Marvel: A Face You Can Trust – Skrull Explainer
When you can’t trust the faces you know, who can you trust? The Skrull are here to put that question to the test!
The Skrulls are some of the oldest antagonists in Marvel Comics. These green baddies have made their way to the big screen already with promises of bigger roles for them in upcoming films. But what do we know about the Skrulls, and what should we expect of future Marvel projects?
First Appearance
The first Skrull appearance was in 1962’s Fantastic Four #1. Here a group of Skrulls disguise themselves as members of the Fantastic Four in order to commit a few crimes and pin it on the heroes in order to get them out of the way of a future Skrull invasion.
The Fantastic Four are initially blamed and arrested, but are eventually able to steal the Skrulls rocket ship, go into orbit, and prove that shapeshifters from space were actually responsible for the crime spree; ultimately clearing their names.
Shapeshifting and invading Earth would be hallmarks of the Skrulls going forward.
Skrull Powers & Abilities
The most well-known ability of a Skrull is its shape-shifting. They can shift into just about any shape, organic or inorganic, and seem to have very little limitation of size. Whatever they turn into must be a solid, however.
Using their shapeshifting, Skrulls can utilize a few other key abilities. For example, their shapeshifting allows them to be stretchy and take on creative shapes with their bodies, similar to Mr. Fantastic. Similarly, they can shift themselves a pair of wings and have the ability to fly or even use parts of their own bodies to create weapons.
Skrulls also have a nearly perfect ability to mimic sounds and voices, making them ideal for infiltration and spy work. And a small number are even able to use telepathic powers.
These powers do have limits, however. If a Skrull is taking on the form of a super-powered individual, they don’t take on the powers of that person. Additionally, a very high decibel sound will temporarily disable their powers completely or cause them to lose control of their powers.
In Other Media
In the MCU we have seen the Skrulls make appearances so far in Captain Marvel, Spider-Man Far From Home, WandaVision, and Loki. Most recently, the Skrull played a major part in Secret Invasion, where we found out that even Fury himself was a Skrull in disguise for a time. Throughout the series, the dreaded “Super Skrull” was teased, and at the show’s end, we saw a battle between the two. Now that G’iah has vanished, who knows where the Super Skrull will show up next in the MCU?
Aside from the MCU however, Skrulls have been seen in a number of animated shows such as The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. as well as multiple video games.
The Skrulls have been part of the Marvel family for a very long time, and we’re looking forward to seeing more of them in live-action in the upcoming Secret Invasion series. The MCU has been building up to this for a few years now, and it will be exciting to see how it all plays out.
What is your favorite Skrull appearance or battle in comic history? Do you have a favorite, specific Skrull? What do you think will happen in Secret Invasion later this year? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
