Ungoliantschilde

Annihilation: Prologue, Vol. 1 # 1, by Gabriele Dell’Otto.

Annihilation: Prologue, Vol. 1 # 1, by Gabriele Dell’Otto.

Thought about this a lot. I think that, along with a lot of the villains that debuted in that era, the Skrulls were probably at least partially influenced by the political climate and experiences of the creators.

I think the Skrulls might be partial analogues for the Anti-Communist fervor of their time. They have been occasionally written as having sympathetic qualities over the years, and there are some truly amazing people in their race.

Kl’rt - the Super Skrull, is a man of honor. He fought with distinction in the Annihilation Wars, and he opposed his own leadership when it was wrong. He’s an honorable soldier that tries to do what’s right and obeys his commands only so long as they are honorable. He’s kind of a badass.

Johnny Storm dated Lyja for a while, and she was basically the Human Torch’s exotic green girlfriend. She was kinda cool.

The Skrulls hiding on the Earth that the SkrullKillKrew hunted were essentially deserters. Their empire considered them traitors for not continuously trying to overthrow the Earth by infiltrating and disrupting the leadership.

There are good Skrulls. But they are decidedly the exceptions to the rule. 99% of them think it’s honorable to sneak around and sucker punch people.

Making a nice Skrull is an interesting storytelling point, but they exist to be stock villains and they have repeatedly earned their role. Think of them as outer space Hydra or AIM.

And, like I said before, the Kree are really not much better. The Kree are a lot like the Imperial British. The Inhumans were an experiment the Kree conducted on the Human race in order to create weapons for themselves. Like the Nazis.

Captain Mahr Vel was a renegade from the Kree for refusing to conquer the Earth. Ronan the Accuser in the comics is NOT the Ronan from the Guardians. Ronan is a law officer. Think Judge Dredd for Kree.

There are honorable Kree. Ronan is THE guy you would want watching your back in a fight for your life. But, by and large, the Kree are a warlike and conquest happy race of condescending pricks.

They might be considered commentary on the US Military, with Captain Mahr Vel representing the opposition to the War in Vietnam.

Alex Toth designs for the 1967 Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four cartoon show; The Skrulls & The Super-Skrull,  The Watcher, Doctor Doom, Diablo & The Red Ghost. (From 1996’s Alex Toth: By Design, by the artist & Darrell McNeil.)

Silver Surfer vs The Super Skrul by Steve Rude