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Invasion of the Super Skrulls
Review and Media by Jon T

Episode #5 - Invasion of the Super Skrulls
 Original Airdate - September 30, 1967

On the Skrull homeworld, the Skrull emperor attempts to destroy the Fantastic Four, but Sue protects them with her invisible shield. Marshall Drom then shows the emperor a new weapon that will not fail: the Super Skrull, who has all the powers of the Fantastic Four. He is sent to Earth, where he quickly comes into contact with the super-hero team in New York. After claiming the Earth in the name of the Skrull Empire, Super Skrull and the Fantastic Four battle each other, but are too evenly matched. The Four then retreat back to the Baxter Building, where Reed discovers that Super Skrulls powers are being beamed to him from the Skrull homeworld. Reed creates a jamming device, and after inviting Super Skull to fight the team on Crater Island, Sue has to attach the jammer to Super Skrull before the rest of the team can stop him.

Notes: Based on "A Skrull Walks Among Us!" from Fantastic Four #18 (September 1963), written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby.

Review: The opening scene showing the Skrulls attempting to disintegrate the Fantastic Four is astonishingly brief and simplistic, which isn't the best of starts. However the episode picks up with some effective battles between Super Skrull and the FF, as the notion of the FF's powers being used for evil is an interesting one.

We finally get to the Fantastic Four out of their uniforms (whilst out shopping), with some predictably amusing scenes, especially Johnny's, with his outstanding line of: "It must be a gas to work in a store like this; look at all the chicks!"

It's also quite amusing to have Super Skrull simply announce the Skrull's claim to Earth while being booed by New York crowds, and then trying to insert a Skrull flag into the street! Such humor is cut short when the FF realizes just how powerful an enemy Super Skrull is. Finally Sue is given the chance to save the day and shine as a member of the Fantastic Four by being the one to cut off Super Skrull's power.

Super Skrull himself is a pretty uninteresting character aside from his powers, as he's essentially a plot device, even having additional extra powers to further the story.

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