SKREEAL

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Sub-species of humanity (Deviant), mutate

Occupation: Servant of the Mole Man

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Mole Man; former pawn of a group of Skrulls

Enemies: Chtylok, Fantastic Four (Ghost Rider (Ketch), Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Monster Island, Sea of Japan

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#347 (December 1990)

Powers/Abilities: Skreeal is a giant creature, and as such possesses superhuman strength.  It can also fly due to the oddly-shaped wings that are attached from its forearms to its hips.

History: (Fantastic Four I#347) - After a crew of Skrulls arrived on Earth in search of the rogue De'Lila, they landed on Monster Island.  There, they decided to flush their prey out of hiding by taking control of the various creatures they encountered on the island and transporting them across the world to wreck havoc.  One of the mutates they put under their control via neural disruptors was Skreeal, who was transported away from Monster Island with the rest of the mutates.

(Fantastic Four I#348) - Transported to Washington, D.C., Skreeal attacked a passenger airliner, but was confronted by the newly formed "replacement" Fantastic Four.   Their attack drove him away from the plane, and they followed him back to Monster Island.

(Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection#1) - As Pip the Troll welcomed the Silver Surfer to Monster Island, Skreeal could be seen roaming the air over the isle.

(Sensational Spider-Man#13) - Skreeal was among the Monster Island creatures that fled when Chtylok awoke.

Comments: Created by Walter Simonson, Art Adams and Art Thibert.

The Skrulls originally land on Monster Island because they pick up a large amount of mind-wave readings there similar to Skrulls ("[ranging] from 73.36% to nearly 94%!").  One of the Skrull crewmembers noted that the creatures on Monster Island, most of which are Deviant mutates: "all exhibit a primitive Skrull-type brain structure." This, of course, is because the Skrulls themselves are the Deviant off-shoot of their own alien race.

For years, I searched for the origin of this creature. I originally believed that it was a golden age Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko creation that Adams had used in homage. However, I have since learned that Skreeal (I have dubbed him that because that's the sound it makes) first appeared on the cover art for a Mattel toy set from the 1960's called the The Lost World, which was part of the Strange Change Time Machine line. Here is a link to a picture of the cover art: http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/SC1.JPG. Though he's yellow, you can clearly tell that's Skreeal. Here's another link to the webpage that image is from, which discusses the toyline: http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/str.html

Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters#1 officially canonized his name as Skreeal, so I've removed all the quotes from his name.

The creature that the Mole Man rides in Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan#4 is called a Skreeal, although it looks nothing like the creature profiled here.

Profile by Madison Carter

Clarifications:

Skreeal has no known connections to

images:
Fantastic Four I#348, page 16, panel 1 (Note: image is actually taken from TPB reprint, as it was better quality)

Fantastic Four I#347-348 (December 1990-January 1991)
Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection#1 (March 1993)
Sensational Spider-Man #13 (February 1997)

Last updated: 02/26/06

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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