skrulls active in the universe included Kerth, a slave of the Broker,[250] and Morfex of the Cosmic Commandos.[251]
Around this time the Skrulls who had been turned into cows were sent off to slaughter by the United States government and the resulting ground beef ended up in the food supply. Those who consumed the Skrull-tainted beef became infected with a virus that was slowly killing them but endowed them with shapeshifting powers that were even more advanced than the Skrulls'. Those infected were also capable of seeing Skrulls in their true forms, no matter what shape they took. One person who consumed the tainted ground beef was apparently a man known only as Ryder. His past is mostly a memory, but Ryder has an unabashed hatred of Skrulls. Upon learning that others were infected by the tainted ground beef, he began going across the country killing Skrulls that he crossed paths with and recruiting Skrull-ground beef infected individuals into his group named the Skrull Kill Krew. Recruits included the English white supremacist known as Moonstomp, California surfer Dice,[252] New York punk rocker Riot,[134] and supermodel Catwalk.[253] The group discovered that Skrulls had infiltrated many places in society, and slew a Skrull who posted as Dice's girlfriend,[252] as well as Skrulls hiding within a New York night club and among the New York Police Department.[134] Later, the group got involved in freeing hostages from a plane hijacked by Hydra that contained the Slovenian president Wassily Kurov. Ryder discovered Kurov was a Skrull but before he could slay him, he was stopped by Captain America.[253] After slaying Skrulls posing as the Fantastic Four[254] the Skrull Kill Krew discovered that the town of Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin had been completely taken over by Skrull spies and wiped out the entire population of the town.[255] Floyd Donahue resurfaced shortly after this offering to hire the Silver Surfer, but was denied when the Surfer decided to travel back to Earth instead.[256] A short time later in deep space, a group of Skrulls attempted to obtain a millennia-old comet that was returning from the outer reaches of the universe, which was reported to have technology of monumental power. The Skrull fleet was wiped out by the bounty hunter named the White Raven who was seeking the comet for her employer, Thanos; however, her plans to obtain the comet were thwarted by the Silver Surfer.[257] At some point Paibok the Power Skrull resurfaced and allied himself with a number of Symbiotes, battling both the Human Torch and Spider-Man.[258]
On Earth a number of heroes, including the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, were seemingly slain by the psychic entity known as Onslaught.[259] Following the seeming death of her husband, Lyja the Lazerfist assumed a human identity and tried to forget about her past life;[260] however, the heroes had both survived and endured in a pocket universe on a world later named Counter-Earth.[261]
Eventually, the heroes were returned to their proper world and resumed their activities.[262] It was around this time that a Skrull named Sn'Tlo took control of a faction of Hydra, calling himself the Sensational Hydra. He then set about targeting Captain America by boosting his public image. To this end he orchestrated a number of victories for Captain America, such as a failed Hydra raid on the Smithsonian Institute,[263] and a battle with his old foe Batroc the Leaper;[264] then, when holding hostages at the top of the Empire State Building, Sn'Tlo and his minions captured Captain America at the height of his popularity and Sn'Tlo subdued him in Skrullian bonds and then began posing as Captain America himself.[265] Sn'Tlo not only fooled the public, but also the Avengers with his ruse. Meanwhile, the real Captain America broke free from his bonds, but was too late to stop his Skrull impostor from announcing to the country that one out of every 20 Americans is secretly a Skrull, causing massive riots as the American people gave into xenophobia.[266] Ultimately, Captain America exposed the Skrull impostor and the civil unrest was soon ended.[267]
Not long after this, a Skrull agent named Mrok was heading toward Earth on an undisclosed mission when he crossed paths with Mithras, a cosmic being that brought peace to all living things that it passed at the expense of free will and was reduced to a mindless state.[268] Ultimately, Mithras was defeated by the Earth mercenary known as Deadpool and all those affected by Mithras were restored to normal.[269] Another Skrull agent disguised himself as Chicago's Officer Dragon in order to free Skrulls that were incarcerated on Earth; however, this Skrull was exposed and apprehended by the New Warriors.[270]
One group of Skrulls soon came under the command of the Intelligencia, a cybernetic collective mind that was the Skrulls' answer to the Kree's ruler, the Supreme Intelligence. Among the Skrulls under her command was the Super-Skrull. The Intelligencia soon detected a threat from the human known as Kelly Kooliq, who had become a walking Nexus of All Reality and could alter it to her whims. Under orders to kill Kooliq, the Super-Skrull found himself unable to do so, finding the task to be dishonorable and leading to a clash with Captain Mar-vell, Moondragon and the Silver Surfer.[271] After a battle between these heroes, the Super-Skrull managed to abscond with Kelly and return her to Skrell, the Skrull outpost where the Intelligencia was located.[272] The three heroes tracked Kelly there and yet another battle broke out. Ultimately, the Intelligencia decreed that so long as Kooliq continued to exist, the universe would be at risk. Captain Mar-Vell's alter ego, Rick Jones, then convinced Kooliq to end the threat by travelling to a reality where she had never obtained her powers.[273] The Skrulls have not since been seen under the command of the Intelligencia since; the subsequent fate of this construct is unknown and unrecorded.
The Twelve[]
Sometime later, a group of Skrulls under the command of Granok came across the massive petrified form of the Living Monolith in space. Freeing the Monolith from his petrification, the powerful mutate brought them to his leader, Apocalypse who was, at that time, preparing to gather the Twelve, a group of mutants that were fabled to shape the face of mutantkind. The Skrulls went along with his plan over their mutual ideals on genetic purity and used this to further their studies on Skrull Mutants.[274] It was about this time that the X-Men's years-long trip from the destruction of the Skrull homeworld brought them back to Earth at their appropriate time. Their ship was jolted by an electromagnetic burst that knocked the entire crew out.[140] They then replaced the X-Man Wolverine with a Skrull impostor who was virtually indistinguishable from the genuine article. The real Wolverine was then converted into Apocalypse's horseman Death.[275] For a time, this Wolverine impostor worked alongside the X-Men;[276] however, suspecting a traitor in their ranks, Professor X disbanded the X-Men in a elaborate plan to ferret out the impostor.[277] At the same time, two Skrulls posing as the deceased Mastermind and the presumed-dead Mesmero began trying to obtain the diaries of the late precognitive mutant Destiny, which contained information about the gathering of the Twelve; they also spied on magnetic mutant Polaris to try and steal the jewel that adorned the original costume of her then-presumed deceased boyfriend, Havok. The two impostors failed to obtain the diaries, which were recovered by a team of X-Men who remained together.[278] Meanwhile, the Wolverine impostor that was on a mission with another group of X-Men was ironically slain by Death, leaving the X-Men shattered by the belief that their long-time comrade was killed.[279] Knowing that at least a single impostor was exposed, Professor X called back his X-Men and, with Phoenix, administered a psychic test to determine that none of the other members of the team had been replaced; they then revealed that the Wolverine who fought and died beside them was really a Skrull impostor. During this revelation another Skrull attempted to replace the Archangel, but that attempt was also thwarted.[280]
In Egypt, Garnok and his minions continued to experiment to make an even more perfect Wolverine impostor to little effect while Fiz, one of the Mutant Skrulls, attempted to get his fellow outcasts to rebel against their masters, inspired by the legends of how Professor X had once tried to save their homeworld. The Skrulls then attempted to kidnap Polaris and recover the gem to Havok's costume. They succeeded in capturing the gem, but thanks to a trick involving an image inducer, they really brought the X-Men's field leader Cyclops into their headquarters, luring the rest of the X-Men to their location. During the course of the battle, Death appeared and slew Garnok and the X-Men learned his true identity before the Skrulls escaped.[144] The Mutant Skrull Fiz managed to break out of his cell during the attack and followed the X-Men back to their base. There he appealed to them to help free his fellow mutants, offering to bring them right to Apocalypse's base.[274] When a squad of X-Men, including the uncaptured members of the Twelve, arrived outside Apocalypse's base the Skrulls, Apocalypse's minions and his Four Horsemen defended the base. Skrulls then posing as Pestilence, Famine, Astra, Joseph, Havok, Colossus, and Cannonball managed to capture Storm, Magneto, Bishop, Polaris, Cyclops, Phoenix, and Professor X, the last members of the Twelve that required capturing.[281] The Skrulls kept the remaining X-Men at bay long enough for Apocalypse to drain the required energies to transfer his essence into a new body. While he intended to take the body of the X-Man, Cyclops jumped in the way and Apocalypse took over his body instead[282]
With his newfound power, Apocalypse tried to replace the Earth-616 reality with those of Earth-23378,[283] Earth-TRN1076,[284] Earth-2841,[285] Earth-32000[286] and Earth-32098. Many of these realities also included the Skrulls and Apocalypse until ultimately the X-Men succeeded and restored reality back to normal; however, Apocalypse and presumably his Skrull allies escaped.[287] With the Skrull Mutants needing guidance and mentorship, Professor X agreed to return to space with them in order to train them to be freedom fighters for their own people; this group of Mutant Skrull champions became known as Cadre K, named after the Skrull classification for their breeding class.[288]
Maximum Security[]
The Skrull Empire soon became involved in the manipulations of the Supreme Intelligence once again. After obtaining the Forever Crystal,[289] he used it to hyper-evolve a number of the Kree into an evolved state.[290][291] Calling themselves the Ruul, these evolved Kree then posed as a new race offering advanced technology to other alien races to gain their trust, including the Skrulls. About this time Cadre K had become notorious among the Skrulls for liberating other Mutant Skrulls and fighting against the Empire. This prompted Ambassador Kreddick, the Skrull representative of the Intergalactic Council, to demand that something be done about human interference in the affairs of the universe. After an attack by Ego the Living Planet was thwarted by Cadre K and the Silver Surfer, manipulations by the Ruul and insistence from the Skrull ambassador convinced the Intergalactic Council to turn Earth into a prison planet, dumping intergalactic criminals there as well as preventing the people from Earth from leaving and influencing the universe.[292]
This put the heroes of Earth on the defensive while their planet was invaded by armies of alien criminals.[293] Cadre K, led by Professor X, soon rescued Bishop from the clutches of Deathbird and sent him on to Earth to recover their missing member Z'cann.[294] On Earth, Z'Cann attempted to locate the X-Men and was injured by the Blood Brothers. In an attempt to tell the group what was going on she made physical contact with Rogue, allowing her to absorb her memories and powers, thus altering Rogue's powers.[295] Meanwhile, Professor X and Cadre K decided that it was time for more overt operations[296] and attacked the Intergalactic Council directly, but were captured as a result.[297] Ultimately, Cadre K were instrumental in exposing the Supreme Intelligence's plot and Earth's heroes eventually triumphed, forcing the Intergalactic Council to lift their restrictions on Earth. In the aftermath, Professor X had decided that Cadre K had proven themselves and no longer needed his guidance, then sent them out to fight for their people.[291]
Laying Low[]
What followed was a period of what appeared to be a low ebb in Skrull activity for a time as the Skrulls appeared to be involved in less grandiose schemes or plans of conquest. A group of Skrulls were assigned to assassinate the Super-Skrull, who was hiding out on Earth; however, this plan was thwarted by the Human Torch.[298] A pair of Skrulls piloted Thanos to investigate a strange black hole that appeared and disappeared, and were slain as part of a complex plot by the Thanosi to slay their creator, a plan that failed.[299]
Paibok the Power Skrull returned again, seeking to boost his powers using Centauri technology; however, the process left him disfigured in his normal Skrull form. He then gathered a band of Skrull outcasts to obtain Talmadge, a young Watcher that was being held by the Kree in Clarkston, Michigan.[300] To this end, Paibok and his minions disguised themselves as members of a freak show that operated in the town; however, their plans were complicated thanks to the involvement of the Thing, who had happened to come to the town.[301] After a pitched battle, the Skrulls were defeated and Paibok was taken prisoner by the Kree.[302] Also during this time frame, a group of Skrulls lived peacefully alongside a group of Kree who were living in secret in Raven's Perch, New Jersey, home of the super-hero group known as the B-Sides.[303]
Around this time the Grandmaster entered into a competition with Krona, a cosmic being from a distant cosmos to pit their realities' greatest champions against one another. In order to trick both the Avengers and the Justice League of America into learning of each others' worlds, both the Grandmaster and Krona made it appear that both realities were being invaded by beings from the opposing universe. In one particular instance, a Skrull invasion fleet was teleported to the planet Thanagar in that other world, where they clashed with the Thanagarian Hawkmen.[304] Ultimately, these Skrulls were returned to their native reality before the contest and the resulting crisis that threatened both realities was thwarted by the Avengers and the JLA.[305]
While not involving the Skrulls directly, a number of events occurred on Earth that would lay the path to a planned invasion of Earth: the dissolution of the Avengers after a devastating battle against the Scarlet Witch, who had temporarily gone insane,[306] and the apparent death of the Asgardian thunder god Thor and the destruction of Asgard.[307]
Not long after this, another Skrull who was sent to Earth to infiltrate the super-hero community was Z'Reg, who was sent to infiltrate the Avengers' ranks;[308][309] however, he arrived shortly after the Avengers had recently disbanded.[306] Z'Reg soon came to love Earth and abandoned his mission, taking on a human guise and living as the unassuming next door neighbor of Curtis Doyle.[65] Also following the dissolution of the Avengers, the time traveller known as Iron Lad came to the past to recruit a new team called the Young Avengers; among the team included Teddy Altman — who, unknown even to himself at that time, was really Dorrek VIII, the long-lost heir to the Skrull throne.[310] Teddy served with the Young Avengers for a time as the Hulkling, unaware of his true heritage.[311]
Another event playing into the events that followed was the revelations that Nick Fury had engaged in an illegal act of war against the nation of Latveria using many of America's greatest heroes. This violation of international law forced Nick Fury to go underground to avoid capture.[312]
Pre-Invasion Phase 1[]
By this time the Skrulls soon sought out Veranke, having come to believe in the prophecy that the Skrull Empire was to inherit Earth. Varanke was then returned to Satraini and named the Queen of the Skrull Empire. She was brought before Skrull scientist Dro'ge, who had perfected the technology to engineer Skrulls to not only duplicate appearances, but to duplicate them down to a cellular level. In addition to this, Skrulls were given the power to duplicate the super-human abilities of those that they were replicating. Through specially mental conditioning they would be programmed with the memories of their target and not only have their memories, but actually believe that they were that person. The process was so thorough that those under deep cover would be undetectable through technological, telepathic or mystic means. He had initially sent a Skrull named Siri to pose as the assassin Elektra.[97] With the real Elektra in their captivity, they experimented on her to try and learn the secret of her many resurrections, but to no avail.[313] She was soon brought back to Satraini and brought before Veranke.[314] Impressed by this, Veranke asked to be one of the first deep cover agents and chose to replace the Earth heroine known as Spider-Woman.[97] Before leaving for Earth, Veranke paid a visit to Tarnax VII and ordered her loyal follower Chrell to eliminate Dorrek VIII when they launched their invasion so as not to have him oppose her invasion plans.[315] At this point, the Skrulls had once more infiltrated the terrorist organization known as Hydra. Using one of their agents, they offered Spider-Woman the chance of having her powers restored in exchange for being a double agent for Hydra.[316] She agreed to the offer under the direction of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury so they could expose and shut down a Hydra cell;[317] however, instead she was replaced with Veranke, who promptly took Spider-Woman's place.[318] It was also around this time that the Skrulls managed to track down Lyja the Lazerfist, who had been living in her human guise for years. They convinced her to join their cause to get revenge against the Human Torch for abandoning her after he returned after his "death" at the hands of Onslaught, and used Skrull science to restore her laser-fist powers.[260]
Veranke then began meeting with other Skrull infiltrators that were slowly infiltrating both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. They then began planning three major plans: the first was to eliminate the rare metal known as Vibranium as the weapons made from it would be unbeatable. Veranke ordered a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrators to mine the supply found in the Savage Land region of Antarctica and make it appear that it was being carried out by Nick Fury loyalists. Another concern was the growing mutant population, prompting the Skrulls to prompt a campaign to fan the fear of anti-mutant bigotry in the hopes that it would decimate the mutant population. Lastly, they also began focusing their attention to more powerful humans such as the Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom, Hercules and members of the Illuminati; however, Veranke issued orders that Reed Richards and Tony Stark would not be killed until after their invasion was complete and then they could be put on trial and executed on the Skrull homeworld.[318] Shortly after, Veranke had many other Skrulls go through the process to pose as various super-heroes and super-villains from Earth, with false memories leaving them to believe that they were kidnapped by Skrulls at various points during Earth's most recent history and were placed aboard a prisoner ship, where it was planned that they would escape once the planned invasion was ready to begin.[319] Shortly after this, the Skrulls located Nick Fury hiding out in Mexico. They sent a Skrull posing as Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; however, Fury soon uncovered that she was a Skrull and slew her. Fury then became aware of the Skrull invasion and went deeper underground in order to prepare to stop it.[320] The Skrulls next went after the assassin Elektra, capturing her and having her replaced by a Skrull named Pagon. Posing as Elektra, Pagon then slew the leader of the assassins known as the Hand, taking leadership of them and securing yet another power for the Skrulls.[321]
Through her connections within S.H.I.E.L.D., Veranke continued to pose as Spider-Woman, eventually taking part in stopping an attempted break out at the Raft prison in New York where she assisted Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and Wolverine in stopping the escape of many of the super-powered inmates there.[322] This breakout was facilitated by the criminal known as Electro, who was secretly paid by the Skrull posing as Elektra to do so, so that the Skrulls could secure the use of the mutate Sauron to find the Vibranium hidden in the Savage Land.[321] When Iron Man and Captain America formed the New Avengers, "Spider-Woman" was selected as a member and from this position she would continue to manipulate Earth's mightiest heroes until it was time for the Skrull invasion of Earth.[323] Ironically enough, the New Avengers mission was to recapture the criminals who had escaped from the Raft, starting with Sauron.[324] About this time the Skrulls posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were discovered by the Savage Land's ruler Ka-Zar and his wife, Shanna the She-Devil, who uncovered who they really were. Overhearing that the Skrulls were busy infiltrating the United States government, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, when the New Avengers arrived they did not approach them, as they did not know whom they could trust.[325] The New Avengers eventually uncovered the illegal S.H.I.E.L.D. operation there;[318] however, the Skrulls used a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to destroy all evidence before the New Avengers could learn of the Skrulls' involvement, and removing the Antarctic Vibranium as a potential weapon against their invasion.[326][318] Meanwhile Veranke continued to fight alongside the Avengers, leaving them unaware of her Skrull nature.[327]
After years of being away Titannus resurfaced, having been brainwashed into being an agent for the Trellians. He had been left to believe that he was escaping an oppressive ruler with Princess Amissa as his unwilling paramour to Earth,[328] where he began monitoring Earth's heroes.[329] His presence was soon discovered and Titannus clashed with the Japanese mutant Sunfire[330] a battle that left Tokyo decimated.[331] This ultimately led to a clash between Titannus, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Nova, the Hulk, the She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel.[332] The heroes quickly freed Amissa, who revealed that she was not Titannus' lover, that he had kidnapped her and that her father was not a tyrant. Distraught and mentally unstable, Titannus blew his own head off, ending the battle; however, his enhanced healing factor caused his head to rapidly regenerate.[333]
Not long after this, the Super-Skrull learned of Dorrek VIII's true heritage and came after the boy, kidnapping him from his fellow Young Avengers after revealing to the Hulkling his Skrullian heritage, seeking him to take his place as ruler of the Skrull Empire;[334] however, the Super-Skrull was not only tracked down by the Young Avengers but also the Kree, who sought to take the boy to rule their empire as well.[95] This resulted in a battle between the Young Avengers, the New Avengers and the Kree and Skrull entourages coming to claim the Hulkling.[94] Ultimately, Teddy and the Super-Skrull came up with a ruse to stop the fighting: the Super-Skrull, posing as the Hulkling, agreed to leave Earth to spend half his time ruling the Kree and the other half the Skrulls and left with both alien envoys, allowing the Hulkling to stay on Earth and resume his activities with the Young Avengers.[335]
Z'Reg resurfaced eventually; after his neighbor had discovered a powerful ring fashioned out of shards of the Cosmic Cube, he became the costumed hero Freedom Ring, but was crippled in a battle.[65][309] Z'Reg revealed himself and decided to teach Curtis how to utilize the ring. Taking on the costumed identity of the Crusader, Z'Reg also helped to train Freedom Ring.[308] Eventually, the duo assisted the New Avengers in battling the Iron Maniac. Freedom Ring died stopping the Iron Maniac, and the Crusader took his ring and continued his costumed heroics.[336] Titannus escaped shortly after this and went on a rampage again. The Crusader joined a number of heroes in stopping him and he was eventually detained and taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.[337] By this time Ethan Edwards, now an adult working for the Daily Bugle newspaper in New York, began using his powers as a costumed hero called Virtue. He joined Spider-Man in fighting the Absorbing Man;[338] the two then learned of their alter egos and Spider-Man agreed to help Virtue train to be a better hero and began learning about his origins.[146] Virtue eventually brought the Fantastic Four back to his "hometown" of Hicksville, where they found the ship that brought him to Earth and learned of his Skrull heritage.[145] The ship then began encoding Virtue with his mission perimeters to take over Earth, leading to a clash with the Fantastic Four; the conflicting memories of his Skrull mission and his Earthly upbringing causing a massive and violent identity crisis.[339] The New Avengers managed to detain Virtue and Spider-Man convinced him that, despite his true heritage, he was still a good person. Virtue then decided to abandon costumed heroics and use his healing powers, which came from some unknown source outside of his father's genetic tampering, to heal the sick and the infirm.[340]
Pre-Invasion Phase 2[]
During this period, the Skrulls were locked in a conflict with the Majesdanians. An order of Super-Skrulls were then trained, which included a young Skrullian prince named Xavin.[341] He was trained under the command of a Skrull trainer named Chrell.[342] In order to try and broker peace, an arranged marriage was agreed upon by where Majesdanian parents Frank and Leslie Dean agreed that their daughter Karolina would marry the Skrull prince Xavin. Xavin eventually came seeking Karolina,[341] leading to a battle between Xavin and her teammates the Runaways. Ultimately, Karolina agreed to go into space to marry Xavin in order to broker peace between the two races;[24] however, this plan did not work and eventually Xavin and Karolina returned to Earth and reunited with the Runaways.[343][344] A prison ship carrying Paibok the Power Skrull and other alien criminals crashed in the town of Hoot's Bluff, Alaska.[345] There, the escapees clashed with Drax the Destroyer until they were apprehended again.[346]
Veranke soon got the opportunity to deal with the Scarlet Witch, whom the Avengers were grouping to deal with after her mental instability continued to cause her to warp reality. When the Avengers called in veteran members such as Yellowjacket, they were still unaware that both Spider-Woman and Yellowjacket were Skrull impostors. Veranke and Criti Noll plotted to eliminate the Scarlet Witch once and for all once they arrived in Genosha, where she was staying in convalescence;[318] however, they did not get the chance as the encounter led to a battle between the New Avengers and the X-Men against the Scarlet Witch's family: her father Magneto and her brother Quicksilver. Ultimately, the Scarlet Witch used her powers to replace Earth-616 with Earth-58163.[347] Because they were Skrull impostors, Veranke and Criti Noll were one of the few beings in this new reality that retained their memories of the old one and plotted to do away with it once and for all;[348] however, in the final battle the Scarlet Witch realized that mutants were the cause of constant conflict and restored reality back to normal; however, she removed the mutant gene from 99% of the mutant population.[349]
Also around this time, a number of Warskrulls were still active. One named Flaw fought alongside the Shi'ar Death Commandos, who were assigned to eliminate the entire Grey family genome.[350][351] The X-Men also clashed with Warskrulls who were trapped on a space station that had been crippled by the powerful mutant Vulcan.[352] Another Skrull was stopped from using nuclear arms on an Earth space station by Doc Samson.[353] This Skrull believed himself to be one of the Skrulls who Reed Richards had turned into a cow years earlier, but this claim has not been substantiated and contradicts previous reports that all of the Skrull cows were ground up into hamburger.
Annihilation[]
When it was learned that the positive matter universe was expanding and consuming the so-called Negative Zone, its ruler, Annihilus, launched a massive full scale assault on the positive matter universe that was commonly referred to as the Annihilation Wave. It burst through from the center of the universe referred to as the Crunch and began decimating everything in their path. They destroyed the Kyln prison located at the center of the universe near what is called "the Crunch"; among the many prisoners there was Paibok the Power Skrull. Xandar and the Nova Corps were decimated in the opening salvo of what would be called the Annihilation War.[11] Paibok and the other prisoners from the Klyn that were found useful were made slaves of the Annihilation Wave.[354]
On the 15th day of the Annihilation Wave, it reached the Skrulls' galaxy and began laying waste to it. This destruction was felt all the way on Earth by Veranke and her followers who had met to discuss the after-effects of the decimation of the mutant race. Feeling the genocide of billions of her people convinced Veranke that yet another prophecy from the Book of Worlds was coming true and that they should stay on their course.[348] Within 17 days the Annihilation Wave pushed through the Andromeda Galaxy, cutting a swath through the Skrull Empire. One of the first recorded decimations occurred at Tala Prime, leaving no Skrull survivors.[355] By day 19 the Wave cut through Tercera Prime and began to swarm the Eudorian Reach.[356] On day 20 they pressed into Tecera Minor in the Peripheral System the center of a battle between the Annihilation Wave, Galactus and his Heralds,[357] a battle that ended in the Badoon/Skrull Neutral Zone known as the Obad'an Rim.[358]
On day 41 of the Annihilation Wave, the forces of Annihilus reached the Skrullian world of Aks'lo. Despite the addition of the Super-Skrull to the Skrull armies there, they proved no match for the Annihilation Wave's most powerful weapon, the planet-destroying Harvester of Sorrow which destroyed the planet. Escaping alive and on day 46, Kl'rt attempted to warn Baroness S'Bak and demanded that she allow him to lead an attack on the Harvester of Sorrows. This was because it was headed to the Skrull world of Zaragz'na, the world where Kl'rt's son lived. The Baroness refused the Super-Skrull and insulted him, angering him enough to strike her. She ordered her minions to slay him, but the Super-Skrull managed to escape thanks to R'Kin, a young Skrull mechanic whose father had fought alongside the Super-Skrull years earlier. Seeking to find a weakness in the Harvester, Kl'rt and R'Kin travelled to Earth and convinced Reed Richards to allow them to travel into the Negative Zone through his portal there.[26] For the next seven days they travelled through the Zone, the Super-Skrull slaying all those that did not provide him with answers, disturbing R'Kin. On day 56 in the Nexus of Igoa they found UX-73, a Negative Zone prison, to find Hawal, the scientist who invented the Harvester of Sorrows. He captured Hawal and gathered an army of prisoners as his army, including the mechanoid known as Praxagora and Preak.[359] When the Super-Skrull led his warriors back into the positive matter universe to stop the Harvester of Sorrows from destroying Zaragz'na, they were suddenly betrayed by R'Kin, who had been twisted by the Super-Skrull's brutal ways that he decided to side with the Annihilation Wave and helped them take the Super-Skrull and his allies prisoner and Zaragz'na was destroyed.[360] Kl'rt broke free and in the ensuing battle, the Harvester was destroyed and Kl'rt was seemingly slain in the explosion.[361] By day 79, the Skrull Empire was no more after 64 days of non-stop invasion.[362]
Another Skrull active during the Annihilation War was Talos the Untamed, who now lived in the fringe Kree world of Godthab Omega. On the 95th day of the Annihilation War he clashed with Devos, who had tracked down Talos in order to slay him.[363] The pair were captured by Glorian, the former disciple of the Shaper of Worlds who sought to remake Godthab Omega into a paradise.[364] The planet was soon devastated by the Annihilation Wave on the 99th day of the Wave and in the aftermath Ronan the Accuser ordered both Talos and Devos to work together to help the survivors get off of the planet.[365] Devos was later seen fighting alongside the United Front, warriors from various empires in the galaxy under the command of Nova, who were working together to stop Annihilus and his forces. He was involved in the fighting on Daedalus 5 in the Kree galaxy.[362]
On day 212 of the Annihilation War, Praxagora joined the United Front, bringing with her the seemingly-deceased body of the Super-Skrull when they were suddenly attacked by Ravenous and his army of Centurions, an elite cadre of super-powered warriors under Annihilus' command.[354] The Super-Skrull was revived by the United Front's healing machines and assisted in the evacuation of Daedalus 5 as it fell under the Annihilation Wave.[366] When Ronan the Accuser decided to wrest control of the Kree Empire from the House of Fiyero, the Super-Skrull and Praxagora convinced him to allow them to accompany him.[367] On the Kree world of Hala, the Super-Skrull assisted Ronan in exposing the House of Fiyero as working with the Annihilation Wave and helped him retake his homeworld.[368] Following the eventual slaying of Annihilus and the defeat of his Annihilation Wave, officials believed that the Skrull Empire was destroyed and showed no sign of recovering.[369] The Super-Skrull continued to work alongside Ronan for a time.[370][371] Freed from slavery under the Annihilation Wave, Paibok the Power Skrull briefly accompanied his fellow slaves the Delinquent and Terrax the Tamer to New Xeron.[372]
Pre-Invasion Phase 3[]
While the Annihilation Wave was ongoing, on Earth, Veranke and her followers continued their mission to invade Earth, putting their final plans into motion. Meanwhile on Earth, with Skrull forces slowly infiltrating all levels of American government and various terrorist organizations, Veranke and her faithful followers slowly sowed the seeds of dissent among the ranks of Earth's super-heroes.
They then began eliminating the last beings that would stand in their way. The Skrull posing as Jarvis used his position to access files on the mental health of the Sentry, whose sanity was questionable at the time. The Skrulls then began manipulating his therapy sessions so they could use his mental illness against him when he began to get into the way of their plans.[123] The Skrulls were either directly or indirectly involved in the exile of the Hulk from Earth[373] as well as various other super-human related disasters. The Superhuman Registration Act was passed in the United States, forcing superhumans and costumed crimefighters to register with the government and reveal their identities. This split the super-hero community in half and the two opposing sides battled in a conflict that was referred to as the Civil War.[374] In the middle of the war, a Skrull posing as the deceased Captain Mar-Vell[375] appeared in the middle of the conflict. Leading the heroes to believe he was plucked out of the past and was still dying of cancer, "Mar-Vell" agreed to remain in the present and help run security Prison 42, a prison constructed in the Negative Zone to hold those who refused to register with the government.[376] The conflict ended with the surrender of Captain America, the leader of the anti-registration resisters.[377] Captain America was later seemingly assassinated while in custody by one of his foes.[378] On the night that Captain America was murdered, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives Dum Dum Dugan and Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine were replaced by the Skrull that was posing as the Countess.[379] Criti Noll, however, soon became affected by the Henry Pym implant in his mind and tried to warn an Oregon restaurant owner of the coming invasion. This was stopped by the Dugan impersonator, who slew Citri and had his forces eliminate all eyewitnesses of the battle. Citri was then replaced with a clone that had none of Pym's capacity for human compassion.[380]
While in Great Britain at that time, John the Skrull resurfaced once again, having been working for years under the British government's newest paranormal investigation agency MI13 and working with the mutant Pete Wisdom in defending the British Isles from various threats.[381][382] Not long after this, John reunited the Skrull Beatles to assist in stopping the Martian Masters of Earth-691 from invading Earth-616 through a portal that had been opened in London.[383]
Following the end of the Civil War, Iron Man was appointed the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he, "Yellowjacket" and Reed Richards began the 50-State Initiative,[384] a government program that trained super-humans to use their powers properly and place them in government sanctioned super-hero groups in every state in America. Meanwhile, Iron Man also formed the so-called Mighty Avengers, a government sanctioned version of the group.[385] Veranke initially remained an unregistered super-hero in her guise of Spider-Woman fighting alongside the outlaw New Avengers. Meanwhile the new Criti Noll used her position as "Yellowjacket" to place Skrull agents within the Initiative, while Iron Man's use of StarkTech in all measures of S.H.I.E.L.D. defences gave the Skrull infiltrators access to the entire defence of the United States.[384][386]
Another Skrull active on Earth, but not involved in the planned invasion, was Jazinda Kl'rt Spawn, the daughter of the Super-Skrull who, unspecified years earlier, attempted to steal the Sy-Torak Gem from the Kree Empire for the Skrulls. During a skirmish she attempted to swallow the gem which endowed her with incredible regenerative powers, but it was permanently bonded to her body. Refusing to sacrifice her life to have the gem extracted, Jazinda fled the Empire and her father vowed to track her down and kill her.[387] Fleeing to Earth, Jazinda became a bounty hunter in America,[388] eventually working alongside the She-Hulk.[389]
Also around this time, the Skrulls on Kral IV had finally rebuilt their society. Under the leadership of a Skrull calling himself Lou "Biggie" Smalls, things mostly went back to the gangster-themed status quo; however, some of the Skrulls were repentant of their former slaving ways and, inspired by television transmissions of the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, adopted the forms of African Americans. Their leaders took on the guises of Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X and attempted to change the way of their people through peaceful demonstration. Biggie Small and his minions fought against this and the African American Skrulls were put on the defensive in the area of Kral IV fashioned to resemble New York City's Harlem district. Finding that passive resistance was not working, Malcolm X then formed the Black Panther Party militia to fight against the Skrull Slave-Masters.[390] More recently, the Fantastic Four (now including the Black Panther and Storm among the roster) were transported to Kral IV by King Solomon's Frogs, where they were instantly attacked by Biggie Small's minions.[391] The Skrull Slave-Masters managed to capture the Thing, the Human Torch and the Black Panther while Storm managed to escape into "Harlem" and join up with the Black Panther Party. The three captives were then forced to fight in the arenas against alien creatures and each other.[392] Although the Black Panther Party resistance was almost betrayed by the double-crossing "Bumpy" Johnson, Storm managed to free her comrades and Biggie's regime was demolished, allowing Martin and his followers to rebuild a more peaceful society. The Fantastic Four were later teleported back home by King Solomon's Frogs.[390]
Following the Inhumans' so-called Silent War with Earth over stolen Terrigen Crystals,[393] the Inhuman leader Black Bolt was captured and replaced with a Skrull impostor.[394] Soon the Hulk returned from his exile after a harrowing experience on the planet Skaar, where he became their warrior king only for the warp core of the ship that brought him there to destroy the planet.[395] Seeking to get revenge against the Illuminati, the Hulk and his Warbound first landed on the Moon where he brutally beat "Black Bolt" before turning his rage toward Earth.[396] Black Bolt's queen, Medusa, nursed the impostor back to health, further entrenching his infiltration into Inhuman society.[394] The Hulk, meanwhile, was soon taken down by Earth's heroes, although at the cost of Doctor Strange's hands being crippled — thus limiting his magical powers.[397] In the aftermath of the battle, Skrulls had Amadeus Cho's pet coyote Kurby replaced with a Skrull as well.[32] This conflict also removed two more players that would work against the Skrulls' planned invasion. Skrulls also attempted to infiltrate the Hood's super-criminal gang by trying to replace Madame Masque; however, the Skrulls posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who attempted to cause this infiltration failed to do so and the Hood uncovered this secret plot, exposing a Skrull posing as the Slug. Exposing this infiltration helped cement loyalty from the Hood's minions.[398]
Secret Invasion: Infiltration[]
Later, the New Avengers clashed with the Hand in Japan. At that time, the organization was still under the command of Pagon while posting as Elektra. She clashed with the outlaw New Avengers.[399] Ultimately the battle ended when the New Avenger known as Echo slew Pagon, revealing her Skrull identity.[400] While taking the corpse of Pagon back to the United States, "Spider-Woman" suggested that they bring the corpse to Tony Stark. The rest of the team refused; however, an opportune plane crash allowed Spider-Woman to escape with the corpse.[401] Veranke then delivered the corpse of Pagon to Iron Man and his Mighty Avengers, with news of how her former comrades believed that there was an impending Skrull invasion, cementing her "loyalty" to the Mighty Avengers.[402] Iron Man brought the corpse of Pagon to his comrades in the Illuminati to puzzle over a completely undetectable Skrull in their midsts and the implications of a wider invasion. It was during this meeting that the Skrull posing as Black Bolt then attacked with another Super-Skrull warrior. The heroes just barely managed to to stop these Skrull attackers, slaying them both; however, the Illuminati disbanded, unable to trust themselves, let alone anyone else.[403] Iron Man turned over the corpse of the Skrull who posed as Black Bolt over to his wife Medusa, who was furious to learn of this.[404]
Also at this time, "Yellowjacket's" work in the Initiative saw the graduation of a number of recruits and the establishment of super-hero teams in various states in America, each group that was formed by "Yellowjacket" included at least one Skrull impostor. In Arizona the Desert Stars were infiltrated by the Blacksmith.[7] In Arkansas, the Battalion was infiltrated by a Skrull posing as Razorback.[405] Florida's Command was planted with a Devil Dinosaur impostor.[405] The Calvary of Georgia was infiltrated by a Skrull posing as Thor Girl.[406] Hawaii's Point Men had a Skrull posing as a novice hero named Magnitude.[386] A Frog-Man impostor was among the ranks of Kentucky's Action Pack'[407] in addition to a Skrull posing as Equinox the Thermodynamic Man in Montana's Freedom Force.[406] New Mexico's Mavericks team had a Skrull posing as the She-Thing.[7] An unidentified Skrull infiltrated Nevada's Heavy Hitters team,[408] while Pennsylvania's Liberteens were infiltrated by the Revolutionary.[409] Oddly, a Skrull chose to pose as Red Wolf's pet wolf Lobo among the Rangers of Texas.[405]; A Skrull posed as Skyhawk of Washington State's Earth Force,[405] and lastly the Grasshopper was a Skrull spy within Wisconsin's Great Lakes Initiative team.[405] Ironically, one Initiative recruit, the Crusader,[410] while a Skrull, was not part of the invasion plans and was completely unaware of them, but soon began to suspect that "Yellowjacket" was a Skrull agent, making him question his loyalties while also fearing being exposed himself.[386]
By this time the Skrull who was posing as Captain Mar-Vell had developed a religion based on his adopted crusade for peace. On a mission with Ms. Marvel, they uncovered Skrulls posing as Kree soldiers.[411] This so unnerved Mar-Vell that he questioned a Skrull who was captured while impersonating the deceased villain known as the Cobalt Man, who revealed to "Mar-Vell" of his involvement in the coming Skrull invasion of Earth.[412] After a brief personality crisis, "Captain Marvel" decided to accept his adopted Kree heritage and continue being the hero that he was modelled to follow after.[375] Also during this period, an attempt by Super-Skrulls to take down and replace Ms. Marvel also failed.[413] In addition to this, the Skrulls captured Beta Ray Bill to utilize his mystical hammer Stormbreaker as a weapon against the Asgardian Gods.[414]
Nogor soon arrived on Earth and, seeing the mutant Darwin as the missing link between mutants and Skrulls, posed as the mutant known as Longshot and attempted to lull Darwin into a sense of false security.[415] Nogor's presence on Earth was detected by Jazinda, who went after Nogor in Chicago with the She-Hulk, which led to a brief conflict with X-Factor Investigations who were searching for Darwin.[33] Eventually the heroes put aside their differences and were able to capture Nogor and, with the help of Darwin, knock him out. Jazinda and the She-Hulk then took Nogor as their prisoner in the hopes that they could use him as leverage to stop the coming invasion of Earth.[416]
Secret Invasion[]
Finally, Veranke and her followers in the Dard'van launched their jihad against Earth. While Iron Man presented the corpse of Pagon to Reed Richards and "Hank Pym", the Skrull who was posing as Dum Dum Dugan paid a visit to the S.W.O.R.D. space station just as a Skrull ship was on a crash course with the Savage Land. With the Mighty Avengers heading to the Savage Land, "Spider-Woman" tipped off the New Avengers as well to get both groups into a conflict there. "Dum Dum" and his minions then detonated the S.W.O.R.D. space station while "Jarvis" activated a virus that disabled all Starktech on the planet, crippling not only Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. and prisons like the Raft and the Cube, but also the majority of Earth's defences and even first response emergency rescue. The Skrull posing as Yellowjacket then revealed herself as well, taking Reed Richards prisoner.[417]
What followed was a simultaneous series of attacks in what is now referred to as the Secret Invasion of Earth. As all attacks happened simultaneously and for the sake of clarity, each attack has been detailed separately below based on the geographic locations.
The Savage Land[]
In the Savage Land, the New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers clashed until the Skrull virus began to infect Iron Man's armor, stopping the fight.[417] Then the crashed Skrull ship opened, revealing a number of Super-Skrulls in the forms of various heroes, mentally conditioned to believe that they were the real heroes and were captured at various points in the past.[319] Unable to tell Skrull impostors from the real heroes, a fight soon broke out between the Avengers and the "heroes" who emerged from the ship. During the battle, a Skrull posing as the Vision took advantage of the Skrulls' manipulations of the Sentry's therapy,[123] convincing the Sentry that the battle was being caused by his evil persona the Void. This caused the mentally fractured hero to flee the battle. Iron Man had Ms. Marvel pull him out of the battle so he could try to repair his armor, unaware that Veranke was following them. Meanwhile, a sudden attack by the Tyrannosaur sent hero and Skrull impostor scattered. One Skrull impostor who was posing as the Mockingbird managed to convince Ronin that she was his seemingly deceased wife.[418] Spider-Man ran into Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil and learned about the Skrulls' involvement in the New Avengers' earliest mission in the Savage Land when they were suddenly attacked by a Skrull posing as Captain America,[325] while elsewhere Wonder Man clashed with a Skrull posing as his long-time friend the Beast.[419]
Having sent Ms. Marvel to New York to get help, Iron Man was then confronted by "Spider-Woman" who then tried to convince Iron Man that he was really a Skrull infiltrator who helped with the invasion effort.[420] The Black Widow slew the Skrulls who were posing as both the Beast and Phoenix and came to Iron Man's aid, causing Veranke to flee;[421] however, with no means of telling the real heroes from the impostors and with Iron Man fighting off the effects of the Skrull virus, the situation was stuck in a tense stalemate.[422]
Thunderbolt Mountain[]
At the start of the invasion Khn'nr, the Skrull who was posing as Captain Mar-Vell, was still conflicted with his false Kree memories and his orders in the Skrull invasion, finally giving into his mission orders.[419] Following these orders, he launched an attack on the Thunderbolts headquarters in the Colorado Rockies.[417] Khn'nr easily incapacitated the Thunderbolts but before he could slay them, he was talked down by their leader Norman Osborn.[418][423][422] A brilliant manipulator, Osborn convinced Khn'nr to give up on his Skrull orders and embrace the honor of the hero that he was conditioned to imitate, prompting Khn'nr to fly off into space. Prior to the attack, the Thunderbolts' member the Swordsman was provided with a clone of his sister Andrea,[423] suspecting that she was a Skrull, Osborn ordered his troops to be prepared to kill her if she acted against them. Osborn then took the impending Skrull attack to boost the Thunderbolts' profile while discrediting Tony Stark/Iron Man and ordered his Thunderbolts to Washington D.C. to fight the Skrull invasion there.[9]
The Bermuda Triangle[]
The Skrull virus also knocked out the primary S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier,[417] sending it crashing into the Bermuda Triangle. There. the Skrull who was posing as Jarvis approached who he thought was S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill and ordered her to surrender;[424] however, at the advice of Nick Fury months earlier,[320] Hill had placed a Life-Model Decoy in her place and, instead of surrendering, detonated the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier;[422] however, the Skrull who was posing as Jarvis survived and managed to return to New York City.[425]
Camp Hammond[]
Just prior to the invasion the newly appointed leader of the Hawaii-based Point Men Initiative Team, the new 3-D Man uncovered that his teammate Magnitude was a Skrull and slew him. He then had himself teleported to Camp Hammond to warn his superiors; however, overhearing the 3-D Man trying to raise the alarm of a Skrull invasion, the Crusader — fearing being exposed and lumped in with the invaders — used his Cosmic Ring to invert the ability for the 3-D Man's goggles to reveal hidden Skrulls, making it look like everyone at the Fifty State Initiative was a Skrull.[386] Needing to find allies elsewhere, the 3-D Man attempted to flee, getting far enough for the Crusader's Cosmic Ring to stop affecting his goggles; however, at this point the Skrull virus had hit all Skrull tech, causing the 3-D Man's ship to crash-land in New Mexico. The virus almost felled War Machine; however, a fail safe using old Stane International technology saved War Machine's life. By that point, there were reports of an attack on New York by Skrull forces. "Yellowjacket" then ordered all Initiative recruits to head into battle; all complied except for the cowardly Ant-Man, shrunk down to size to avoid going along.[426] Receiving a recorded message from Iron Man himself sent War Machine off to a secret cache of unaffected weapons to use against the Skrull invasion, leaving mostly support staff behind. With most of his opposition gone, "Yellowjacket" then called in Skrull agents to secure Camp Hammond, unaware that they were revealing themselves and their plans to turn the camp into the heart of the "new" Skrull Empire to Ant-Man.[7]
With Skrull ships landing at Camp Hammond, Bengal and other Initiative members released the unstable Shadow Initiative to stop the takeover of their headquarters, teaming up with Ant-Man in the process. As the Shadow Initiative were preparing for an attack, Veranke arrived at Camp Hammond from her ordeal in the Savage Land; however, the Skrulls were fully aware that the Shadow Initiative were active on the base and foiled their attempt to assassinate Veranke; however, Ant-Man remained free and uncaptured.[408] The Skrulls who were posing as "Dum Dum Dugan" and "Yellowjacket" used Camp Hammond to send out a mass message to the human race telling them to surrender to their cause, while also monitoring their efforts to compromise the various Initiative teams that had been infiltrated by Skrull operatives, operations that were now quickly crumbling thanks to the efforts of the Skrull Kill Krew, who had teamed up with the 3-D Man and other Initiative recruits.[406] With their plans failing, the Skrulls at Camp Hammond decided to initiate their last resort, a weapon that utilized the Negative Zone transport towers of at least three Initiative bases to create a portal that would destroy the entire United States.[405]
New York City[]
While on a speaking engagement in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Invisible Woman was ambushed by Skrull operatives and she was replaced by Lyja.[427] Lyja then travelled to New York City where she gained access to the Baxter Building, the headquarters of the Fantastic Four, where she managed to fool the Thing, the Human Torch and the Richards children long enough to activate a device that shunted the upper levels of the Baxter Building into the Negative Zone.[417][427] Elsewhere in the city, young Mackenzie Walden learned that her brother had been replaced by a Skrull impostor.[428]
With both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four incapacitated, the Skrulls launched their attack on New York City.[418][429] In New York at the time were the Runaways, where their teammate Xavin confronted the Skrulls and learned what was going on. When he learned that the Skrull team that they have encountered had come to specifically slay Dorrek VIII, Xavin pulled his fellow Runaways out of the battle and went off to warn the Young Avengers.[315] At this point, the Young Avengers were already engaged in battle against the Skrull squad that was deployed in Times Square.[420] Xavin arrived at the scene of the battle and pulled the Hulkling away from the battle, but they were pursued by Chrell.[315] With the help of the Young Avengers members Speed and Wiccan, the other Runaways helped keep the Hulkling safe from Chrell and his assassin X'iv.[430] The two teams then succeeded in slaying both Chrell and X'iv.[431] The Hulking and his teammates returned to the battle in Times Square, where the battle continued to go poorly until the timely arrival of the Initiative recruits and Nick Fury's Secret Warriors;[420][7] however, the tide soon reversed and the Skrulls were gaining the upper hand on sheer numbers alone, just when Ms. Marvel arrived on the scene. Fury pulled back the Initiative recruits and the Young Avengers. Suspecting that Ms. Marvel was a Skrull, Fury blasted her with his weapon before teleporting away, leaving her to the mercy of the Skrulls.[421][432] At Fury's hideout, the conflicted Crusader decided once and for all that he would fight alongside the heroes of Earth and defend his adopted home.[408]
Despite being left alone, Ms. Marvel managed to fight against the Skrulls. Facing a superior foe, the Skrulls then tried to disguise themselves as Earth civilians caught in the middle of the conflict. Despite her rough means, she managed to expose the Skrulls by blasting the crowd with a low power energy blast.[433] After fighting off the remaining Skrulls in Times Square, she helped S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Hui Lin evacuate citizens to the Raft prison;[434] however, she found the Raft under attack by a Skrull called Hydra Prime 001 who had tortured and murdered the guards and some of the inmates. She had the immensely powerful Skrull creature follow after her and they fought all over the city; however, when Hydra Prime 001 was brought before his fellow Skrulls, Ms. Marvel realized that they were frightened of the creature. After Hydra Prime 001 slew all the Skrulls in the vicinity, she then was able to overpower and slay the creature herself.[435]
Elsewhere in the city, the novice heroine known as Jackpot clashed with a Skrull seeking to replace Spider-Man, slaying the creature after a battle across the city.[436] In addition, Front Line writer Ben Urich was caught in downtown Manhattan during the invasion. From there, he recorded the personal triumphs and tragedies of every day people in the face of the Skrull invasion,[437] while Mackenzie Walden and her family continued to try and survive the invasion.[438] The invasion also freed the Punisher from prison and, seeing the chaos, he rode into New York City to lay waste to every Skrull that he came across.[439] The Punisher's shooting spree attracted the attention of a Super-Skrull with the powers of Hammerhead and the Kingpin, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent G.W. Bridge and his former ally, Rampage; however, the three humans put aside their differences long enough to take down the Skrulls attacking them, but Rampage was horribly maimed in the process.[440] The New Warriors also briefly fought the Skrulls in New York.[441]
In Space[]
One of the few survivors of the Skrull attack that destroyed the S.W.O.R.D. satellite was its director, Abigail Brand, thanks to her uniform's limited life support systems.[417][419] Abigail managed to float toward a Skrull ship and force her way inside where she learned what was happening on Earth and that the ship that she had managed to board was also holding Reed Richards prisoner.[421] Using her knowledge of the Skrull language, Brand managed to fool the Skrulls onboard into thinking she was one of their infiltrators and slew them all, then freed Reed Richards. Richards then prepared a device that would help them reveal disguised Skrulls and the pair returned to Earth. As they fled to Earth, the invasion ship was attacked and destroyed by the Skrull posing as "Captain Mar-Vell".[422]
The Inhumans were also attacked on the Moon by a Skrull invasion fleet, while somewhere deep in space Skrull scientists attempted surgery on the real Black Bolt to channel his destructive voice into their warship in order to give it a devastating weapon.[404] When Black Bolt refused to use his powers the Skrulls then threatened to harm his son Ahura, forcing him to comply. Meanwhile, the Inhuman Royal Family managed to stave off the Skrull invasion of their home and then left for space to search for their missing leader.[45] The Royal Family then approached the Kree, with Medusa pledging that the Inhumans will begin following their intended purpose of battling the Skrulls on behalf of the Kree. They then set about to obtain various items that Karnak the Shatterer needed to hack into the Skrulls' databases and learn the location of their leader.[394] Succeeding in their missions, the Inhumans were able to locate the Skrull ship and attacked it. During the confusion, Black Bolt managed to break free and slew his captors. The reunited Inhuman Royal Family then returned back to their home on the Moon after destroying the Skrull ship.[442]
Meanwhile, War Machine followed Tony Stark's signal into space where he came across a heavily weaponized satellite piloted by his former Force Works teammate Suzi Endo.[443] The Skrull invasion fleet over Earth was then attacked by War Machine and Endo, decimating many of the ships in the process.[444]
On the planet Dendron, the hero Nova was attacked by a team of Super-Skrulls and was assisted by Kl'rt, the original Super-Skrull. Learning of the Skrull invasion of Earth, Nova headed toward Earth with the Super-Skrull following him. There they were attacked by a Skrull fleet, where Nova was seemingly betrayed by the Super-Skrull;[445] however, this was a ruse on the Super-Skrull's part in order to allow both of them to escape to Earth.[446]
Not all Skrulls in space wanted to take part in the invasion of Earth. A group of Skrulls fled to Knowhere and were under the protection of Knowhere's security chief Cosmo in order to escape those pursuing them for assassination;[447] however, a Super-Skrull suicide bomber came to Knowhere and blew himself up in an attempt to expose the defectors, alerting the Guardians of the Galaxy that their home base was infiltrated by Skrulls.[448] After a clash with the Galactic Council and their enforcers the Luminals,[449] the Skrulls were exposed but were allowed to live in peace when the truth was learned.[447]
Washington, D.C.[]
The Thunderbolts answered the request for assistance in Washington, D.C., which was also under siege by the Skrull invaders; however, the Skrulls were ready to deal with the group of "reformed" super-villains by using Super-Skrulls modelled after former members of the team, appealing to Moonstone's desire for power, Bullseye's capacity for murder, Penance's guilt over the death of hundreds of people in Stamford, Connecticut, overloading the Radioactive Man to reach critical mass, and Norman Osborn's hatred of Spider-Man against the group.[9]
However, despite their duplicitous ways and deceptions, the Thunderbolts managed to pull together to fight back against the Skrulls, slaying every attacker and saving the capital.[450] The last surviving Skrulls attempted one last suicide run by consuming pills that caused them to melt and merge into a massive liquid form but this, too, was stopped by the Thunderbolts, winning them national praise. With Washington D.C. now safe, Osborn ordered his minions to New York to fight off the invasion happening there.[451]
San Francisco[]
A group of normal Skrulls were dispatched to San Francisco, unaware that it was under protection from the X-Men. The X-Men succeeded in their initial attack that forced back the opening salvo. During the attack, the X-Man Nightcrawler obtained an orb that contained artificial intelligence which tried to convert the mutant hero into a loyal follower of the Skrull religion.[452] The Skrulls came back by using their own telepaths to jam the X-Men's ability to communicate via long range telepathy and then attacked the city again with Super-Skrulls. When the X-Men responded with a series of guerilla attacks, the Skrulls then began kidnapping the people of San Francisco and trapping them in various towers.[453] The Skrulls then gave the X-Men an ultimatum: stand down within 24 hours and surrender or all the humans that they have captured will be slaughtered; however, the X-Men were given an idea when Nightcrawler showed the Beast the orb that was trying to "convert" him and explained that it was doing so because by the Skrulls' logic; mutants and Skrulls were not all that different.[454] With this inspiration, the Beast examined one of the dead Skrulls they had captured and learned that Skrull DNA was very similar to mutants'. The X-Men then manufactured a strain of Stryfe's Legacy Virus, which was engineered to be lethal only to Skrulls. Then under the auspices of surrender, the X-Men infected the entire Skrull armada. When the Skrulls began falling ill to the deadly virus, X-Men leader Cyclops offered them the antidote in exchange for a cure; however, the Skrulls refused and both flew up into the sky and set their ships to self-destruct, choosing death with honor than defeat.[455]
Broxon, Oklahoma/Asgard[]
Beta Ray Bill managed to break free from Skrull captivity just moments prior to the invasion and return to Earth. He crashed in Asgard which, at that time, floated high above the town of Broxon, Oklahoma. He warned the Asgardians of the coming invasion and that the Skrulls planned to utilize his hammer Stormbreaker as a weapon. With duties needing to be carried out in the town of Broxon in his alter-ego of Dr. Donald Blake, Thor gave Beta Ray Bill his hammer Mjolnir to lead the battle against the Skrulls invading Asgard.[414] While Blake helped a woman in Broxon give birth, Beta Ray Bill led the warriors of Asgard against the Godkiller Skrulls made specifically for fighting gods. When the woman in Broxon gave birth, a Godkiller Skrull armed with weapons fashioned from Stormbreaker flew to the city, intending to destroy it. Beta Ray Bill went after it and was felled trying to defend the town.[456] With the combined efforts of Thor and the Warriors Three, the heroes managed to pull Stormbreaker from the Godkiller Skrull and return it to Beta Ray Bill. Thor and Beta Ray then battled the Godkiller Skrull, who was slain when Thor commanded Asgard to fall upon it, crushing the attacker to death. With the Godkiller Skrull dead, the Skrull invasion of Asgard was easily repelled.[457]
Across the United States[]
Arriving on Earth, Nova learned from his family that his brother Robert was now working at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., which was under attack from Skrull forces. Nova assisted Darkhawk and the newly-resurrected Quasar defend Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. from Skrulls trying to infiltrate the research laboratory in order to gain access to alien weapons.[446] The heroes gained the upper hand when Robert and his co-workers were able to reboot Nova's Xandarian Worldmind who internally activated the Death's Head robots that fought off the Skrulls attacking P.E.G.A.S.U.S. and their ship above.[458] Meanwhile in Minneapolis, the She-Hulk and Jazinda clashed with Skrull invasion forces there. Trying to head up north to Canada to find Jazinda's ship to contact the Skrulls and inform them that they have Nogor as their prisoner, the pair were attacked by the Super-Skrull. The Super-Skrull had come not only to liberate Nogor, but to slay his daughter Jazinda for bringing dishonor to her family;[459] however, despite his efforts to slay his own daughter, the She-Hulk convinced the Super-Skrull that he was only really mad about his son being dead and the Super-Skrull gave up his fight and left with Nogor.[387]
In the Appalachian Mountains, the New Warriors and Counter Force fought Skrulls who were attacking one of the last remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers, saving the crew on board. They had come to determine if the corpses of deceased members Night Thrasher (Dwayne Taylor), Namorita and Microbe was actually them in light of the Skrull invasion, their current leader, the new Night Thrasher, believed that his brother might had been replaced by a Skrull during the Stamford disaster that caused the super-hero Civil War months earlier; however, they determined that the corpses were that of their dead teammates and gave them a proper burial.[460]
After his plane had crashed in New Mexico, the 3-D Man was going to be rescued by Maverick's member the "She-Thing"; however, he recognized the Skrull impostor, but before she could attack the "She-Thing" was killed by Ryder and Riot, the last surviving members of the Skrull Kill Krew. With the assistance of Charlie Chandler and his family, the 3-D Man joined up with the Skrull Kill Krew on a cross-country mission to destroy all the Skrull infiltrators within the Initiative. Their first stop was to slay Blacksmith of the Desert Stars.[7] With each exposition of a Skrull infiltrator, the various members of each Initiative team then joined up with the Kill Krew. They then began clearing out the Skrulls hiding out in the states of Nevada, Utah,[408] Montana, Pennsylvania, Georgia,[406] Arkansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Florida, Washington, and Texas. Learning that the Skrulls were attempting to use the Negative Zone receiving towers as a doomsday weapon to destroy America, Initiative members the Whiz Kid and Spinner were sent to destroy the receiving towers using their super-speed abilities.[405]
In Atlanta, the Skrulls attacked a baseball game and were opposed by the mercenary known as Deadpool. Deadpool managed to cripple the Skrull forces but, to their surprise, offered to join their cause instead.[461] Deadpool then allowed them to experiment on him and create Super-Skrulls that could replicate Deadpool's healing factor, making essentially unkillable Skrull warriors; however, Deadpool began training them and instead of being useful warriors, they became mostly insane. This, however, was all part of a plan as Deadpool was working to steal intel from the Skrulls for Nick Fury.[462] Deadpool then fought off another Super-Skrull, and the Skrulls eventually realized how they had been tricked: when duplicating Deadpool's healing factor, they forgot to take into account that the reason why his healing factor works is due to the cancer that has infected his system. Without the cancer as a catalyst to keep the healing factor under control, the Skrulls endowed with Deadpool's healing factor began to grow into horribly deformed Skrulls that are unable to move. Deadpool then killed the other Skrulls and began to transmit the data to Fury; however, it was intercepted by Norman Osborn.[463]
At the Cube facility, Noh-Varr the Marvel Boy managed to take over the facility; however, when the Skrull virus infected the Cube he found Skrull infiltrators inside.[419] Breaking out of the prison, Noh-Varr crossed paths with the mortally wounded "Captain Mar-Vell" who, revealing his Skrullian origins, convinced Noh-Varr to fight for the people of Earth.[464]
In the state of Oregon, Skrulls initially had the upper hand with little to no super-human interference until they were shut down by the Agents of Atlas.[419]
Wakanda[]
Skrull commander K'vvvr was charged with attacking the African nation of Wakanda and trying to destroy the Vibranium there; however, his infiltrators were almost all discovered by the Black Panther and his wife Storm, the rulers of Wakanda. Then using Wakandan technology, the Black Panther crippled the Skrull invasion fleet and their energy weapons, forcing them to fight in hand-to-hand combat. The Black Panther then led his people in battle against the Skrulls.[19] The Black Panther and Storm held their own against the Super-Skrull operatives while the warriors of Wakanda dealt with the regular invaders; however, a lone Skrull infiltrator escaped discovery and was able to capture both the Panther and his queen.[465] However, this was all a ruse as the Black Panther and Storm had really used Wakandan technology to make two captured Skrulls look like them. When K'vvvr realized this during torture he was too late to stop the Panther and Storm who slew him, and the rest of his army soon fell at the hands of the people of Wakanda. The Black Panther then had all the Skrull bodies put aboard the Skrull ship and sent it back out into space. Painted on one of the walls in the command center in blood was the warning "This is what happens when you invade Wakanda" as a warning to other would-be invaders from beyond the stars.[466]
Russia[]
In Russia, the Skrulls attempted to take control of the nuclear weapons found in that country in the hopes of using them against the human race. They found opposition from the Winter Guard. War Machine, after destroying Skrull ships orbiting Earth, came to the Winter Guard's aid, but his assistance was refused. Ignoring demands to leave Russian soil, War Machine fought against Skrull forces, but was soon captured and found himself on a Skrull examination table.[444] With his life support failing, War Machine managed to break free and fight his way to his armor, saving his life. Destroying the Skrull ship, War Machine then returned to help the Winter Guard in the battle once again. Facing defeat, one of the Skrulls attempted to overload his powers to destroy the area and set off the nuclear weapons; however, War Machine grabbed the Skrull and flew him high into the air, where the weapons exploded harmlessly.[467]
London and Otherworld[]
At some point prior to the Skrull invasion, Joint Intelligence Committee of the United Kingdom director Mortimer Grimsdale was replaced with a Skrull. When the invasion kicked off, this infiltrator used his position to slay all of the Skrull Beatles except for Skrull John, who was rescued by Pete Wisdom. They then joined heroes Captain Britain, the Black Knight, Spitfire, and the newly empowered Faiza Hussain in trying to stop the Skrull invaders from destroying the Siege Perilous, the doorway into the mystical realm of Otherworld. They failed and Captain Britain was seemingly slain trying to stop the attack.[468] With the Siege Perilous destroyed, the Skrulls — whose mission it was to take over all magic — used their own portals to gain access to Otherworld, convinced that they would not have opposition from Britain's heroes; however, Wisdom called upon the help of his estranged wife Tink the fairy to gain access to Otherworld. There, they helped Tink's father Oberon defend Otherworld from the Skrulls; however, they were unable to stop the Skrulls from slaying the Lady of the Lake and the Green Knight and gather the mystical artifacts they needed to create a Super-Skrull that was entirely magic-based to destroy London.[469]
While Great Britain's heroes defended London, Pete Wisdom was drawn to a portal where the wizard Merlyn the Magician was trapped after being infected by the Fury. Wisdom freed Merlyn, but also many demons that were trapped there as well. Merlyn then resurrected Captain Britain and armed him with the sword Excalibur to defend London.[470] While Captain Britain fought against the mystical Super-Skrull, the rest of his comrades were captured by the Skrull army and Skrull John was executed for betraying his people. Before the rest of the group could be slain, they were rescued by Satannish and a horde of demons. Satannish, grateful to Wisdom for freeing him and the other demons, granted Wisdom a boon. Wisdom uttered the words "No more Skrulls" and the demon used his magicks to incinerate all of the Skrulls in the United Kingdom, ending the conflict there.[471]
The Negative Zone[]
The Human Torch and the Thing, as well as Franklin and Valeria Richards, found themselves trapped in the Negative Zone by Lyja, the Torch's estranged wife who sought revenge against Johnny for abandoning her for years.[427] While the Thing protected the children from creatures from the Negative Zone, Johnny and Lyja fought it out but soon they both gave up on trying to kill each other and instead rekindled their romance before they were attacked by a massive jellyfish-like creature. Johnny saved Lyja's life and returned her to the ruins of the Baxter Building. There, Franklin deduced that their only way out of the Negative Zone was to seek out one of the many genius-level villains locked up in Prison 42.[260] Going to the prison, Johnny, Lyja and the Thing freed the Tinkerer, who agreed to help them return home out of sympathy for Franklin and Valeria; however, before they left Lyja decided that she would stay in the Negative Zone to find a new life. After bidding the Torch farewell, the displaced heroes returned themselves to the positive matter universe.[472]
The Realm of the Gods[]
On yet another front, the pantheon gods of Earth were at risk of being destroyed and enslaved by the Skrull deities, much like other pangalactic gods across the universe. Athena then called upon the Council of Godheads to meet and address the problem. They then selected champions to travel to the realm of the Skrull gods and combat them there. The group selected the Greek god Hercules and his human ally Amadeus Cho, Snowbird of the Inua, the Eternal Ajak was chosen to represent the Apu gods, Amatsu-Mikaboshi of the Amatsu-Kami, and Atum, a.k.a. the Demogorge to do battle against the Skrull gods Sl'gurt't and Kly'bn.[30] The group fought their way through Nightmare's realm, unaware that Amadeus' coyote, Kirby, had been replaced with a Skrull.[32] When they arrived in the realm of the Skrull gods, Atum discovered that "Kirby" was a Skrull and slew it and they were soon attacked by the gods whom the Skrulls had enslaved during centuries past. The enslaved gods were vanquished thanks largely to Snowbird, who seemingly sacrificed her life transforming into Neooqtoq to destroy their attackers.[473] At first the so-called God Squad proved to be no match for the two Skrull deities; however, it was not until Amadeus pretended to abandon Hercules did the Grecian put his all into the battle. Ultimately, Sl'gurt't was slain by Amatsu-Mikaboshi and Kly'bn was slain by Snowbird. The Skrull gods' realm was then shattered by a blow from Hercules that was so powerful that every Skrull idol of worship across the universe exploded. This gathering of gods managed to strike the greatest blow against the Skrull invasion: a blow against their faith.[4]
The Final Battle[]
In the Savage Land, Reed Richards and Abigail Brand landed in the area and Reed used his device to reveal who among the gathered heroes were Skrulls.[422] The combined Avengers teams,[464] the Thunderbolts,[451] members of the Initiative, and the Secret Warriors[405] joined forces for a final battle against the Skrulls in Central Park. During the final battle, Luke Cage's wife Jessica Jones left their child Denielle in the care of the Skrull Jarvis while she joined the battle in Central Park. It was also here that Criti Noll revealed herself to be a Skrull posing as Yellowjacket. As the heroes began gaining the upper hand, Noll activated a device that affected the Wasp's powers, making her into a massive doomsday weapon to kill the heroes;[425] however, her fellow Avenger Thor was forced to slay her to save the others. In the final push the battle was suddenly done when Norman Osborn was able to fire the shot that killed Veranke. With their leader killed, the Skrulls were easily defeated and the remainder of their fleet in space destroyed. The heroes of Earth also found a ship containing all their detained comrades. When Jarvis was found among the captured, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage rushed back to Avengers Tower to find that the Skrull posing as Jarvis had disappeared with their child.[425] Meanwhile, Criti Noll survived the battle and attempted to use super-speed to return to Camp Hammond. He was followed initially by the Crusader and then by the rest of the Initiative and the Skrull Kill Krew. While the Crusader slew Criti Noll, the 3-D Man eliminated the Skrull posing as Dum Dum Dugan. In the aftermath of the battle, the 3-D Man suddenly saw the Crusader for the Skrull that he was — and not realizing that Z'Reg was loyal to Earth — shot him dead. Dying, Z'Reg wished that things had happened differently and was teleported away by his ring.[405] While a lot of Skrulls were captured as prisoners of war,[474] many ended up being captured or managed to escape.
Interestingly enough, the Skrull/cow hybrids that had been breeding for years had reached enough of a population and a awareness that they were known to the United States government. These Skrulls had managed to integrate into nearly every aspect of Earth society, particularly the media. For immunity and to keep their existence a secret, the Earthborn Skrulls agreed to boost support against the alien Skrull invaders through the media.[475]
Post-Secret Invasion[]
Following the defeat of the Skrulls, the head of Homeland Security was appointed to Norman Osborn, who was now a hero for killing Veranke. He then disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and created his own organization named H.A.M.M.E.R.; many of the surviving Skrulls who were captured were handed over to this organization for questioning. One Skrull prisoner was literally fed to Venom by Osborn.[476] Immediately after the the invasion, Luke Cage and his fellow New Avengers began looking for the Skrull who posed as Jarvis in order to find his daughter. Although they managed to find a Skrull hiding among a number of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they were unable to learn the location of "Jarvis", forcing Cage to make a deal with Norman Osborn.[477] Cage was given access to one of the Skrull prisoners who was tortured into revealing the Skrull invaders' secret warehouse meeting place, the most likely spot where "Jarvis" could have went to get off the planet; however, he could only do so with someone operating the teleportation system for him. Cage went to the warehouse and was able to find "Jarvis" and his daughter. Luke then agreed to help the Skrull return home in exchange for his daughter; however, when "Jarvis" handed the baby over he was shot in the head by Bullseye, who was hiding in a nearby building with a sniper rifle.[478] Norman Osborn had imprisoned Elektra to learn why the Skrulls experimented and tortured her when their other captives were relatively unharmed; however, before he could succeed in learning this information, Elektra escaped captivity.[479] Osborn then pulled two captive Skrulls for information, torturing them in order to learn that the Skrulls were trying to learn Elektra's ability to resurrect herself after death.[313] He then continued to torture them to learn when Elektra was replaced, and eventually murdered the prisoners in front of H.A.M.M.E.R. accountants to show them the price of disobeying his wishes.[480]
Meanwhile in space, a fleet of Skrulls trying to escape Earth were pursued by the Inhumans into space. They were followed into the Arkano Nebula where the fleet was wiped out by Black Bolt using a weapon that amplified his destructive voice.[481][482] Following the defeat of their empire, a group of Skrulls decided to become pacifists and found a new would-be god in Beta Ray Bill. Bill attempted to help them find shelter from S'Kaan, a surviving Godkiller Skrull. Beta Ray Bill defeated S'Kaan, but his life was spared. The Skrullian monks then healed him and, convinced that Beta Ray Bill was not their new god but a agent of this force, they healed S'Kaan who assisted them in setting up a new home aboard the Remnants' starbase.[483] Many slain Skrulls became the power source for the Kree Babel Spire defence system.[484]
Back on Earth, Ryder of the Skrull Kill Krew discovered the Skrull cows hiding in society and became devoted to hunting them down and destroying them all.[485] With his teammates slowly coming back to life, Ryder sought out the aid of H.A.M.M.E.R. scientist Viola Reichardt to examine his DNA. She learned that the Kill Krew members were not only coming back to life, but becoming Skrulls themselves. Meanwhile, Ryder went to Los Angeles where he found an entire group of young Skrull cows who used a night club to lure humans to slaughter, killing them all.[135] Ryder and the resurrected Riot then went after another Skrull nightclub called the Reverse Rodeo where Skrulls rode human beings like cattle in a faux rodeo.[486] As the rest of the Krew was coming back to life, Riot soon soon began dating a Skrull that she had met. The Krew was then manipulated by Moonstomp into attacking a restaurant full of Skrulls where Riot and her date were. They were assisted by a Skrull who was posing as Wolverine.[487] After the Krew slaughtered Skrulls on the Stampede web series, the Skrull cows sent an entire army to their home for revenge, but they too were slaughtered by the Krew.[488] The crew slaughtered another restaurant full of Skrulls, prompting the Skrull cow elite to press their influence to get H.A.M.M.E.R. and Norman Osborn to act. Osborn then called a meeting with the Skrulls; the Kill Krew appeared again and slew the entire group of Skrull cows before going into hiding again.[475]
Another Skrull who evaded capture during the invasion was Koru Kaviti, who fled to the nation of Madripoor with another Skrull who posed as Spider-Man. S.W.O.R.D. agent Abigail Brand recruited Spider-Woman to eliminate Kavitti. Upon arriving in Madripoor, Spider-Woman was attacked by the Skrull posing as Spider-Man and managed to slay it.[489] Later on her mission, Spider-Woman was approached and offered a position in Hydra again by Madame Hydra. As a gift, Madame Hydra allowed Spider-Woman to do what she saw fit with a Skrull that Hydra managed to capture during the Skrull invasion. When the Skrull refused to talk, it tried to attack her and she was forced to slay it.[490] Ultimately, Spider-Woman managed to track Koru to a local bar and, after an epic battle, managed to slay the Skrull with the help of her fellow New Avengers.[491] Back in the United States the mutant terrorist Mystique discovered an abandoned Super-Skrull facility where a number of failed attempts to create a Skrull impostor of Captain Mar-Vell. She released one of these Mar-Vell Super-Skrulls and unleashed him on Ms. Marvel in Seattle. This Skrull violently exploded in the skies above Washington State when his powers overloaded.[492] A Skrull who survived the battle in the Savage Land accidentally set off a S.H.I.E.L.D. alert while working in the area, bringing the Mockingbird and the new Dominic Fortune to the region. Exposing the phony Skrull, the Mockingbird burned their bodies.[493]
Klobok soon resurfaced and used his arcane knowledge to try and re-establish a bond with the estranged Dire Wraiths in an attempt to reform the Skrull Empire;[22] however, by this time the Dire Wraiths had been banished to Limbo, and so Klobok made a mystical spell to bring Wraithworld out from Limbo. This threatened to destroy Galador, the homeworld of the Spaceknights. A group of intergalactic heroes calling themselves the Annihilators came to Galador's aid, unaware that Klobok had infiltrated them by posing as Doctor Dredd.[494] Although Wraithworld was brought back to Earth, Klobok was slain in battle and the Wraiths made peace with their longtime foes the Galadorians.[22] Back on Earth, former Avenger Wonder Man gathered a group of super-humans to fight his former comrades called the Revengers. Among the group's members was Virtue, who returned to costumed heroics after being a faith healer.[495][496]
Another group of Skrulls who fled the losing invasion resurfaced and tried to return home. Manipulating the young X-Man known as Pixie, they managed to break into the Baxter Building and Horizon Labs to gain access to a hidden Skrull ship; however, their leader Nazum sought to get revenge against Earth and unleashed Skrull war machines.[497] While the X-Men and the Future Foundation fought the devices, Pixie and Spider-Man worked together to stop the Skrulls whom Pixie had allowed to leave without further harm. The Skrull deserted left Nazum on a uninhabited world.[498] A number of Skrull corpses that were taken during the invasion ended up in the custody of a newly reformed S.H.I.E.L.D. These corpses were stolen by Madame Hydra when she raided a S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse. Their possible use is unknown at this time.[499]
Not long afterward, a group of Skrulls returned to Earth and captured Captain America and Cyclops who, at the time, were bitter enemies. Commander K'thron warned them that Cadre K had returned to Earth and were planning another Skrull invasion.[500] The pair put aside their differences and used S.H.I.E.L.D. resources to learn that a surviving Skrull invader was captured by Doctor Doom and was being held captive in Latveria. The pair fought their way into Castle Doomstadt. Doom eventually allowed them to take the captured Skrull, but refused to let it leave alive;[501] however, this Skrull was faking it and upon bringing him back to the United States, the Skrull led the two heroes to a Bryson's Bison Burgers chain that — with the help of Ant-Man, Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos — discovered that all of the staff were Skrulls. Stranger still, the bison beef served at the restaurant was all based on mutant Skrull DNA.[502] They tracked the source of the beef to Sagittarian Farms in South Dakota. There, they discovered that Cadre K had taken over the ranch and used it as a front to collect the last of the Skrull-cow hybrids in order to prevent them from being slaughtered and prevent the human food supply from being tainted by DNA-altering Skrull meat.[503] Realizing Cadre K's altruistic intents, the Avengers and Cyclops' X-Men defended them from Doctor Doom,[504] S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the Skrulls that sent Cyclops and Captain America on their mission to begin with. The duo managed to convince all three parties that Cadre K posed no threat to the world.[505]
Infinity[]
Following the invasion, the Skrull Empire was broken up and ruled by different warlords which included Kl'rt, My'rl, Dm'yr, and Gy'pl.[506] When the Builders, ancient aliens who claim to have created all existence, deemed that Earth should be destroyed, they sent a massive invasion fleet to attack Earth, destroying various worlds as they passed.[507] This swath of destruction also included the Skrull world Hy'lt Minor, slaying two hundred billion Skrulls, including Warlord Dm'yr.[506] A group of Skrulls fled to Earth and managed to slip through S.W.O.R.D. defences;[507] however, they were quickly apprehended by the Avengers.[508]
The Super-Skrull was selected as the warrior to represent the entire Skrull Empire when they went to the planet Nomad to join the Galactic Council to join a coalition of alien races which included the Kree, the Shi'ar, the Brood, the Spartax, and various other races, including the Avengers; however, when they set up an ambush for the Builders in a sector of space called the Corridor the Council was overpowered and they were forced to retreat.[506] They regrouped over the Skrull agricultural world of Whaan Prime, but the Builders followed them there and unleashed a plague upon the world. While the Council members tried to save as many of the Skrulls on the planet surface, billions still died.[509]
The Council retreated to the Behemoth Ringworld to regroup, but were forced to retreat when the ruler of the Spartax betrayed their location to the Builders and the planet was attacked, forcing another evacuation.[510] One hundred million refugees died in the attack, many of whom were Skrull survivors who had fled previous attacks.[511] After regrouping, Kl'rt sided with the other Council members to allow Captain America to take the lead. Captain America, in turn, suggested that they surrender;[512] however, this surrender was a false front and allowed the Avenger Thor to slay the Builder who had just taken over the Kree throneworld of Hala.[513] The Skrull armies were involved in the following skirmishes that saw the Council begin to regain ground and liberate planets under the Builders' rule, but the Skrulls saw heavy casualties;[27] however, many worlds were liberated and eventually the coalition, under Captain America's command, eventually beat back the Builders and their path of destruction. Learning that Earth was now under attack by the forces of Thanos, the Super-Skrull lent his own warriors to help liberate Earth, a planet that his people had tried to enslave months earlier.[514] After an attack on Thanos' forces on the Saturnian moon of Titan,[515] the Skrull forces attacked the armadas of Thanos in Earth's orbit. Learning that one of Thanos' agents, the Black Dwarf, now controlled the S.W.O.R.D. space station, the Super-Skrull personally joined up with the Shi'ar leader Gladiator, Ronan the Accuser, and Annihilus in slaying him.[516] With the path to Earth cleared, the Avengers ultimately defeated Thanos and his followers. With the threat of both Thanos and the Builders over, the Skrull Empire reformed with Tarnax II becoming the new Throneworld and the Super-Skrull being crowned the new Emperor of the Skrulls.[517]
Empyre[]
A cell of Skrull refugees on Earth were brided by ESU student Michael Prescott to help him falsify control results in a paper that was published in three separate academic journals, but unfortunately for them they were found out.[518] Several Skrull agents infiltrated Earth society by posing as human families, but most of them were exterminated by Project Blossom, which was secretly run by some Kree.[519]
As both the Skrulls and the Kree had grown tired of the conflict between them, the Skrull Empire decided to merge with the newly formed Kree Imperium not only to establish peace at last, but also to become far more powerful, forming the Kree/Skrull Alliance;[520] however, numerous Skrulls were against this, still harboring hatred for the Kree and refusing to join with their mortal enemies. Groups formed from the Skrulls, such as the Children of Lost Tarnax and the Brethren of the Forgotten Flame, would try to fracture the new Alliance and separate their people from the Kree.[521][522]
A rogue group of Skrulls devised a new Secret Invasion, this time targeting government officials while directing the super-heroes' attention to the most notable individuals. Their plan involved kidnapping Nick Fury and replacing him with several doppelgangers which, as expected, were all captured when CIA agent Maria Hill discovered one of them.[523] Hill led a nationwide investigation, testing each super-hero's blood, while the Skrulls infiltrated several nuclear facilities. This Secret Invasion was ultimately thwarted by Hill thanks to the help of beneficent Skrulls that worked for Iron Man, uncovering their plan and arresting them all. This group was then sent to be judged by the Kree/Skrull Alliance, but some Super-Skrulls were already planning yet another takeover.[524]
Biology[]
Phylogeny[]
The Skrulls descended from reptilian ancestors who back in the day used to shed their skin. Despite having acquired a few mammalian characteristics, the Skrulls still considered themselves to be pure reptiles.[525]
Lifespan[]
Skrulls have a natural lifespan of around 210 years.[26]
Reproduction[]
Skrulls are oviparous.[2] Skrull females do not give live birth; instead, they lay eggs like their reptilian evolutionary ancestors.[526] Skrull children are known as "hatchlings". Despite their reptilian evolutionary roots, however, Skrulls have hair and the females have mammary glands to nurse their young.[12] Attempts at reproduction can be more effective at certain times during their reproductive cycle.[375]
A device known as Lacaroo was often used to facilitate the Skrulls birthing process.[241] The hatchlings were looked over by hatchwardens who made sure that they disposed of undesirable children with apparent mutations.[292]
Hybrids[]
- See also: Category:Skrull Hybrids
Skrulls are capable of producing hybrid offspring with humans,[527] the Kree [2] and the Shi'ar.[528]
On Earth-9997, it was revealed that Thanos was a hybrid of an Eternal and a Skrull, as his mother Sui-San was, in fact, a Skrull.[529]
A conclave called the Knights of Infinity are a nomadic band of Kree/Skrull hybrids who were gathered and created by the first of their kind: Dorrek Supreme, who is the heir to the throne of a Kree/Skrull alliance.[530]
Diseases and Genetic Conditions[]
An uncommon birth defect in Skrulls is being born without the ability to shapeshift. Skrulls afflicted with this abnormality include Raze,[531][532] Titannus,[533] and Talos the Untamed.[184][534] This genetic defect can also grant upper strength and endurance to some of those afflicted, including Talos the Untamed.[534]
Skrulls are susceptible to various forms of cancer. The Super-Skrull contracted leukemia due to prolonged exposure to the radiation in the Van Allen radiation belts.[153] The Skrull prince Klundirk was also diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer.[535]
On Earth-829, Skyppi contracted a form of tuberculosis that was common to the Skrulls.[536]
Evolution and Mutation[]
The Skrulls were stated to be given genetic and molecular instability and genetic diversity from the Celestials' experimentation;[537] however, with the extermination of the "Normals" went away their capacity for benevolent mutation, and they have existed at their current level of evolution for millions of years.[538] The adrenaline taken from the Deviant Skrulls could be purified with that of the Prime Skrulls to create the Skrull Adrenaline Compound, which could mutate and evolve those who ingested it.[539] The Prime Skrull demonstrated the latent mutant abilities of his kind.[540]
The Skrulls are evolutionarily stagnant. They can not evolve naturally and can only move forward genetically through artificial means.[541]
Despite all of this, mutants (a.k.a. K-class Deviants) have been observed, particularly on Carpiax IV, where Lord Merek's fecundity-supplement program resulted a higher number of K-class births. It was common to cull Skrull mutants in the interest of genetic purity. One group of Skrull mutants, Cadre K, was rescued and trained by Professor X.[292]
Warskrulls[]
_(Earth-616)_from_New_Avengers_Illuminati_Vol_2_5_001.jpg){kind=link}
A Super-Skrull
A normal Skrull can only take on the appearance of their template, not the abilities of that person. Warskrulls are an elite group of Skrulls gifted with the ability to emulate the powers as well as the appearance of their templates.[542] Warskrulls do not naturally have this ability; instead, special encoding technology is used to grant them their powers.[144]
Once lost, the use of Mutant Skrulls permitted the recreation of the Warskrulls' genome.[1]
Alternate Realities[]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Skrulls using their shape-shifting to fly
- Shapeshifting: Skrulls are able to alter their forms into that of anything they can imagine, be it organic or inorganic. It must, however, be solid. They can also use their abilities to grow extra limbs. They have no apparent size limit, as they are been seen to assume the form of a common house fly,[544] and shapes many times larger than their normal selves. Skrulls can also use their shape-shifting capabilities to change their gender: males can become females and vice versa.[24] This was thanks to their structure, derived from the Deviant genetic code, being comprised of unstable molecules.[57] If Skrull organs were to be transplanted into the body of a non-Skrull individual, said individual would gain the Skrulls' shapeshifting power.[545]
- Elasticity, Plasticity and Elongation: Their shapeshifting abilities allow them to alter their bodies in much the same way as Mr. Fantastic so that they can stretch to great lengths, or form other shapes with their bodies, such as balls, parachutes, or anything else.
- Flight: They are able to fly by shapeshifting a pair of wings onto their backs, or turning their arms into wings.[94]
- Size Alteration: They are also capable of altering their size independently of altering their form, allowing them to grow or shrink while maintaining their current form.
- Mimicry: Skrulls are cunning spies due to their ability to mimic sounds and voices. This is mainly used in conjunction with the shapes that they shift into.[144]
- Regeneration: Skrulls could use their shapeshifting, combined with their natural regeneration, to grow their missing limbs back and remove scars.[21]
- Elasticity, Plasticity and Elongation: Their shapeshifting abilities allow them to alter their bodies in much the same way as Mr. Fantastic so that they can stretch to great lengths, or form other shapes with their bodies, such as balls, parachutes, or anything else.
- Telepathy: Within the Deviant Skrulls there are a minority that possess telepathic abilities. They have been seen to serve the Empire in the Imperial Court as "Priests of the Mind" and in the armed forces.[546][98][455]
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Shapeshifting Limitations: Skrulls can only take on the appearance of a person and none of that person’s characteristics or, in the case of super-humans, their powers.[64] When they imitate an inorganic object, they take on its appearance, but not its properties. The inability to replicate powers does not apply to genetically modified Super-Skrulls.[97]
- There is a limit to the size of the object or person that a Skrull can imitate. The average Skrull cannot distend his or her mass any more than 1.5 times as large a volume as his or her original volume, nor can he or she contract his or her mass any more than 0.75 a volume as his or her original volume.[12][274][547]
- Very high decibel sounds have been shown capable of temporarily disabling a Skrull, and in the case of a Super-Skrull, will cause them to lose control of their powers.[548]
- At the moment of death, Skrulls that have taken another form revert back to their original form.[321]
- The natural shape of a Skrull possesses 18 pressure points that "when properly struck will cause pain and injury, even death."[465]
- Skrull physiology is particularly vulnerable to the Legacy Virus. Skrulls exposed to it, and especially to the strain created by the Beast to target them exclusively, show symptoms within one hour and die within two days if not treated with the cure which the Beast also created.[549]
Habitat
Gravity
Atmosphere
Population
Trillions (spread throughout the intergalactic Skrull Empire)[2]
Planets[]
- Aks'lo - Paradisiacal vacation planet, destroyed by the Annihilation Wave.[26]
- Hy'lt Minor - Home of K'eel R'kt, destroyed by the Builders.[543]
- Kral IV - 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 IV maintain human rather than Skrull form.
- Skrullos - Original Skrull homeworld.
- Tarnax IV - Former Skrull Throneworld, consumed by Galactus.[141]
- Tarnax VII - Home of Xavin; engaged in a war with the non-Skrull planet Majesdane.
- Zaragz'na - Home of the Super-Skrull's son, destroyed by the Annihilation Wave.[360]
- Satriani - Throneworld under Empress S'Byll and Queen Veranke.
- Tarnax II - The new Throneworld under Emperor Kl'rt.
- Tarnax X - Base of operations for the religious sect Dard'van.
- Skrell - World dominated by the Skrull Scientist caste, where the organic supercomputer the Intelligentsia is located.
Miscellaneous
Type of Government
Totalitarian monarchy under a single Emperor or Empress[550] (succession disrupted by the destruction of Tarnax IV, death of the surviving royal family members, and ensuing civil wars; reinstated with the crowning of the new Emperor, Kl'rt I). Assisting the Emperor are ministers and councils.[1][130][155]. The empire itself is administrated by prelates and governors.[551][148] Throughout the Skrull Empire, in every world that is ruled by the Skrulls only one race is permitted to represent the inhabitants of that world, the Skrulls.[151] Worlds that voluntarily joined the Skrull Empire are granted varying degrees of autonomy. It also maintains profitable trading relationships with pacifist worlds that the empire has peace treaties with.[12] The imperial system under the Emperor includes the:
- Chancellor[1]
- Imperial Council (which can give orders to generals)[130]
- War Council[97]
- High Command (military)[552]
- High Court (judicial)[56]
- Prelates (in charge of quadrants)[551]
- Governors (in charge of worlds)[148][450]
- Priests of the Mind (telepaths of the Imperial Court)[98]
- Priests of the Sciences (of the Imperial Court)[97]
- Priests of the Magic[97]
- Skrull Homeland Intelligence Earth Logistics Division[547]
Level of Technology
Superior to Earth; advanced warp-drive star-ships,[41] intergalactic subspace FTL (nearly instantaneous),[41] teleportation,[248] force fields,[467][555] cloaking technology,[464][555] miniaturization technology,[76] shapeshifting technology,[115] robots,[115] mechas (humanoid and multi-legged),[498][470] cybernetic technology,[66] planet-busting weapons,[556][557] star-killer weapons,[558][559] genocidal biological weapons,[555] intergalactic FTL subspace communications (nearly instantaneous),[560] intergalactic radar,[81] hyperspace radios,[547] intergalactic sensor grids,[57] intergalactic transportation beams,[67] missiles,[557] space torpedoes,[56] genetic manipulation/engineering (Super-Skrulls), quantum weapons,[241] interdimensional portals,[469], cloning,[561] and directed energy weaponry (either beam or pulse weapons and either particle, neutrino or photon weapons).[150][91][562]
Skrull scientists were the first to create a Cosmic Cube in the universe, thousands of years ago, though it ended disastrously for the Skrull Empire when it became sentient, as it destroyed two-thirds of the inhabited worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy, plunging the Skrull Empire into barbarism.[563][39] Recently, due to the actions of the Skrull Priests of the Sciences led by the Head Priest of the Sciences (Dro'ge Fenu Edu), everything that Mr. Fantastic knew when he and his colleagues in the Illuminati were captured, the Skrulls now know. They downloaded all the knowledge from their brains and their genes, resulting that the Skrulls have the same knowledge that the heroes had at that time (the early to mid-1970s), including time travel, extra-dimensional travel and magic.[97]
The Skrulls also possess technology that suppresses magic. With this technology they can also manipulate magical items, including merging talismans and creating new magical weapons.[469] The Skrulls have developed the technology to harness the Power Cosmic and transfer part of it to a Skrull.[15] Inter-dimensional travel is an ability they posses, being able to create portals large enough for armies to go through.[469]Cultural Traits
The Skrulls were seen as a brutal people[564] who prided themselves in their heritage as warriors and conquerors.[144] Though they were inherently honorable,[387] they were also devious.[16] Besides this, the Skrulls were quite paranoid and dogmatic in their security.[442]
At the top of Skrull society is the imperial sovereign ruler.[66] It is a society in which the elite have titles of nobility, including Baron (or Baroness) and Count (or Countess).[26][360] Skrullian society is divided into castes including the Scientist caste,[273] the Warrior caste,[508] Worker caste,[508] and the Shaman caste.[521] Warlords usually had no respect for scientists and often disregarded them.[273] Slavery is not practiced in the Skrull empire, the exception being the Earth-obsessed Skrulls of Kral IV.[565][78] Roaming the cosmos are several Skrull slaver ships.[1]
Though the Skrulls are an expansionist martial race, most Skrulls live peaceful lives.[566] Like humankind, the Skrulls have ambition, and feel both love and hate.[68] When the human telepath Professor X scanned the Skrulls of the Throneworld, he learned that they had enormous love for their families, were good people, had strong religious convictions, and were noble.[140][566] Skrull families consist of a father and mother, with similar dynamics to human families, including parents who comfort their children and are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to save them.[567][568][387][141] They are also a species who enjoys art that has nothing to do with imperialism or war, such as the songs of "Leviathan Behemoths" which are known for exquisitely intricate social calls and mournful mating calls that even the Skrullian warriors enjoy.[569]
Skrulls are, in their own way, a noble warrior race.[17] In their wars of conquest, they offer the inhabitants of the planet they are invading or occupying the opportunity to surrender. Those who surrender are offered a place in the empire,[570][452][471] one example being the Yirbek, who controlled a small interstellar empire before they were conquered by the Skrulls and now serve them as mercenaries in interstellar conflicts of minor significance;[571] however, they were said to lack the concept of mercy,[572] and did not just conquer those races, but also completely consumed them, along with dominating their pantheons.[32]
Law[]
Skrull law was maintained by the High Court which acted as the Empire's supreme judicial centre. It contained spectators and the Jury of Six whose job was to listen to the judge's deliberations. The judicator would listen to the charges placed against the Skrulls' enemies, which allowed thanks to the rules of the Convention of Fornax, though they were deemed ridiculous even by the Skrulls themselves. The Executioners were chief officials armed with powerful weapons used to kill prisoners.[56]
Skrulls were forbidden from torturing captured Kree due to the Convention of Fornax.[41] Skrulls with noble blood were immune to imprisonment.[97]
Art[]
Due to the Skrulls' nature as a warrior race, it is hard for them to grasp almost any kind of representational art. Entertainment was hard for them to grasp, and things like television were seen as forbidden. The Skrulls developed colonies to act as cultural laboratories for some periods of Earth's television;[573] however, they were said to be a species that enjoyed art and beauty, in which even its warriors enjoyed listening to the intricate social calls and mournful mating calls of wildlife.[569] They had their own songs, such as "Kly'bn D'rhk", presumably in honor of their god.[574] Some Skrulls were seen enjoying musical concerts held by other species and shows from Mojo TV.[575] Skrulls that fell in love with the culture of an enemy were usually killed or looted.[576]
Food[]
Despite being a race that can take on almost any form imaginable, Skrulls apparently do not offer much choice in the way of food.[386] Some examples of Skrull food include:
- T'Manja Berries - A type of berry which, according to the Crusader, taste "almost the same" as strawberries mixed with pickles.[386]
Code of Honor[]
Skrulls have a code of honor, though not all of them follow said code. Warriors have been known to meet enemies in equal numbers (e.g., one-on-one or a squad vs. a team).[352][468] They respect and honor enemies of great valor and skill:[81][130][352]
- It forbids Skrulls to kill anyone who saved their lives.[352]
- It was speculated that they respected one-on-one fights, as only two of them attacked MI13 agents when there were hundreds of warriors at their disposal.[468]
- They honored their fallen brothers in battle by taking up their weapons in order to continue the battle.[309]
While the average Skrull will fearlessly and loyally execute any duties,[citation needed] he or she will also try to find ways to better his or her own position.[citation needed] A Skrull will betray another Skrull if it is to his or her own advantage.[citation needed]
Languages[]
The Skrulls speak different languages and dialects, among them "Skrull",[53] Skrullian,[20] "Skrullos",[24] or Skrullkrov,[577] (presumably all the same thing) as well as the Irdu Dialect of the Skrull Thort Language,[97][578] the Tligi Dialect of the Skrull Language,[320] the Frti Dialect of the Skrull Language,[4] the T'Keet Dialect of the Skrull language,[481] the Sfosogf Dialect.[96]
Other languages included the Forgotten Tongue,[579] and Ancient Skrullian.[521] The Prime Skrulls seemingly had their own language, which is now extinct along with their kind, save for the last surviving Prime Skrull.[540]
Education[]
The Skrulls had various educational facilities that they attended, such as the Skrull Elementary School.[547]
Leisure[]
Some Skrulls like to take vacations on one of the planets of the Kral system, a series of 10 worlds that emulate life at different points in Earth's history. Kral IV, whose theme is 1930s America, is particularly popular. The Kral system was viewed alternatively as a carefree vacation spot, an alternative lifestyle choice or an abomination against the "true Skrull way of life".[580] Interestingly, the Skrulls do not have public holidays such as Christmas on Earth.[581] There was a holiday, religious in nature, known as Vaxa Ha-Kax which involved full body baptism to convert people to the Skrull religion.[582]
Religion[]
Dard'van[]
The most well-known and influential Skrull religion is the Dard'van Sect,[419] their "True Faith."[583] The Dard'van primarily worship Kly'bn and Sl'gur't, presented as the Emperor and Empress of their pantheon.[30] The central text of the Dard'van Sect is the Book of Worlds, written an unspecified time ago by Kly'bn and Sl'gur't.[584]
It is unknown if other gods are part of this pantheon (such as Zorr'Kiri), but to at least some the Dard'van, Kly'bn and Sl'gur't are the only true gods,[585] and the Skrulls consider Odin, Uatu the Watcher and even Galactus as mere "demigods".[586]
Adherents believed that the Skrull Empire was divinely inspired,[587] that it is their "Holy Cause"[583] and their sacred duty to colonize Earth in the name of Kly'bn and Sl'gur't,[97] and that the planet is theirs by right.[588] The gods and pantheons of conquered planets were enslaved.[32][4]
They also associated purity with Skrull DNA, considering blended Skrull/human DNA impure but "still more blessed than human DNA untouched by [their purity]."[589]
Deities[]
A few gods are known among the Skrulls:
- The Skrull Pantheon:
- Sl'gur't the Skrull War-God, "the Great One", the God of the Infinite Names, Empress of the Pantheon, representing war and change.
- Kly'bn the Eternal Skrull, Emperor of the Pantheon, representing peace and stability.[584]
- A unnamed deity of death which was actually an aspect of the embodiment of Death.[590]
- Zorr'Kiri was the Skrull goddess of love.[591] Her relation to the Pantheon is currently unknown.
On Earth-2301, the Skrulls worshiped the Heralds of Galactus.[592]
The Brethren of the Forgotten Flame, a cult modeled after the prehistoric Skrull fire cults, worshiped Dormammu.[521]
Other Facts[]
In Skrull prehistory there were many fire cults that saw the secret fire as a universal symbol of magic and sychronicity. Fire-making was forbidden to everyone, except for the Shaman caste.[521]
The Skrulls knew Limbo as the Great Forgetting.[593] The Skrull equivalent of Hell is known as the Shapeless Wastes.[594]
Currency[]
The Skrulls used as currency golden Z'laks.[26] The Skrulls also began using the Sol, a new form of currency made out of Mysterium, after recognizing Planet Arakko as the capital of the Sol System.[595]
Society[]
Slavery was a relatively recent addition to the Skrull culture, and the selling of the "Earther" "Machine-Gun" Martin to the Skrulls on Kral IV led this culture to "infect" the planet. One slave ring posed as a carnival.[596]
The entire Skrull economy is built around its military pushing their tendency to instigate wars and campaigns of conquest.[597] Universal conquest is their goal to bring peace to the cosmos; therefore, they must conquer and subjugate every inhabited world in the cosmos.[552] Despite this, many Skrulls live peaceful lives.[566] The Skrulls are similar to humans in that they, too, have ambition and feel both love and hate.[68] Many of them truly believe in their gods and have immense love for their families. Professor X could sense the goodness and nobility of the teeming mass of billions of Skrulls on Tarnax IV.[140] They are known to always repay their debts.[68] They are also a race which is known for being vengeful.[547]Representatives
- See also: Category:Deviant Skrulls
- Emperor Dorrek I - He reigned during the first Skrull contact with the Kree.[34]
- Emperor Dorrek VII
- Prince Dezan - The younger brother of Dorrek VII, he is a (highly unusual (for Skrulls)) pacifist and, as such, was long imprisoned as a traitor to the Empire.[57]
- The Super-Skrull (K'lrt) - He was the first Super-Skrull, and was later crowned the new Emperor of the Skrull Empire following the war with the Builders.
- Anelle - Princess and daughter of R'Klll and Dorrek VII. The Super-Skrull wanted her for his mate. She died along with her mother and Throneworld.
- Hagar - The High Judicator, the leader of the Skrull judiciary.
- Jaketch - An apprentice executioner who infected Reed Richards, Sue Storm-Richards, and Ben Grimm with an accelerated-aging ray. He detests Hagar and lives for the day that he can execute him.
- Empress R'Klll - A Skrull Empress. She avenged her father by assassinating her husband, Emperor Dorrek VII. Her reign following Dorrek's death was marked by several attempts at peace, the end of the war against Xandar, the treaty ending the war against the Kree, and the destruction of Throneworld. She died along with seven billion of her people.
- Empress S'Byll - She was acclaimed as Empress following the successful restoration of the Skrulls' shape-shifting abilities to them;[15] killed in the destruction of the new Throneworld by Devos the Devastator.[241][598]
- Jazinda - A Super-Skrull who is the daughter of Kl'rt.
- Ethan Edwards
- Flaw - Warskrull member of the Shi'ar Death Commandos.
- De'Lila
- Talos the Untamed - A Skrull who cannot shapeshift due to a birth defect he had. The defect also gave him super-strength.
- Lyja the Lazerfist.
- Paibok the Power Skrull.
- Replica - Member of the Galactic Guardians, power mimicker.
- The Skrull Cows - A group of four Skrulls who initially tried to frame the Fantastic Four, but of whom three of them were eventually turned into cows and slaughtered for meat.
- The Skrullian Skymaster (Sk'ym'x) - Member of the Squadron Supreme.
- The Crusader
- Titannus - A Skrull who cannot shape-shift.
- Xavin - A Super-Skrull in training.
- Cadre K - A group of Mutant Skrulls.
- Veranke - The former Skrull Queen. She posed as Spider-Woman and orchestrated the Secret Invasion of Earth.
- Criti Noll - One of the Skrulls who posed as Hank Pym during the Secret Invasion of Earth. He not only had the abilities matching Pym's, he also had the powers of the Black Panther, Quicksilver and the Vision.
- John the Skrull - The last surviving member of the Skrull "Beatles". A member of MI13.
- Khn'nr - A Skrull who posed as Captain Mar-Vell. He turned against the other Skrulls during the Secret Invasion of Earth.
- Pagon - A Skrull who posed as Elektra after Siri's death. Killed by Echo as part of a suicide mission.
- Pitt'o Nili - A Skrull who posed as Captain America (and was brainwashed to be him) who came from a downed ship in the Savage Land. Killed by Shanna the She-Devil after being hit by a poisoned dart that had a huge effect on Skrulls.
- Kreddik - Skrull Ambassador to the Intergalactic Council.
- Krimonn - Conspired against Dorrek VII, failed, and was condemned to be imprisoned in a crystalline form. The Grandmaster turned him into Doctor Spectrum's Power Prism.
Notes
- The Chitauri were originally Earth-1610's version of the Skrulls. It was later stated that the Chitauri were related to the Skrulls, but were shunned by their peers. In Earth-616 and Earth-199999, the two races are completely separate and have no relation between them.
Trivia
- The adjective form is both "Skrull"[citation needed] and "Skrullian".[599]
- The Deviant branch of their species;[600] it is kind of ironic that they considered the Dire Wraiths as a "Deviant branch of Skrullkind"[13] and the Mutant Skrulls "Deviants".[274][503]
- The Skrulls were originally set to appear in Dark Phoenix, but were scrapped, most likely due to the deal between 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios, and were replaced with the D'bari who, unlike their comic book counterpart, shared many similarities with the Skrulls.[601]
- It is possible that the idea of the shape-shifting Skrulls was inspired by the paranoia caused from disguised Soviet spies during the Cold War.[602][603]
- Despite being oviparous, some Skrulls seem to possess navels, which is a feature exclusive to the viviparous,[145][604][553] while others lack this feature, as it would canonically seem that they should.[417][605] It is possible that the presence of navels are errors and artist inconsistencies.
Recommended Readings[]
- Fantastic Four #2 - First appearance
- Fantastic Four #18 - First appearance of the Super-Skrull
- Fantastic Four #37 - First look at the Skrull homeworld
- Avengers #89-97 - The First Kree-Skrull War
- Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #1-31 - The Second Kree-Skrull War
See Also
- 1201 appearance(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 19 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 192 minor appearance(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 440 mention(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 22 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 1 invocation(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 470 image(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 4 quotation(s) by or about Deviant Skrulls
- 6 victim(s) killed by Deviant Skrulls
- 667 representative(s) of Deviant Skrulls
- 3 item(s) used/owned by Deviant Skrulls
Links and References
- Deviant Skrulls on Wikipedia.org
- Skrulls at Marvel.com
- Skrulls at the MarvelDirectory
- List of less well-known Skrulls at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Skrulls! #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Marvel Fact Files #2
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 ; Dire Wraiths' profile
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Incredible Hercules #120
- ↑ Ultimate Secrets #1
- ↑ Ultimate Fantastic Four #27–28
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Avengers: The Initiative #16
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Marvel Westerns: Kid Colt and the Arizona Girl #1
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Thunderbolts #123
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #376, opposed to Mutant Skrulls
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Annihilation: Prologue #1
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #12 ; Skrulls' profile
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Rom #50
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #25
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 Fantastic Four Annual #19
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Fantastic Four Annual #24
- ↑ Annihilation: Nova #4
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Black Panther (Vol. 4) #39
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Fantastic Four Annual #18
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #27
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Annihilators #4
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Sensational She-Hulk #46
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Fantastic Four #209
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Avengers (Vol. 5) #21
- ↑ Thor #215
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #2
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Incredible Hercules #117
- ↑ Blackwulf #9
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 Incredible Hercules #118
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #31
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Avengers #133–134
- ↑ Captain Marvel #38
- ↑ X-Men Annual #11
- ↑ Thunderbolts #45
- ↑ Thunderbolts #46
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 Captain America Annual #7
- ↑ Avengers #133
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 Avengers #94
- ↑ Europa #0
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 4) #10
- ↑ Fantastic Four #91
- ↑ 45.0 45.1 Secret Invasion: Inhumans #2
- ↑ Blackwulf #2
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 Marvel: The Lost Generation #4
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #1
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #35
- ↑ Marvel Premiere #36
- ↑ 51.0 51.1 Marvel Premiere #37
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #2
- ↑ 53.0 53.1 Marvel: The Lost Generation #6
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #7
- ↑ Wisdom #2
- ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 56.4 Fantastic Four #206
- ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 57.3 57.4 57.5 57.6 Avengers Annual #14
- ↑ Iron Man #65
- ↑ Amazing Adult Fantasy #7
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #11
- ↑ Originally, the story in Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 was a stand alone sci-fi tale; however, the premise was used again in Marvel: The Lost Generation #11, replacing the generic alien in the story with a Skrull, updating the concept - from a book of alien languages to a communicator device - and changing the bald scientist into Reed Richards. The Skrulls! #1 Handbook confirms that the two stories are the same; as such, the details of The Lost Generation (Volume 1) #11 retcon some of the differences of Amazing Adult Fantasy (Volume 1) #7.
- ↑ 62.0 62.1 X-Men: The Hidden Years #16
- ↑ Marvel: The Lost Generation #12
- ↑ 64.0 64.1 Fantastic Four #2
- ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #20
- ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 Fantastic Four #18
- ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 Fantastic Four #32
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 68.2 68.3 68.4 Fantastic Four #37
- ↑ 69.0 69.1 Thor #142
- ↑ X-Men First Class #6
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #48
- ↑ Fantastic Four #50
- ↑ X-Men: First Class Giant-Size Special #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #89
- ↑ 76.0 76.1 Fantastic Four #90
- ↑ Fantastic Four #91–92
- ↑ 78.0 78.1 Fantastic Four #93
- ↑ Fantastic Four #64
- ↑ Marvel Super-Heroes #12
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 Captain Marvel #2
- ↑ Captain Marvel #3
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #25
- ↑ Avengers #69
- ↑ Avengers #70–71
- ↑ Avengers #91
- ↑ 87.0 87.1 Avengers #93
- ↑ 88.0 88.1 Avengers #92
- ↑ 89.0 89.1 Avengers #97
- ↑ 90.0 90.1 Fantastic Four Annual #17
- ↑ 91.0 91.1 91.2 Avengers #96
- ↑ 92.0 92.1 Marvel Team-Up #5
- ↑ 93.0 93.1 Marvel Premiere #24
- ↑ 94.0 94.1 94.2 Young Avengers #11
- ↑ 95.0 95.1 Young Avengers #10
- ↑ 96.0 96.1 New Avengers: Illuminati (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 97.00 97.01 97.02 97.03 97.04 97.05 97.06 97.07 97.08 97.09 97.10 New Avengers #40
- ↑ 98.0 98.1 98.2 New Avengers #44
- ↑ Captain Marvel #25
- ↑ Captain Marvel #26
- ↑ Captain Marvel #27
- ↑ Avengers #125
- ↑ 103.0 103.1 Marvel Chillers #3
- ↑ Marvel Chillers #5
- ↑ Marvel Chillers #6
- ↑ Marvel Chillers #7
- ↑ 107.0 107.1 Marvel Team-Up #61
- ↑ Fantastic Four #173
- ↑ Fantastic Four #174
- ↑ Fantastic Four #175
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up #60
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up #62
- ↑ Captain Marvel #53
- ↑ Marvel Two-In-One #45
- ↑ 115.0 115.1 115.2 Fantastic Four #204
- ↑ 116.0 116.1 116.2 Fantastic Four #205
- ↑ 117.0 117.1 Fantastic Four #212
- ↑ Nova #25
- ↑ Fantastic Four #208
- ↑ Fantastic Four #213
- ↑ Fantastic Four #214
- ↑ Avengers #209
- ↑ 123.0 123.1 123.2 Mighty Avengers #14
- ↑ Wolverine: First Class #19
- ↑ Wolverine: First Class #20
- ↑ X-Men #136
- ↑ X-Men #137
- ↑ Fantastic Four Annual #15
- ↑ Rom #24
- ↑ 130.0 130.1 130.2 130.3 Death of Captain Marvel #1
- ↑ 131.0 131.1 131.2 131.3 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #14
- ↑ Fantastic Four #249
- ↑ Fantastic Four #250
- ↑ 134.0 134.1 134.2 Skrull Kill Krew #2
- ↑ 135.0 135.1 Skrull Kill Krew (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Fantastic Four #256
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #369
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #89
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #370
- ↑ 140.0 140.1 140.2 140.3 X-Men (Vol. 2) #90
- ↑ 141.0 141.1 141.2 Fantastic Four #257
- ↑ Fantastic Four #244
- ↑ 143.0 143.1 Fantastic Four #261
- ↑ 144.0 144.1 144.2 144.3 144.4 X-Men (Vol. 2) #95
- ↑ 145.0 145.1 145.2 Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #16
- ↑ 146.0 146.1 Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #15
- ↑ 147.0 147.1 147.2 Silver Surfer Annual #1
- ↑ 148.0 148.1 148.2 148.3 148.4 Avengers #259
- ↑ 149.0 149.1 149.2 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ 150.0 150.1 150.2 150.3 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ 151.0 151.1 151.2 151.3 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #13
- ↑ Rom #49
- ↑ 153.0 153.1 153.2 Alpha Flight #10
- ↑ Alpha Flight #9
- ↑ 155.0 155.1 155.2 155.3 Fantastic Four #358
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1
- ↑ Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #12
- ↑ Fantastic Four #264
- ↑ Ljya posed as Alicia Masters from Fantastic Four #264-356 (for more details of this deception, see the profile on Lyja).
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #25
- ↑ Power Man and Iron Fist #111–113
- ↑ 162.0 162.1 Power Man and Iron Fist #121
- ↑ Avengers #260
- ↑ 164.0 164.1 164.2 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #7
- ↑ Avengers #261
- ↑ 166.0 166.1 166.2 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Power Man and Iron Fist #125
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #22
- ↑ West Coast Avengers Annual #2
- ↑ Avengers Annual #16
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #8
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #9
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #10
- ↑ New Mutants #92
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #21
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #11
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #12
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #20
- ↑ 181.0 181.1 181.2 Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #28
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #26
- ↑ 183.0 183.1 Incredible Hulk #375
- ↑ 184.0 184.1 184.2 Incredible Hulk #419
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #29
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #30
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #31
- ↑ Mighty Thor #413
- ↑ Avengers Spotlight #25
- ↑ Impossible Man Summer Vacation #1
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #374
- ↑ 192.0 192.1 Fantastic Four #349
- ↑ Fantastic Four #347
- ↑ Fantastic Four #348
- ↑ Spider-Man / Fantastic Four #3
- ↑ 196.0 196.1 Namor, the Sub-Mariner #18
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #8
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #10–11
- ↑ 199.0 199.1 Uncanny X-Men #276
- ↑ 200.0 200.1 Uncanny X-Men #277
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #265
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #273–274
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #275
- ↑ Infinity Gauntlet #1
- ↑ Infinity Gauntlet #6
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #14
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #15
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #16
- ↑ Namor, the Sub-Mariner #17
- ↑ Impossible Man Summer Vacation #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four #357
- ↑ 212.0 212.1 Fantastic Four #366
- ↑ Avengers: West Coast #80
- ↑ 214.0 214.1 Avengers: West Coast #82
- ↑ Mighty Thor #445
- ↑ Iron Man #279
- ↑ Mighty Thor #446
- ↑ Quasar #34
- ↑ Wonder Man (Vol. 2) #9
- ↑ Fantastic Four #369
- ↑ Fantastic Four #370
- ↑ Sensational She-Hulk #44
- ↑ New Avengers: The Reunion #1
- ↑ Avengers: West Coast #90
- ↑ New Avengers: The Reunion #2
- ↑ Avengers: West Coast #91
- ↑ For more information on this infiltration, see the entry for H'rpra.
- ↑ New Avengers: The Reunion #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #371
- ↑ Fantastic Four #372
- ↑ Fantastic Four #374
- ↑ For more information on Lyja's time with the Fantastic Four, see the entries on Lyja and the Fantastic Four.
- ↑ Fantastic Four #377
- ↑ Fantastic Four #378
- ↑ Quasar #48
- ↑ Infinity Crusade #3
- ↑ Mighty Thor #465
- ↑ Infinity Crusade #6
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #89–90
- ↑ Fantastic Four #379
- ↑ 241.0 241.1 241.2 241.3 Fantastic Four #383
- ↑ Avengers: West Coast #100
- ↑ Nova (Vol. 2) #15
- ↑ Nova (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #418
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #105
- ↑ Force Works #1
- ↑ 248.0 248.1 Force Works #13
- ↑ Force Works #14
- ↑ See Force Works #15Force Works #16 and Century: Distant Sons #1.
- ↑ See Starmasters #1-3 and Cosmic Powers Unlimited #4-5
- ↑ 252.0 252.1 Skrull Kill Krew #1
- ↑ 253.0 253.1 Skrull Kill Krew #3
- ↑ Skrull Kill Krew #4
- ↑ Skrull Kill Krew #5
- ↑ Spider-Man Team-Up #2
- ↑ Silver Surfer: Dangerous Artifacts #1
- ↑ Spider-Man Human Torch #5
- ↑ Onslaught: Marvel #1
- ↑ 260.0 260.1 260.2 Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #2
- ↑ See Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #1-13, Captain America (Vol. 2) #1-13, Iron Man (Vol. 2) #1-13 and Avengers (Vol. 2) #1-13.
- ↑ Heroes Reborn: The Return #4
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 3) #5
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 3) #7
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 3) #24
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 3) #25
- ↑ Nova (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 4) #8
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 4) #9
- ↑ 273.0 273.1 273.2 Captain Marvel (Vol. 4) #10
- ↑ 274.0 274.1 274.2 274.3 Uncanny X-Men #376
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #145
- ↑ See James Howlett (Skrull) (Earth-616) for more details.
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #92
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #93–94
- ↑ Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #375
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #377
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #97
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #378
- ↑ Cable #77
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #148
- ↑ X-Men Unlimited #26
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #98
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #379
- ↑ Avengers: Forever #12
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 3) #35
- ↑ 291.0 291.1 Maximum Security #3
- ↑ 292.0 292.1 292.2 Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1
- ↑ Maximum Security #1
- ↑ Bishop the Last X-Man #15
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 2) #107
- ↑ X-Men Unlimited #29
- ↑ Maximum Security #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #37
- ↑ Infinity Abyss #2
- ↑ Thing: Freakshow #3
- ↑ Thing: Freakshow #1–3
- ↑ Thing: Freakshow #4
- ↑ B-Sides #1–3
- ↑ JLA/Avengers #1
- ↑ JLA/Avengers #4
- ↑ 306.0 306.1 Avengers #503
- ↑ Thor (Vol. 2) #85
- ↑ 308.0 308.1 Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #23
- ↑ 309.0 309.1 309.2 Avengers: The Initiative #15
- ↑ Young Avengers #1
- ↑ For more about the Hulkling's activities see Dorrek VIII.
- ↑ Secret War #5
- ↑ 313.0 313.1 Dark Reign: Elektra #3
- ↑ New Avengers #29
- ↑ 315.0 315.1 315.2 Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #1
- ↑ Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1
- ↑ New Avengers #14
- ↑ 318.0 318.1 318.2 318.3 318.4 New Avengers #42
- ↑ 319.0 319.1 New Avengers #43
- ↑ 320.0 320.1 320.2 Mighty Avengers #12
- ↑ 321.0 321.1 321.2 Mighty Avengers #16
- ↑ New Avengers #1–2
- ↑ New Avengers #3
- ↑ New Avengers #4
- ↑ 325.0 325.1 New Avengers #41
- ↑ New Avengers #6
- ↑ See Veranke for further details of her various battles with the New Avengers.
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #10
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #4–5
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #8–9
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #11
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #13
- ↑ Young Avengers #9
- ↑ Young Avengers #12
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #24
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #25
- ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #14
- ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #17
- ↑ Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #18
- ↑ 341.0 341.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2–3
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #17
- ↑ For more on Xavin's adventures with the Runaways, refer to Xavin (Earth-616).
- ↑ Drax the Destroyer #1
- ↑ Drax the Destroyer #2–4
- ↑ House of M #1
- ↑ 348.0 348.1 New Avengers #45
- ↑ House of M #8
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #466
- ↑ For more on Flaw's activities, see Flaw (Earth-616) and Shi'ar Death Commandos (Earth-616).
- ↑ 352.0 352.1 352.2 352.3 Uncanny X-Men #478
- ↑ Doc Samson (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ 354.0 354.1 Annihilation #2
- ↑ Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1
- ↑ Annihilation: Silver Surfer #2
- ↑ Annihilation: Silver Surfer #3
- ↑ Annihilation: Silver Surfer #4
- ↑ Annihilation: Super-Skrull #2
- ↑ 360.0 360.1 360.2 Annihilation: Super-Skrull #3
- ↑ Annihilation: Super-Skrull #4
- ↑ 362.0 362.1 Annihilation #1
- ↑ Annihilation: Ronan #2
- ↑ Annihilation: Ronan #3
- ↑ Annihilation: Ronan #4
- ↑ Annihilation #3
- ↑ Annihilation #4
- ↑ Annihilation #5
- ↑ Annihilation #6
- ↑ Annihilation: Conquest Prologue #1
- ↑ See the entry on the Super-Skrull for more details on his involvement in the Kree Empire.
- ↑ Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #1
- ↑ Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #91
- ↑ Civil War #1
- ↑ 375.0 375.1 375.2 Captain Marvel (Vol. 6) #5
- ↑ Civil War: The Return #1
- ↑ Civil War #7
- ↑ Captain America (Vol. 5) #25
- ↑ Secret Invasion Prologue #1
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #17
- ↑ Wisdom #1
- ↑ See John the Skrull for more detail on specific missions.
- ↑ Wisdom #6
- ↑ 384.0 384.1 Avengers: The Initiative #1
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #1
- ↑ 386.0 386.1 386.2 386.3 386.4 386.5 Avengers: The Initiative #14
- ↑ 387.0 387.1 387.2 387.3 She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #33
- ↑ She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #22
- ↑ See Jazinda for more details.
- ↑ 390.0 390.1 Black Panther (Vol. 4) #33
- ↑ Black Panther (Vol. 4) #31
- ↑ Black Panther (Vol. 4) #32
- ↑ Silent War #6
- ↑ 394.0 394.1 394.2 Secret Invasion: Inhumans #3
- ↑ Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #105
- ↑ World War Hulk #1
- ↑ World War Hulk #5
- ↑ New Avengers #46
- ↑ New Avengers #27–30
- ↑ New Avengers #31
- ↑ New Avengers #32
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #7
- ↑ New Avengers: Illuminati (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ 404.0 404.1 Secret Invasion: Inhumans #1
- ↑ 405.0 405.1 405.2 405.3 405.4 405.5 405.6 405.7 405.8 Avengers: The Initiative #19
- ↑ 406.0 406.1 406.2 406.3 Avengers: The Initiative #18
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #7
- ↑ 408.0 408.1 408.2 408.3 Avengers: The Initiative #17
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #8
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 6) #3
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 6) #4
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #25–27
- ↑ 414.0 414.1 Secret Invasion: Thor #1
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #33
- ↑ X-Factor (Vol. 3) #34
- ↑ 417.0 417.1 417.2 417.3 417.4 417.5 417.6 Secret Invasion #1
- ↑ 418.0 418.1 418.2 Secret Invasion #2
- ↑ 419.0 419.1 419.2 419.3 419.4 419.5 Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? #1
- ↑ 420.0 420.1 420.2 Secret Invasion #3
- ↑ 421.0 421.1 421.2 Secret Invasion #4
- ↑ 422.0 422.1 422.2 422.3 422.4 Secret Invasion #5
- ↑ 423.0 423.1 Thunderbolts #122
- ↑ Secret Invasion #2–3
- ↑ 425.0 425.1 425.2 Secret Invasion #7
- ↑ Avengers: The Initiative #5
- ↑ 427.0 427.1 427.2 Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #1–2
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #3–4
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #28
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #29
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #30
- ↑ Secret Invasion: The Amazing Spider-Man #1–3
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Front Line #1–4
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #5–8
- ↑ Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) #24
- ↑ Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) #25
- ↑ New Warriors (Vol. 4) #14
- ↑ 442.0 442.1 Secret Invasion: Inhumans #4
- ↑ Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33
- ↑ 444.0 444.1 Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #34
- ↑ Nova (Vol. 4) #16
- ↑ 446.0 446.1 Nova #17
- ↑ 447.0 447.1 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ 450.0 450.1 Thunderbolts #124
- ↑ 451.0 451.1 Thunderbolts #125
- ↑ 452.0 452.1 Secret Invasion: X-Men #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion: X-Men #2
- ↑ Secret Invasion: X-Men #3
- ↑ 455.0 455.1 Secret Invasion: X-Men #4
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Thor #2
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Thor #3
- ↑ Nova (Vol. 4) #18
- ↑ She-Hulk (Vol. 2) #32
- ↑ New Warriors (Vol. 4) #15
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 4) #2
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 4) #3
- ↑ 464.0 464.1 464.2 Secret Invasion #6
- ↑ 465.0 465.1 Black Panther (Vol. 4) #40
- ↑ Black Panther (Vol. 4) #41
- ↑ 467.0 467.1 Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #35
- ↑ 468.0 468.1 468.2 Captain Britain and MI13 #1
- ↑ 469.0 469.1 469.2 469.3 Captain Britain and MI13 #2
- ↑ 470.0 470.1 Captain Britain and MI13 #3
- ↑ 471.0 471.1 Captain Britain and MI13 #4
- ↑ Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #3
- ↑ Incredible Hercules #119
- ↑ Secret Invasion #8
- ↑ 475.0 475.1 Skrull Kill Krew (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Dark Avengers #1
- ↑ New Avengers #48
- ↑ New Avengers #49
- ↑ Dark Reign: Elektra #1
- ↑ Dark Reign: Elektra #4
- ↑ 481.0 481.1 Secret Invasion: War of Kings #1
- ↑ War of Kings: Ascension #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill - The Green of Eden #1
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ Dark Reign: New Nation #1
- ↑ Skrull Kill Krew (Vol. 2) #2
- ↑ Skrull Kill Krew (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Skrull Kill Krew (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Spider-Woman (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Spider-Woman (Vol. 4) #3
- ↑ Spider-Woman (Vol. 4) #7
- ↑ Ms. Marvel (Vol. 2) #50
- ↑ Hawkeye & Mockingbird #6
- ↑ Annihilators #1
- ↑ New Avengers Annual (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Avengers Annual (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ X-Men (Vol. 3) #28
- ↑ 498.0 498.1 X-Men (Vol. 3) #29
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 4) #30
- ↑ A + X #13
- ↑ A + X #14
- ↑ A + X #15
- ↑ 503.0 503.1 A + X #16
- ↑ A + X #17
- ↑ A + X #18
- ↑ 506.0 506.1 506.2 Avengers (Vol. 5) #18
- ↑ 507.0 507.1 Avengers (Vol. 5) #15
- ↑ 508.0 508.1 508.2 Infinity #1
- ↑ Infinity #2
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #19
- ↑ Infinity #3
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #20
- ↑ Infinity #4
- ↑ Infinity #5
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #22
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 5) #23
- ↑ Infinity #6
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #1
- ↑ Meet the Skrulls #1–5
- ↑ Incoming #1
- ↑ 521.0 521.1 521.2 521.3 521.4 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #13
- ↑ Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion (Vol. 2) #1
- ↑ Secret Invasion (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #26–27
- ↑ Fantastic Four #386
- ↑ Fantastic Five #2
- ↑ Yondu #2
- ↑ Universe X: X #1
- ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 4) #4
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #89
- ↑ Skrulls! #1 ; Raze's profile
- ↑ Marvel Team-Up (Vol. 3) #12
- ↑ 534.0 534.1 Skrulls! #1 ; Talos the Untamed's profile
- ↑ Spider-Woman (Vol. 6) #3–4
- ↑ Hercules: Twilight of a God #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #30
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10
- ↑ Blackwulf #4
- ↑ 540.0 540.1 Blackwulf #10
- ↑ Skrulls! #1 ; Citadel of Light and Shadow's profile
- ↑ Uncanny X-Men #274–277
- ↑ Infinity: Against the Tide: Infinite Comic #2
- ↑ Fantastic Four: Unplugged #4
- ↑ Heroes for Hire (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Fantastic Four #348–349
- ↑ 547.0 547.1 547.2 547.3 547.4 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (Vol. 2) #40
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #18
- ↑ Secret Invasion: X-Men #3–4
- ↑ Fantastic Four #18–209
- ↑ 551.0 551.1 Fantastic Four #262
- ↑ 552.0 552.1 Fantastic Four #206–358
- ↑ 553.0 553.1 Empyre: Aftermath Avengers #1
- ↑ King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling #1
- ↑ 555.0 555.1 555.2 Venom: First Host #3
- ↑ Black Panther (Vol. 4) #34
- ↑ 557.0 557.1 Runaways (Vol. 3) #12
- ↑ Avengers (Vol. 4) #18
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Annual (Vol. 3) #1
- ↑ Avengers #258
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 4) #2–3
- ↑ Secret Invasion: X-Men #1–2