Super-Skrull

Super-Skrull
Super-Skrull
	File:FantasticFour-18.jpg The 1st appearance of the Super Skrull in Fantastic Four #18, Volume 1, September 1963. Art by Jack Kirby. Publisher Marvel Comics.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fantastic Four #18, Volume 1, September, 1963.
Created by	Stan Lee; Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Kl'rt
Species	Skrull
Team affiliations	Skrull Empire, Thanos, Skragg, Secret Defenders
Notable aliases	Invincible Man, Captain Hero, Bobby Wright
Abilities	Combined powers of the Fantastic Four; shape-shifting and hypnosis.

The Super-Skrull (Kl'rt) is a fictional character that exists in the Marvel Universe. Although originally cast as a supervillain, the Super Skrull has been depicted as an anti-hero recently.

Origin

Kl'rt - more commonly known as the Super-Skrull, hailed from the planet Tarnax IV - the Skrull homeworld - before it was destroyed by Galactus. The Skrull Emperor Dorrek wanted revenge against the Fantastic Four,who had thwarted the Empire's attempt to invade Earth. Dorrek handpicked the warrior Kl'rt to be the instrument of his revenge: he was artifically augmented and given the combined abilities of the Fantastic Four. Kl'rt's power levels, however, exceeded the originals - he was stronger than the Ben Grimm; had superior flight and greater pyrokinetic ability than the Johnny Storm; better control of invisibility and energiakinesis than the Susan Richards and an ability to stretch beyond that of Mr. Fantastic. The newly-named "Super-Skrull" also retained his innate Skrullian shapeshifting abilities and strong hypnotic skills. He was then dispatched to Earth to defeat the Fantastic Four and pave the way for a renewed invasion by the Skrull Empire.

Against the Heroes

The Super Skrull's powers had the Fantastic Four at a disadvantage at first, until Mr. Fantastic correctly guessed that Kl'rt's powers were being augmented by a power beam from the Skrull homeworld, which he subsequently blocked. Deprived of his new powers, the Super Skrull was quickly defeated and had to return to the Skrull homeworld in shame. He would, however, be sent back to Earth to time and again, battling other heroes such as Thor; Captain Marvel; Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.

At one point, it was discovered that constant bombardment with an augmentation beam had given Kl'rt cancer. Maddened with pain, the Super Skrull slaughtered a group of Canadian research scientists and then attacked the Canadian physicist superhero Sasquatch, who managed to trick him - the Super Skrull was converted into a stream of dissociated particles and transmitted into deep space. Some years later the Super Skrull was freed by the Silver Surfer, and the cancer had regressed. This was apparently caused by a "chronal anomaly" in area of space Kl'rt occupied, which reverted his cellular makeup to a period before he had been exposed to Skrull carcinogens.

More importantly, his imprisonment in the van Allen belt had shielded Kl'rt from the effects of Zabyk's Disaster, in which all Skrulls everywhere lost their shapeshifting abilities. He joined forces with S'Byll, a claimant to the Skrull Throne, and she was able to use him as a template to restore her own abilities, and to restore the abilities of others. S'Byll became the Empress of the Skrull Empire shortly thereafter, and Kl'rt was lauded as the savior of Skrull society. The empire subsequently fell into a disarray, however, and Kl'rt went into hiding on Earth under the guise of movie special effects guru Lon Zelig, awaiting contact from his Empress. Seeing a chance to make contact himself, he shed his disguise to attack the Fantastic Four, only to be captured and imprisoned by SHIELD, then transferred to the newly-constructed superhuman prison, the Vault, in the Negative Zone.

Though banished, the Super-Skrull continued to serve the Skrull Empire zealously. Following the devastation of the Skrull homeworld by the planet-devouring force of nature known as Galactus, Skrull factions were dispersed throughout the galaxy. The Super-Skrull subsequently came into the service of the Intelligentsia, a computerized amalgamation of his race's most potent minds. The Super-Skrull again was dispatched to Earth, this time to destroy a girl who had developed the ability to warp reality. The Intelligentsia had determined that the youngster's power was too dangerous to the universe, and that she must be exterminated before developing further. The Super-Skrull's pursuit of the girl brought him into conflict with the son of Captain Marvel, Genis. In a display of his contempt for the Intelligentsia's rule, the Super-Skrull kidnapped the Earthling instead of killing her, and brought her before the sentient computer. The second Captain Marvel pursued the patchwork powerhouse, who planned to use the young woman's talents as a weapon on behalf of the Skrull Empire. However, the Super-Skrull's power play came to an abrupt end when the girl simply wished away her awesome abilities

Most recently, Kl'rt has escaped his imprisonment and renewed contact with the Skrull Empire. He now seeks to take the Young Avengers's Hulkling into protective custody due to his Skrullian heritage on his mother's side. In Young Avengers #10, he was shot, but despite the claim that he would "never be a threat to anyone again," he survived. Later in the story arc, in Young Avengers #12, Hulkling and Kl'rt hatched a scheme in which the Kree and the Skrulls would agree to allow Hulkling to spend six Earth months on the Kree homeworld and six months on the Skrull homeworld (including regularly scheduled visits to Earth), after which Hulkling would choose his allegiance. What the Kree and Skrulls failed to realize is that Hulkling and Kl'rt used their shapeshifting abilities to impersonate one another, allowing Hulkling to remain on Earth while Kl'rt, masquerading as Hulkling, spied on both races. Template:Spoiler In the Annihilation: Super-Skrull mini-series, Kl'rt attempts to stop the destructive wave before it reaches the Skrull home world. Failing in this mission, he sacrifices himself while destroying the Harvester of Sorrows, the enormous organic ship that destroyed his home and wreaked havoc throughout the universe. His body was later found by the Skrulls and has been taken to the United Forces base.

Despite this, Marvel have confirmed that the Super-Skrull will return in a new four-issue Super Skrull: Armada limited series, which will be written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach. It is not clear whether or not this series will feature Kl'rt, however.

Template:Endspoiler

Powers and abilities

The Super-Skrull has replicas of the Fantastic Four's superhuman abilities at the levels they possessed when they began their careers. Therefore, he is able to lift 10 to 15 tons. The Thing is currently capable of lifting far more. He also has the abilities of flight, pyrokinesis, invisibility, the ability to make his body stretch with elastic plasticity, and the ability to erect an invisible force field around himself, but again only at the level of the young Fantastic Four. If he is in the favor of the current Skrull ruler, a satellite can beam him cosmic power that lets him amplify his abilities beyond the Fantastic Four's current limits. By combining the powers of The Thing and The Human Torch in his hands he can punch with the force and power that mimics that of Iron Fist. He also has the Skrull's racial ability to shape-shift and the unique power of hypnosis. Aside from this, the Super-Skrull is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant extensively trained in warfare by the Skrull Empire. He also has knowledge of technology centuries ahead of conventional Earth science. However, despite his extensive knowledge and high intelligence, he is neither a scientist nor a technological genius – he simply comes from a far more advanced culture.

Alternate versions

Ultimate Super-Skrull

File:ULTFF028.jpg

Cover to Ultimate Fantastic Four #28, by Greg Land.

Ultimate Super-Skrull made his debut in Ultimate Fantastic Four #27, appearing just as the Fantastic Four prevented the event that caused their powers to occur, saying "No! I'm too late!" His name was also on a coffin in South America in the beginning of the issue. In the next issue, it seems to show that the Super-Skrull is actually the Skrull Emperor, the oldest living Skrull, (around a billion years old). He wears an "anti-assassination suit" which gives him the superpowers of anyone in a 1000 mile radius. As the Fantastic Four changed history, the reader learns that the powerless FF teleported to a Skrull world and made first contact. The Skrull helped them create a Utopia, in the process giving everyone superpowers. It is then shown that the Skrull plan to take over the world, and that the people's superpowers will burn out, killing them. In issue #29, when all superheroes died from the Skrull, Ben, the last living human, defeated the now powerless Super-Skrull. He took the suit and was the one saying "No! I'm too late!" As the only place he could travel to was South America 500 years ago after the Skrulls destroyed the time machine, he was also in the coffin in the beginning of issue #27.

The Skrullian Skymaster

In the Squadron Supreme mini-series, it was revealed that one of the founding members of that alternate Earth's premier team was himself a Skrull, named Skymax, who had come into contact with astronaut Joseph Ledger, known better as Doctor Spectrum. In gratitude for being saved from drifting aimlessly through space, the Skrull gave Ledger the power prism giving him his powers. Upon arriving on Earth, the alien joined Spectrum and other superheroes to form the Squadron. Shortly after the team was founded, the Skrull mentioned that he was constructing a new ship to transport him back to his homeworld.

In the Squadron Supreme's second graphic novel, New World Order, it was revealed that in fact he never was able to leave Earth and instead spent several years living under a covert identity in order to assimilate into humanity. At the request of his former teammates, he rejoined the Squadron (which had returned from Marvel Earth after an extended absence) to combat the new dictatorship which had taken control of the world.

During this tale, it was revealed that this Skrull has the same abilities as Kl'rt from Earth-616, making him in fact the Super-Skrull of Earth-Squadron. (In reality, the Skrullian Skymaster is the equivalent of J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, a prominent member of DC Comics' Justice League of America. As the Squadron Supreme is a parody/homage of the JLA, it stood out that there was no equal for the Martian Manhunter; even later members of the JLA, such as Zatanna, had Squadron Supreme parallels--Arcanna, in her case. The Skrullian Skymaster was mentioned in passing at first in order to create this parallel.)

Appearances in other media

Super-Skrull appeared in the 1994 Fantastic Four cartoon series voiced by Neil Ross.

Super-Skrull appeared in the 2006 Fantastic Four cartoon series voiced by Mark Oliver. In his first appearance, he and the Skrulls disguised their ship as New York and the Baxter Building just to get samples of their DNA for their secret weapon. He has a secret alliance with the Kree known as Ronan the Accuser.

Super-Skrull will soon appear in the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance video game as one of the powerful enemies in the game history.

External links

Iron Fist profile (describes the events involving Super-Skrull's identities of Captain Hero and Bobby Wright)