Kral IV, sometimes merely called Kral, was a Skrull Empire resort planet in the Kral system. It was at one time the outermost planet in the Andromeda Galaxy,[1] and was known for its emulation of 1930s America.
History
Origins[]
When a Skrull Slave-Master from the Kral system abducted the mobster John "Machine-Gun" Martin from Earth in the 1930s, they were fascinated by his mannerisms and style,[1] and began to take a keen interest in the movies of his home planet. Because Skrulls were not intimately familiar with moving images and art in general, they set aside the whole Kral system as an exploration of replicating the Earth culture.[2] In place of traditional American gambling, however, they used Skrull technology to set up a gladiator arena in which slaves from around the galaxy would be made to fight, using an immense planet-devastating cannon as a threat against gladiator's home planets to force them to participate.[3]
Visited by the Fantastic Four[]
When the Krallian Slave-Master returned to Earth under the guise of Reed Richards in order to capture and sell Benjamin Grimm, the rest of the Fantastic Four were forced to travel to Kral IV to rescue him.[4]
Black Panthers[]
As he escaped, the Thing started a revolt among Kral IV's gladiators, which resulted in the deaths of the planet's leaders and destruction of much of its infrastructure. When the gladiators and slaves left for their home planets, many of the Krallians wanted to rebuild what had been lost; others, however, felt guilty for their slave-running ways, and sought inspiration from other media from Earth. Based on the teachings of Reverend King and Malcolm X and the deeds of the Black Panther Party, half of the Skrulls of Kral IV established their own Black Panthers, splitting the planet into warring Uptown and Downtown factions.
The Fantastic Four returned to Kral, with T'Challa and Storm in Reed and Sue's places, when one of King Solomon's Frogs activated its ability to warp space and then left, stranding them there. With a price still on the Thing's head from his prior visit to the planet, the locals attempted to stun and capture the Fantastic Four. Only Storm was able to escape, crossing 125th street and thus entering the territory of the Black Panthers.
Kral's Black Panthers saw T'Challa, the Black Panther of Wakanda, as a symbol of their cause, and with Storm's help staged a revolution against their white-skinned rivals to prevent T'Challa from being killed in the arena. When the Krallian Panthers overcame "Biggie" Smalls' gang, the Fantastic Four planned to leave the Skrull doppelgangers of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in charge; however, the two were unable to disagree on many topics of policy, and the sudden reappearance of King Solomon's Frogs allowed the escape of the traitor Bumpy Johnson.[3]
Empyre and destruction[]
When the plant-based Cotati set out to wage war against the Kree and the Skrulls, they used the Kral System as a testing ground for their Death Blossom, an amplifier of their power to control plants which allowed them to infect many of Kral's planets. In an attempt to stop the Cotati's spread, Skrull emperor Kl'rt the Super-Skrull ordered the deployment of the Pyre, an astronuclear weapon that detonated Kral and the surrounding system.[5]
Nova was on Kral IV attending an alert regarding looters from the rest of the Skrull Empire when the Pyre detonated, and only survived thanks to the protection of the Nova Force. He later estimated that around ten thousand Krallians had evacuated before the detonation, including Prince Dezan and Boss Barker's boys from Kral IV.[6]Points of Interest
- 125th street: this facsimile of the New York City street delineated Kral IV's Uptown and Downtown, where Lou "Biggie" Smalls and the Black Panthers were each in charge.[3]
Residents
See Also
- 11 appearance(s) of Kral IV
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Kral IV
- 3 minor appearance(s) of Kral IV
- 1 mention(s) of Kral IV
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Kral IV
- 4 image(s) of Kral IV