The Marvel Universe is home to all manner of super teams. Whether they be all-star classics like the Avengers and Fantastic Four or something far darker such as the Midnight Suns, it seems like there is no genre that hasn’t been covered by one roster or another. Even the most unlikely of shared circumstances have brought various Marvel heroes together to tackle the most obscure corners of their world, and no team exemplifies that better than the Skrull Kill Krew.
The shape-shifting aliens known as the Skrulls have been part of the Marvel Universe for decades, although they haven’t always posed quite the threat that they do today. Back in their first appearance in 1961’s Fantastic Four #2, the Skrulls invaded with a team sent to impersonate the eponymous heroes. While this set the standard for what the Skrulls could do, things didn’t end with nearly as much gravitas as they started. The unlucky Skrulls who impersonated the Thing, Mister Fantastic, and the Human Torch were all unceremoniously transformed into otherwise ordinary cows by the real Reed Richards. Stripped of their memories and trapped in bovine bodies, these Skrulls were left to graze alongside terrestrial cattle. They also went unnoticed by their unwitting human handlers, which has caused a myriad of problems in the years since.
The Skrull Kill Krew Were Marvel’s Most Brutal Super Team
Over time, Skrull Cows bred with Earth cows, creating hybrids that posed a unique problem of their own. It was when Skrull Cows went to the slaughterhouse, however, that things took a turn for the truly disastrous. People who consumed Skrull dairy had to deal with a sudden (albeit curable) case of uncontrollable shape-shifting, while those who ate Skrull meat underwent far more permanent changes. Introduced in 1995’s Skrull Kill Krew #1 (by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Steve Yeowell), the relentless heroes known as Ryder, Moonstomp, Dice, and Riot had all ingested Skrull beef, which not only gave them astonishing powers but an insatiable hunger for vengeance.
While each of the heroes had their own individual form of shapeshifting apart from various other powers, they all suffered from a strange condition called Skrullovoria Induced Skrullophobia as well. This rare condition didn’t arise in everyone who ate Skrull meat, but those in which it did rarely survived. For those lucky few, even they were subjected to side effects including a seething hatred and intense fear of Skrulls in their natural form. This made the Skrull Kill Krew all the more relentless in their pursuits of rogue aliens, as leaving survivors behind was rarely an option. Thankfully, the Skrull Kill Krew were surprisingly good at avoiding collateral damage, and despite leaving behind one of Marvel’s bloodiest legacies, it wasn’t ever tarnished in a lasting way.
The Skrull Kill Krew Became Tremendous Assets During Secret Invasion
This coupled with their obvious expertise made the Skrull Kill Krew prime candidates when the world needed help during Secret Invasion, an event which saw them called back into action in 2008’s Avengers: The Initiative #16 (by Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage, and Stefano Caselli). Once again, the Skrull Kill Krew were brutally efficient when it came to uncovering and snuffing out the invading forces masquerading as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The fact that they slipped back into obscurity once the Skrull invasion of Earth was over isn’t especially surprising, but the fact that they haven’t returned for the latest most certainly is cause for concern.
Considering how adept the Skrull Kill Krew are when it comes to hunting down their namesake species, it is hard to think of a good reason why they haven’t been asked to make another explosive comeback in the wake of the latest Secret Invasion. Members of the team might not be easy to track down, but it’s highly improbable that they are far from Maria Hill’s radar. Then again, there is always the chance that they might be more of a liability than anything else, although there really is only one way to find that out for sure.
