Skrulls

The Skrulls are a race of evil aliens in the Marvel universe. The Skrulls are set to appear as the main antagonists of the 2019 superhero film Captain Marvel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which will be based on the Kree-Skrull War comic book storyline).

Origin and Heritage
Millions of years ago, the beings known as Celestials performed genetic experiments on the reptilian ancestors of the Skrulls, resulting in three branches of Skrulls: The Prime, the Deviants and the Eternals. Eventually the three branches warred with one another, and the Deviant branch — due to possessing the innate ability to shapeshift — were triumphant, and afterward wiped out all members of the other two races until only two were left: the Skrull Eternal, Kly'bn, and Prime Skrull of the original non-Deviant Skrull race. Kly'bn implored them to spare his life, as killing him would kill part of their heritage. The Deviants' leader, Sl'gur't, eventually fell in love with Kly'bn, with the two eventually becoming the gods of the Skrull pantheon. As Kly'bn could not change, Sl'gurt vowed to never keep the same shape for too long. Taking the name Prime Skrull, the last original Skrull escaped to Earth in the 20th century and later became a member of the Underground Legion. From that point, the Skrulls began to expand their territory. The Deviant branch later split into two more groups, the modern Skrulls and an anomaly called the Dire Wraiths, a parasitic race that could still shapeshift and had knowledges of magic, but were not as technologically advanced as the Skrulls.

The modern Skrulls originate from the planet of Skrullos, and were originally a mercantile civilization, primarily interested in free trade and willing to share their technology with all races they deemed worthy. When they encountered a new race, they simply transformed themselves to resemble that race. The Skrull empire that resulted from these contacts was based on free trade and mutual cooperation. The empire is controlled by an emperor and each of the 978 worlds is controlled by a governor.

Features
They are green-skinned, with pointed ears and grooved chins. They also possess stereoscopic eyes, opposable thimbs, ruffled chin and very large brains.

History
They are infamous for their ability to shapeshift into any person or creature. With this ability alone they have caused innumerable amounts of chaos and manipulation in the Marvel universe.

The Skrulls were once a peaceful space-faring race of merchants long ago, until then then they met the Kree, a hostile culture of alien warriors. Everything changed since the unfortunate encounter with the Kree, the Skrulls decided to train themselves to combat against their sworn enemies. But now, violence and conquest are the Skrulls' way of life.

The Skrull Empire is hostile to most other species, especially the Kree. During their age-long battle with the Kree, the Skrulls discovered that Earth was a key point in the galaxy in attacking the Kree's home planet, so they were resolved to take over the earth and destroy its inhabitants. They first saw the Fantastic Four as their main threat, so they tried to dispose of them, but failed. Since then, the Skrulls have waged war on almost every hero in the Marvel universe, even launching a mass invasion by impersonating all of the main superhumans on earth.

In one attempt to get rid of the Fantastic Four the Skrulls created the Super-Skrull by taking each of the FF's DNA and putting it into one of their warriors, Kl'rt.

​Avengers: Kree-Skrull War
The Kree Accuser Ronan had wrested control of the Kree Empire from the Supreme Intelligence and attacked the Skrulls, reigniting hostilities. The Avengers become involved once the Super Skrull kidnaps Captain Marvel, and in turn they battle a Kree Sentry robot, three of the original Skrulls that had fought the Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, rogue Inhumansand legions of Skrulls. The Supreme Intelligence ends the immediate conflict by revealing to Avengers' ally Rick Jones that he has vast mental potential, which is then used to freeze all combatants in place. The Supreme Intelligence announces that, while the Kree and Skrulls have reached genetic dead ends, the human race displays incredible untapped potential. It was revealed years later that the conflict produced a Kree-Skrull hybrid, Hulkling, who is the child of one-time lovers Captain Marvel and the Skrull Princess Anelle.

Later the cosmic being Uatu the Watcher adjudicates a duel between champions from both races: Colonel Bel-Dann of the Kree and Warlord Raksor of the Skrulls. After one year of conflict the duel remains deadlocked and is ultimately abandoned with no resolution. Years later during a conflict with Xandar that included the Fantastic Four and the Young hero Nova (Richard Rider), Emperor Dorrek VII's wife, Empress R'klll, stages a coup and kills him to become ruling Empress.

Empress R'klll's reign is short-lived, however, as the greatest blow to the Skrulls arrives in the form of the World Devourer Galactus. After his Herald Nova (Frankie Raye) annihilates the Skrull fleet, Galactus devours Tarnax IV, killing billions of Skrulls, including R'klll and the Princess Anelle. With the destruction of the central government, the Skrull Empire has collapsed into hundreds of bickering factions. Their galaxy is filled with Governors who have declared themselves to be Emperor of the Skrulls and soon a civil war began. The Shi'ar maintain a heavy presence in the former empire as well, constantly dealing with packets of resistance.

The second Kree-Skrull War
Later Reed Richards discovered that yet another Governor-turned-Emperor, Zabyk, had created a genetics bomb, which, when it exploded made all the Skrulls lose their shape-shifting abilities. Whatever form they were in they were stuck in at the time of the explosion.

In desperation, since without their shapeshifting powers they were vulnerable, they managed to kidnap the herald of Galactus, Nova, in an attempt to get Galactus to destroy Kree worlds for them. Their plot failed when the Silver Surfer helped Galactus rescue Nova in exchange for his freedom from Earth.

When one of the Celestials made an appearance, this scared the Skrulls into starting a second war with the Kree to show they were not powerless. The attack was first made by Kylor, one of five governors claiming to be Emperor. He had a spy in the Kree Empire, Nenora, who gave him the early edge. They tried to hide their secret weakness at all costs from the Kree.

Kylor was eventually betrayed by Nenora, as was the entire Skrull race. She assumed power of the empire and wished to keep it for herself. It was Empress S'byll who stepped up to control the Skrulls and finish the war. She was able to resurrect the Super Skrull and he returned to find the empire in shambles. They tricked the Silver Surfer into attacking a Badoon fleet, which he was not aware were allied with the Kree. Since the Kree waged war on the Surfer, he allied himself with the Skrulls to save Zenn-La from destruction.

To restore their powers, the Super Skrulls DNA needed to be transferred to S'byll, because only a female could spread the ability to the other Skrulls. The Surfer helped them to power a machine that would return the Empress' shape shifting abilities. The device was successful. With this power she was able to restore every Skrull she touched and became the true Empress of the Skrulls.

She and Super Skrull waged war with the Kree with the help of the Silver Surfer. She replaced Super Skrull with Captain Reptyl and he helped to change her into an emotionless reptile. But Reptyl was betrayed by one of his own and the Skrull fleet was utterly destroyed by the Kree. S'byll and Silver Surfer went alone to attack the Kree homeworld of Hala.

Gaining the knowledge that Nenora was actually a Skrull gave them the advantage. S'byll gave her shape-shifting abilities back to her, crippling her and showing the Kree her true self. A peace treaty was created.

The Skrulls eventually broke that peace treaty as they kept their military drive and prefer to fight rather than negotiate. Among the other races contained within the Skrull Empire are the Druff, Guna, Kallusina, Morani, Pheragot, Queega, Tekton, and Yirbek races. Other races remain independent, whether through treaties or open resistance. Such races include the Clegrimites, Gegku, Krylorians, Wilameanis, and Xandarians. The Skrull-Xandarian war with the Xandarians recently ended with the destruction of Xandar by the supervillainess Nebula.

Skrulls are meanwhile involved in numerous other activities. They were revealed to have conquered a medieval planet and abandoned it after its inhabitants perished. Skrull Prime Ten battled the Fantastic Four and Captain Mar-Vell. The Skrulls sent their own representative to witness the fate of the, at her trial by the. There is a lone appearance of Queen Akilll of the Skrull. A lone Skrull poisoned Vera Gantor to force the Avengers to seek the Resurrection Stone on his behalf. The Skrulls sent their General Zedrao to give the dying Captain Mar-Vell the Royal Skrull Medal of Honor for having been a worthy foe of the Skrulls.

Infiltrating the earth
Some time later a Skrull called Paibok The Power-Skrull mounts a campaign to invade Earth, using another Skrull called Lyja as an infiltrator. The plan involved secretly replacing the real Alicia Masters, The Thing's blind lover. The plan fell through when she instead seduced Human Torch and the two eventually married one another. The long running facade eventually came to light and the group discovered that the real, human Alicia was actually being held captive by the Skrull nation and Lyja defects, having fallen in love with the Human Torch. The Fantastic Four rescued her, but Lyja seemingly died in the process as she sacrificed herself to save Johnny when Paibok attacked.

Paibok later revealed to Devos the Devastator that she was still alive. Paibok, with the assistance of Devos, awoke Lyja from her comatose state, also bestowing her with the power to fly and fire energy blasts from her hands (becoming "Lyja the Lazerfist"). These powers were later revealed to come from a special device implanted into her. Joining them in search of vengeance, the three arrived on Earth, and isolated and battled the Torch at Empire State University. Panicking, the Torch burst into his Nova Flame and destroyed the campus. Alongside Devos and Paibok, Lyja witnessed a battle between the Fantastic Four and an alternate Fantastic Four. However, Lyja still bore feelings for the Torch and once again betrayed her cohorts to side with the Fantastic Four which ended with the Fantastic Four destroying the "Skrull War World", the Skrulls' largest attack ship.

Annihilation
The Skrull Empire is the first of the major interstellar empires to be invaded by the forces of Annihilus. Annihilus' superweapon, the Harvester of Sorrow, physically destroys dozens of Skrull planets. The Skrulls joined Richard Rider's United Front to fight the forces of Annihilus. In the aftermath the Skrulls unsuccessfully attempt to convince Hulkling to become their new Emperor.

Secret Invasion
In the Secret Invasion series, a flailing Skrull empire, under the leadership of newcomer Queen Veranke, makes an all-out effort to infiltrate and conquer Earth. It is revealed that the Skrulls were already infiltrating Earth for quite sometime by capturing and replacing many of Earth's heroes, which was now followed by the main assault group. This wave of Skrulls forms a new version of the Super-Skrulls, with each possessing the abilities of several different heroes. Their invasion ultimately fails, costing the life of Veranke, and reducing their numbers even further. Even their Gods are slain, and the Japanese God of Evil Amatsu Mikaboshi takes over their Pantheon, leading to the events of the Chaos War.

Infinity
During the storyline Infinity, several planets that the Skrulls settled on began being targeted by the Builders and while the Silver Surfer tried to save most of them, the Skrulls' population was once more decimated. Kl'rt later represented the Skrull Empire as a member of the Galactic Council which is allied with the Avengers. After the Avengers' victory over the Builders, Kl'rt becomes the new Emperor of the Skrulls where they settle on Tarnax II.