Marvel’s Skrull Kill Krew Explained
Thanks to the Disney+ series Secret Invasion, more Marvel fans are talking about the shapeshifting Skrulls than ever before. As interesting as the onscreen Skrulls have been, there is nothing quite as weird (and certainly not quite as wild) as what we have seen in the Marvel comics over the decades. Case in point: the comics-exclusive (so far) group the Skrull Kill Krew, who have an origin and story so insane we doubt they will ever make it to the MCU.
Believe it or not, the story of the Skrull Kill Krew begins with the mad cow disease scares of the mid-90s. When Grant Morrison and Mark Millar were looking for work at Marvel in 1995, editor Tom Brevoort seized on the idea of building off an old Fantastic Four storyline.
Even though the Skrull Kill Krew could theoretically dispatch their alien foes in any number of creative, shapeshifting ways, they mostly ended up blowing away Skrulls using huge guns.
That story involved the superheroes defeating nefarious Skrull spies before receiving a wonderfully-insane punishment: Reed Richards brainwashed all of them into thinking they were cows, and thanks to their shapeshifting powers, the group would live that way forever — at least, in theory.
This led to the occasional unexpected consequence, including a small dairy town briefly gaining shapeshifting powers thanks to the milk of these “cows.” But the proper origin of the Skrull Kill Krew begins when these alien bovines are mistakenly sent to a slaughterhouse.
Humans who subsequently ate this out-of-the-world beef begin experiencing intense changes to their DNA that gave them fantastic powers.
One of the reasons the eventual Skrull Kill Krew is relatively small, though, is that most humans who ate the beef ended up dying shortly thereafter, but not before they developed both shapeshifting powers and an intense hatred of the Skrulls whom they blame for their condition.
Even though everyone infected would eventually die, group leader Ryder gathered together those who were dying slowly so they could put their newfound powers to use against their newfound enemy: the Skrulls.
Even though the Skrull Kill Krew could theoretically dispatch their alien foes in any number of creative, shapeshifting ways, they mostly ended up blowing away Skrulls using huge guns (hey, what were you expecting from a ‘90s comic?).
Sure, it probably seemed funny to Reed Richards to turn his enemies into mindless cows, but the fact that he never considered what would happen if anyone drank their milk or ate their flesh proves he may not be quite as smart as everyone thinks.
They became heroes due mostly to the quirks of their original infection: just as they had a sudden and intense hatred of Skrulls, they had no real interest in hurting or killing most human beings. Along the way, they had some very unexpected team-ups, including a memorable adventure where they helped Captain America take on Baron Strucker and an army of Hydra goons.
The Skrull Kill Crew comic was short-lived, though these characters occasionally popped up in later comic events such as Secret Invasion. However, we love these characters because they began with writers questioning what the long-term consequences of crazy superhero decisions would be.
Sure, it probably seemed funny to Reed Richards to turn his enemies into mindless cows, but the fact that he never considered what would happen if anyone drank their milk or ate their flesh proves he may not be quite as smart as everyone thinks.
The Skrull Kill Krew In The MCU?
As we said before, the Skrull Kill Krew likely won’t appear in the MCU: we haven’t even had a proper introduction to the Fantastic Four, after all, and modern audiences probably wouldn’t vibe to decades-old characters who owe their creation to fears over mad cow disease.
Still, we think the Marvel movies are at their best when they embrace some of the kitschy silliness that turned the comics into a household name. And until we see them pop up on the big screen, we’ll keep asking Kevin Feige the same question: where’s the beef?
