By Marc Strom
Will the real
Super Skrull please stand up?
With an army of soldiers endowed with the powers of some of Earth's mightiest super heroes, the original Super Skrull, Kl'rt, feels understandably left out. And on August 27, he'll do something to rectify that fact when he enters the fray in NOVA #16, before traveling over to the pages of SHE-HULK #32 that same day.
The Human Rocket's current writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning—or DnA, as fans affectionately call them—say
Nova's encounter with Kl'rt seemed inevitable.
"Richard [Rider, Nova's alter-ego] is targeted for termination as the last surviving Nova Centurion and the repository of the Xandarian Worldmind, with whom [the
Skrulls] have a long standing grudge since the Xandar/Skrull Wars," Lanning explains.
"Super Skrull is busy finding out what the Skrulls are up to when he accidentally discovers that they have targeted his old comrade, Nova, for termination. [Then] he's got a choice to make."
Kl'rt will have to face one other major decision, though: whether or not to support the Skrulls' invasion. And Abnett says that decision won't come as easily as some fans might expect…
"Super Skrull is all but passed by as the Skrulls believe he is now obsolete and redundant to their schemes," the cosmic scribe divulges. "[Also,] Kl'rt is not happy with the invasion plans, as he has witnessed two cosmic scale conflicts and does not wish his own people to take the galaxy into a third."
"Of course, Kl'rt is a Skrull and nothing is as it may seem; he may have plans of his own."
Additionally, Super Skrull doesn't want what he sees as his people's honorable nature corrupted.
"Kl'rt is a firm believer in the Skrull warrior code, but he sees that as an intensely honorable thing and not something to be perverted by overzealous, Jihadist ambitions," Lanning notes, prophesying some conflict between the Super Skrull and his races' invasion force.
After Kl'rt's run-in with Nova, he heads into the pages of SHE-HULK to reunite with his wayward daughter—and the Jade Giantess' bounty-hunting partner—
Jazinda.
And by "reunite with," we of course mean "kill."
"He considers her a traitor to the Skrull race," explains series writer Peter David. "That, and he has additional personal issues regarding the fact that his son is dead but she's alive. Think of it as a sort of reverse survivor's guilt; instead it's anger on his part that she was the one who survived while his son perished."
Her father's presence will also force the shape-shifting bounty-hunter to look more closely at her own allegiances.
"It will be the catalyst for Jazinda
examining where her loyalties should go—what she has given up, and whether there really is anything for her to go back to," David remarks.
But don't worry,
True Believers, She-
Hulk and Jazinda won't break up their partnership any time soon over the Skrulls' invasion.
"They have some trust issues to work out, but ultimately Jennifer and Jaz are friends and allies," David offers up. "The events of Secret Invasion will challenge those issues, but they will come through it stronger.
"However that isn't to say that future ramifications of Secret Invasion won't impact on other alliances of Jen's, such as the Lady Liberators."
Finally, with the cosmic War of Kings looming large on the horizon, will we see the Super Skrull again any time soon?
"Kl'rt is a strong and independent character, [so] we're sure he will return to the cosmic stage before too long," Abnett suggests. "The question will be: whose side will he be on?"
Follow Super-Skrull into NOVA #16 and SHE-HULK #32 on August 27, but first, learn more about him on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
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