Didja Know... The Kree-Skrull War

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

You’ve heard about it, and all the talk is true, titans! The overall origins of one of the biggest, baddest, most bombastic battles ever in the hallowed history of the House of Ideas will be dazzlingly detailed in ROAD TO EMPYRE: THE KREE-SKRULL WAR #1!

Ah, what a time in comics! Say, let’s hold onto that lovin’ feeling, Marvelites, and pop open Pandora’s Box to look inside at a few lovable landmarks of the original epic by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, Sal Buscema, et al…in the pages of AVENGERS, natch!

Didja Know… the Kree-Skrull War involved the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Inhumans, Captain Marvel, and Carol Danvers?

Whew! You’d almost assume that’s a line-up from one of our current crazy crossovers, but in an unprecedented unification for its time, the Kree-Skrull War brought just about everybody together the shenanigans! The Avengers themselves hit rock-bottom when Quicksilver, the Vision, the Scarlet Witch, and Goliath—Hawkeye, really—sort-of screwed up juggling the first salvos of the war in AVENGERS (1963) #89-92 and found themselves phased out by original members Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man!

The Fantastic Four came into it in a weird way, first when the bustling Baxter Building’s Negative Zone portal was utilized by Captain Marvel—the first one, bunky—and then later when a terror trio of slippery Skrulls impersonated Reed, Ben, and Johnny. Once the Avengers realized what was going up, down, and on, they contacted the real FF and filled them in on the festivities.

And the Inhumans? Triton asked the Avengers for help with the maniacal Maximus who’d thrown his lot in with the Kree to use his powerful people as soldiers against the Skrulls. As for Carol Danvers…well, wow! Her part in the whole shebang has to be seen to be believed—and we won’t spoil it here for ya, Effendi.

Didja Know… the Kree-Skrull War was where the Scarlet Witch-Vision romance first blossomed?

Our Marvel mags’ history records AVENGERS (1963) #76 as the first meeting between mutantess and mechanical man, AVENGERS (1963) #108 as their first real romantic moment, and the infamous GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS (1974) #4 as the two nutty kids’ nuptials…but the seeds of it all were sown during that wearying war.

Yep, check out AVENGERS (1963) #93 when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes tried to track Captain Marvel and Carol Danvers to a farm where the two were trying to lay low. That’s when you’ll feast your poppin’ peepers on Viz showing care and concern for Wanda as they attempted to scale a fence around the farm and the Witch’s brooding brother Pietro throwing his first tantrum over the android’s seeming affection for his sensational sister.

Of course, as we all know too well, the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s fate came to include losing their children and marriage, but maybe if we don’t speak too loud and jinx it, these days things between them seem to have worked themselves out, eh, True Believers?

Didja Know… the Kree-Skrull War reintroduced eight different Golden Age heroes?

This has gotta be our most favorite feature of the whole scintillating saga, and our ol’ pal Rick Jones sat right at the hulking heart of it all…seems Mr. Jones is always right there to usher in some of Marvel’s most monumental moments!

By AVENGERS (1963) #97 the entire enchilada was cooked for our costumed cut-ups. Out in space, in the middle of warring aliens and their armadas, the Avengers assumed the worst. But the Kree Supreme Intelligence had another trick up its, err, tendrils? In a flash, a hidden reserve of pulsating power was awakened in Rick, and just like Athena sprung from her big daddy Zeus’s noggin, the young man’s mighty mind exploded with Golden Age Super Heroes to save the day!

Not only was there the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and the Angel from MARVEL COMICS (1939) #1, but look out! There zoomed Cap from CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1, Aarkus the Vision from MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS (1939) #13, the Fin from DARING MYSTERY COMICS (1940) #7, the Patriot from HUMAN TORCH COMICS (1940) #4, and last but certainly not least, the Blazing Skull from MYSTIC COMICS (1940) #5. Why? Hey, don’t look gift heroes in the mouth, mister—they won the war for us!

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then get in touch with your local comic shop to snag ROAD TO EMPYRE: THE KREE-SKRULL WAR #1 on Wednesday, March 25!