FANTASTIC FOUR #18: If at First You Don’t Succeed…Send the Super-Skrull!

Published: September, 1963

Last time, I talked about how the world was ready for a new group of heroes, with complementary superpowers, and so we got the Avengers. When your villain has many avenues of attack, you need an arsenal to defeat him. Well, this time, our team with the arsenal meets a villain who has “all the powers of the Fantastic Four, PLUS STILL MORE!” Because with only the powers of the Four, it would be an even match, and in an even match, you know who would win. But, with “plus still more” powers, we open the door for the possibility that the villain may get the upper hand, if not in the end, at least at some point in the battle.

Okay, I’m convinced. Here’s my twelve cents.

Except…wait! What do I read here on the cover? It’s a Skrull? You mean those goofy little green men from outer space who were so effortlessly tricked into spending the rest of their lives as cows, because they “hate being Skrulls! We’d rather be ANYTHING else!” You mean those spineless crybabies of the galaxy, currently mooing in a field? But this Skrull is no ordinary Skrull, he’s a Super-Skrull. Sort of like a product that’s “new and improved.” That’s our Super-Skrull. I see on the cover the Super-Skrull can indeed turn himself into a “Torch,” so I’m willing to give him a chance.

I’m still in. Let’s go.

As mentioned previously, the FF enjoys a bonanza of PR, for when we catch up with them at the beginning of this story, they’re huddled around the television, enjoying a newscast about…themselves! As always, we have some comedy shenanigans before the actual story gets underway. Thing busts up the furniture when his TV appearance is interrupted by a dog food commercial, but the funniest part is Reed and Sue heading off for a swim in Hawaii, traveling aboard their new “Experimental Passenger Intercontinental Ballistics Missile.”

While Reed dons his spacesuit, Sue is ready for the beach, wearing a bathing suit AND her space travel boots, carrying her space helmet. I ask you: where else are you going to see a get-up like this?

And then, when Reed asks Thing to keep an eye on Johnny for a few days, Thing sarcastically replies, “Look, Great White Father—” and proceeds to give Reed a piece of his mind. Not to be outdone, the narrator chimes in with, “And so, with the Thing’s tender farewell ringing in their ears…”

Yes to comedy.

Okay, now the story can finally get underway! We meet the Skrull King in a galaxy far, far away, plotting revenge against “that accursed foursome” while his yes-man ponders how in the world they ever managed to triumph over the “trained Skrulls” from Fantastic Four #2. Obviously the yes-man hasn’t read FF #2, but the Skrull King has, because his Royal Highness immediately dismisses those events with, “Bah! That is past history!”

Like any good obsessed, all-powerful despot, the Skrull King has emptied the entire treasury and devoted the full scope of Skrull scientific talents to the development of a single “Super-Skrull.”

The Skrull equivalent of Captain America?

Super-Skrull demonstrates that his powers exceed those of the accursed foursome—he can stretch further, lift more weight, and possesses an anti-matter fire-ball that can destroy anything. One thing he does not have, however, is an imagination, for when “flaming on” like the Human Torch, he parrots Johnny’s catch phrase —“Flame On!” (In fact, later, Johnny remarks, “All you Skrulls are good for is COPYIN’ people!”) The Super-Skrull alludes to a power beyond invisibility, but he’s in too much of a rush to offer details, so he hurries off on his mission, leaving the King, and us, wondering…

Back on earth, another comedy bit—the FF mobbed in a department store—quickly turns to serious business as a news broadcast reports a spaceship in Times Square. If you’re not convinced that this is serious business, check out the expressions Jack Kirby puts on our heroes’ faces.

The Super-Skrull plants the Skrull flag, while the leader on the home planet instructs his assistant to “adjust the focus” on the viewing device. (Did you ever imagine a viewing device so technologically advanced you could view what’s going on at the street level on another planet…yet, you would still have to manually adjust the focus?)

Johnny, Reed and Thing each fight the Super-Skrull and are defeated. Sue laments that she feels “so helpless—so useless!” but Reed assures her “with all our bluster, we haven’t achieved any more than you!”

Confident of victory, the Super-Skrull retreats to allow the FF time “to return to their headquarters and spend a sleepless night fearing my next move!” However, given the advantage of time, Reed discovers the source of power rays beamed to Earth from the First Quadrant, and determines to stop those rays—to which Sue once again replies, “Oh, Reed—if only you COULD!” Jeez…I guess some people will never learn!

Arrangements are made to meet the Skrull on lonely Crater Island, where the three men distract the Skrull so invisible Sue will have a chance to fasten Reed’s “jammer,” cutting off his power source. However, the Super-Skrull now reveals his additional power—irresistible hypnotism! While the three are hypnotized (“I must stand here and TAKE it—for the sake of SUE! It’s her only chance!”), Sue installs the jammer, then trips the Skrull before he can attack her. The others spring back into action, and the Skrull is imprisoned in a sealed crater.

So. A second appearance by the Skrulls. I must admit, this one proved more fearsome than the last. However, despite all the advantages of the Super-Skrull, in the end it was Reed’s ingenuity and a bit of old-fashioned trickery that got the job done. At the end of the story we do not return to the Skrull planet to see the King pitching a fit because all the planet’s resources have now been wasted on yet a second confrontation with the Fantastic Four. Too bad; I would have liked to see that.

Somehow I feel quite sure this is not the last we’ll see of the Skrulls. Currently, the Super-Skrull has premiered at the very top of my Super-Villain Valuation Chart, but I wonder where we’ll go from here. Next time, will there be a Super-Duper Skrull? Or perhaps…a Stupendous Skrull? One thing I’ve discovered about Marvel Comics—without fail, stakes will rise, powers will escalate and there’s always something to look forward to.

And I look forward to meeting with you here in the Marvelous Zone next time, when not only are the stakes higher, but also the eyebrows, in a story that’s bigger and better than anything we’ve seen before!