The Skrulls are set to make their big screen debut in this years new MCU movie, Captain Marvel. This alien race has plagued our heroes in the comics for decades now and they always provide a thrilling showdown.
But who are they, what are their powers and ultimately their end goals?
Well throughout this article I’ll be breaking down everything that you need to know about The Skrulls on and off the page. There will be some spoilers here in relation to their appearances in the comics books so if you don’t want to know anything then I highly suggest that you turn off now. Don’t forget to read until the end to hear my fan theory on which Avengers team member could secretly be one but with that out the way, I’m Deffinition and Welcome To The Channel where I watch it so you don’t have to!
The Skrull’s Creation
The Skrulls first appeared as early as 1961 in Fantastic Four Issue 2. Titled ‘THE SKRULLS ATTACK EARTH,’ this issue introduced the alien race who set out to destroy the Fantastic Four and eventually take over the Earth. Luckily the Fantastic Four Manage to stop them and hypnotise them to believe they are cows.
Those who’ve read Civil War will know that this eventually leads to more mutants being created due to them drinking their milk and having Skrull Cow burgers but that story is for another day.
They were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee who throughout the years discovered their backstory and origins.
The Skrulls Species Biography
So how exactly did they come to be? Well, Millions of years ago on the planet Skrullos, the Celestials performed genetic experiments on the reptilian ancestors of The Skrulls and this caused three forms of the creatures to be born.
These were called The Prime, The Deviants and The Eternals. However, the three races were unable to co-exist with one another and this eventually came to a head with The Deviants wiping out the majority of the other two races until only The Skrull Eternal and The Prime Skrull were left.
Unlike the Deviants, neither of the other races were able to shapeshift so they could not compete with their more modified cousins.
The Two Survivors of their respective races eventually fell in love and became Gods to the Deviants, ruling over them with the goal of expanding their territory throughout the galaxy.
What Are Their Powers?
So what are their powers beyond shapeshifting? Well there are elite versions of The Skrulls know as ‘War Skrulls’ and the infamous ‘Super Skrulls.’
These are able to replicate the powers of various Marvel Heroes, however, unlike their brethren, depending on what continuity you read, they cannot shapeshift.
So, you have ones that are weaker that can transform and stronger ones that possess insane powers but which can’t.
The Kree-Skrull War
Eventually the Skrulls developed interstellar travel which threw them into their first major comic book arc, The Kree-Skrull War.
The book begins with Captain Marvel, A Kree hero who in this story is a male, arriving on Earth from The Negative Zone. She is captured by the Avengers and the plot goes from there.
It turns out that The Kree and Skrull had battled one another for millenia but that the conflict had died down. Unfortunately Ronan The Accuser manages to reignite the war and the Avengers become involved due to their affiliation with Captain Marvel.
In the story it’s revealed that an Ally to the Avengers, Rick Jones has vast mental powers and he manages to freeze all combatants in the war. From this conflict another big Marvel character, Hulkling is produced who is a kree-skrull hybrid.
The Skrulls would go on to feature in many comics including Infiltrating Earth, Secret Invasion and The Second Kree-Skrull War.
Secret Invasion
In Secret Invasion the Skrulls even managed to infiltrate Earth on several levels. They were even successful in replacing a large chunk of the Marvel Heroes and this revelation came as a huge twist.
In the MCU I think that this has already come into play with one of the main Avenger’s being a Skrull since their second appearance which I will now go into.
Is Rhodey A Skrull?
Firstly before I go into this I just want to prefix it with the fact that Marvel themselves have said numerous times that there may already be Skrulls in the MCU and this is why they have the villains in Captain Marvel. Based on this information, I personally believe that Rhodey is a Skrull due to a number of reasons.
Firstly, judging from an external point of view, it’s unlikely that Kevin Feige and the heads at Marvel would want one of the main movie front runners to be one as this would retroactively cheapen their movies and make it seem like they weren’t the heroes that we all idolised growing up.
Secondly, Rhodey has already gone through a major change in the movies. In Iron-Man the actor was played by Terrence Howard, so, if it was introduced that he was captured upon the appearance of Iron-Man, his change in appearance would make sense. Some Skrulls have psychic abilities so they could ultimately make those around Rhodey believe that his change in appearance wasn’t anything out of place.
Rhodey is also pretty pedestrian throughout the franchise. Sure he helps out in battle but how much does he actually offer when it comes to strategy and fighting the big bad? Not much, he is actually the perfect person to be a mole as he not only fits in nicely with the US government, able to gain secrets on their intel etc, but he has also infiltrated the Avengers so he would be able to monitor their moves too.
Lastly, Rhodey never really rocks the boat. The only time that he really took a stance against something was in Infinity War, when he defied General Ross but, his race was in danger then too so it makes sense that he would step up to the position. The fact that the Skrulls are able to shapeshift don’t possess any other powers also gives him a motive for why he wants to take the Mark 2 Prototype in Iron-Man 2 and kit this out with his own weaponry.
Now he has blended in and can compete with the rest of the team due to his suit’s ability.
Your Thoughts
So, that’s everything you need to know about The Skrulls before you check out this years MCU movies.
Obviously we will see if this comes to fruition in Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame but personally I think it would be a really great twist that makes a lot of sense. I’d love to hear your thoughts on The Skrulls and if you’re excited to see them appear in the MCU so make sure you leave them in the comments below!
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