Didja Know... The Human Torch Once Married a Skrull?

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the hallowed halls of the House of Ideas!

They’re back. The leanest, meanest, and greenest gargoyles this side of Yancy Street return in MEET THE SKRULLS, an all-new five-issue limited series guaranteed to knock your argyles off with underhanded, undercover alien atrocities! And that’s just in next week's first issue, effendi!

For the uninitiated among you, the Skrulls might seem like your standard, garden-variety little green men, but oh-ho-ho, 'tis not true! These verdigris villains feature far more fantastic frippery than most outer space invaders—read on and be illuminated!

Didja Know… The first Skrull invaders to Earth wound up eating grass?

Boy, do we love this story!

Way back in FANTASTIC FOUR #2 when the fabulous foursome were still learning the ropes, four Skrulls used their shape-shifting powers to impersonate Reed Richards and company in hopes of destroying them. Why? To clear the way for an invasion, natch!

The plan appeared to be working well, but the little rascals didn’t account for one thing: the Fantastic Four’s unwillingness to cry uncle. The Human Torch posed as one of the Skrulls to lure them into the open, and from there chaos reigned supreme! Our heroes convinced the entire Skrull armada to turn tail and beat feet back to their homeworld, leaving only three of the original troublemakers to tussle with back on Earth.

But instead of tussling with ‘em, Big Brain Reed made ‘em an offer they couldn’t refuse: he turned them into cows!

What’s that you say? Have we gone crazy? Nope, oh naysayers, it’s all true—the Skrulls agreed to comport themselves as cud-chewers as long as the FF didn’t deal death to them, and aided by a thimble-full of suggestion from Reed, the three Skrulls took their place in the pasture for the foreseeable future and their threat was remooved from the picture, neat and easy!

Didja Know… The Super-Skrull possessed originally possessed one extra power the Fantastic Four didn’t?

Okay, so who’s this Super-Skrull? Well, chum, he hit the scene in FANTASTIC FOUR #18 as the Skrull Emperor’s rascally, riotous revenge on our heroes for the failed invasion from the year before. Able to turn invisible, toss around anti-matter fireballs, stretch 100 miles, and bench-press 100 tons, the Super-Skrull plunked down onto our planet and got right to work—namely, finishing off the Fantastic Four!

At first, the Skrull champion wiped up the decks with the team, seeing as how he not only boasted all their powers but actually exceeded them. Then, Reed once again put that magnificent mind of his to wondrous work and discovered a dastardly detail to bring about victory: the aliens were beaming energy to the Super-Skrull from across space…and Mister Fantastic could block it.

It fell to Sue Storm to plant a jazzy jammer on their frightening foe, but just as she moved in to do so, the Super-Skrull revealed his extra-power: hypnotism! That’s right!

That shape-shifting screwball began to strike with swirling rays of mind-washing menace from his eyes, but Sue regained her composure and attached the jammer just in the nick of time, which blocked the Skrull’s power and a super-sucker-punch from the boys! Hoohah!

Didja Know… Johnny Storm once married a Skrull?

This terrifying little tale illustrates just how insidious these aliens can be when they get their dander up. Read on, though we warn you—it’s not for the faint of heart, bunky!

When the Fantastic Four returned from the Beyonder’s so-called SECRET WARS, the Thing decided to stay behind on Battleworld, much to the chagrin of his compatriots. In FANTASTIC FOUR #265, Alicia Masters met the humble heroes upon their return, and without her boyfriend Ben Grimm around she and the Human Torch took up with each other and eventually married in FANTASTIC FOUR #300.

Beautiful, eh? Not so fast!

Turns out that what looked like Alicia was really a Skrull named Lyja! She reluctantly revealed her true self in FANTASTIC FOUR #357, setting off a chain of Earth-shattering events that led to saving the real Alicia, Lyja sacrificing her life for Johnny, her surprising resurrection, the birth of her “child,” and a whole host of other horrifying happenings. The lesson we all learned? Never trust a Skrull! ‘Nuff said!

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then visit your local comic shop to read MEET THE SKRULLS #1 on March 6!