EMPRESS R'KLLL

Real Name: R'Klll

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Skrull)

Occupation: Empress of the Skrulls

Group Membership: Leader of the Skrull Empire (or at least a large section of it)

Affiliations: Aptak, Bartak, Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Lilandra Neramani, Raksor, Supreme Intelligence, Zedrao

Enemies: Adora, Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Goliath/Clint Barton, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Thor, Vision/'Victor Shade'), Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Doctor Stephen Strange, Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards-Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Galactus, Kree, Krimonn, Nova (Frankie Raye), Professor X (Charles Xavier), Franklin Storm, Sub-Mariner, Prime Thoran, Veranke, Waziliah

Known Relatives: Anelle (daughter, deceased), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell, unofficial son-in-law, deceased), Dezan (brother-in-law), Dorrek VII (husband, deceased), Dorrek VIII (aka Hulkling/Theodore 'Teddy' Altman, illegitimate grandson), Talos the Tamed, S'Byll (distant relatives)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Skrullworld (formerly known as Tarnax IV), Skrull Empire

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#206 (May 1979)

Powers/Abilities: R'Klll possessed the shapeshifting abilities common to most Skrulls. She was a ruthless, devious strategist who had little patience with or tolerance for for the mistakes of others. That included her late husband Dorrek VII, who she killed herself.

(Fantastic Four I#206 (fb) ) - R'Klll was the oldest daughter of the Skrull Emperor who was murdered by the power hungry Dorrek VII. He married the reluctant R'Klll who eventually bore him a daughter they named Anelle.

(Fantastic Four I#48 - BTS) - Dorrek VII ordered the entire solar system blacked out and silenced when they sensed the approach of the world devourer Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer.

(Young Avengers I#10 (fb) - BTS) - Anelle gave birth to R'Klll's illegitimate grandson, naming him Dorrek VIII, but her father ordered the death of the infant when he learned the father's identity. The child's nurse quietly took him off-world.

(Fantastic Four I#205 - BTS) - Commanding a Skrull attack force headed to destroy the planet Xandar, R'Klll's husband Dorrek VII grew frustrated when he learned the Fantastic Four had helped save the planet. Dorrek ordered the destruction of his hated Earthen foes.

(Fantastic Four I#206) - Dorrek was thrilled when the Fantastic Four (minus the Human Torch) were captured and exposed to a metabolic booster that rapidly aged them. The FF escaped captivity, but Dorrek let them go because his enemies would soon die of old age anyway. R'Klll openly questioned Dorrek's judgment, leading him to privately vow he'd soon see her dead....unaware she was planning the same fate for him.

(Fantastic Four I#209) - Dorrek was furious to learn that the Xandarian Prime Thoran was holding off the Skrull fleet near Xandar. Figuring he might be in danger so relatively close to a one man army, Dorrek ordered his vessel to return to homeworld. Disgusted by her husband's cowardice, R'Klll pulled out a gun and shot Dorrek in the back. In the wake of his death, she took over the Skrull Empire and discreetly retreated from the Xandarian conflict.

(Uncanny X-Men I#137 - BTS) - Prior to capturing Dark Phoenix, Shi'ar Majestrix Lilandra Neramani contacted both the Kree Supreme Intelligence and Empress R'Klll to determine what the other galactic empires felt was the proper course of action regarding Dark Phoenix. The general agreement was that the Phoenix entity shouldo be expunged.

(Uncanny X-Men I#137) - Charles Xavier tried to save Phoenix's life by decreeing the ancient Shi'ar honor duel, the Arinn'nn Haelar. Bel-Dann, a representative of the Kree, protested that this Shi'ar rule was in violation of intergalactic agreements subscribed to by the Skrull, Kree and Shi'ar empires. Upon consulting R'Klll and the Supreme Intelligence, it was agreed that a lack of jurisprudence was no reason not to honor Xavier's request for Arinn'nnn Haelar.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#18 (fb) - Feeling that the encounter between the X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard would be a fine opportunity to finally resolve the true winner of the centuries long conflict between Kree and Skrull, R'Klll and the Supreme Intelligence decided to have loyal officers Bel-Dann and Raksor remain on the Blue Area of the Moon for an extended duel. The winner would also represent which galactic power had proven victorious. With the Moon's resident Watcher Uatu serving as impartial judge, the conflict began.

(Marvel Graphic Novel I#1 - BTS) - Learning that Captain Mar-Vell was suffering from incurable cancer, the Skrull imperial council decided to honor their implacable foe with one of their highest commendations: the royal Skrull medal of valor (see comments).

(Silver Surfer III#14 (fb) - BTS) - When Skrull general Zedrao was ready to leave for Titan to honor the dying Captain Mar-Vell, R'Klll had him accompanied by Bartak, an experienced espionage officer. His mission was to observe Terran superheroes who might present and learn as much as he could about them. Bartak decided to adapt the form of the relatively unknown vigilante Devil-Slayer (Eric Simon Payne), figuring there was little chance the original would be there. When he learned that Devil-Slayer had joined his fellow Defenders, Bartak shifted into the Silver Surfer's form.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#18 - BTS) - Months after the conclusion of the Phoenix conflict, both Bel-Dann and Raksor continued to fight on behalf of the Supreme Intelligence and Empress R'Klll. They were too equally matched for their increasingly violent struggle to end in any kind of decisive victory.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#18 - BTS) - Eventually, their duel drew the attention of the Inhuman Royal Family, who had recently relocated to the Blue Area of the Moon. The Inhumans went into the ruins to investigate, accompanied by the Fantastic Four who had come to Attilan to attend the wedding of Black Bolt and Medusa. When the heroes proved unable to peacefully resolve the conflict, Mr. Fantastic enlisted the Watcher's aide. With Uatu's assistance, Reed Richards helped sell the idea that both parties had managed to attain victory, because they cooperated against the FF and the Inhumans. Uatu then returned the combatants to their native peoples.

(Fantastic Four I#249 (fb) - BTS) - R'Klll authorized four specially trained Skrull agents to go to Earth and fight the Fantastic Four disguised as members of the X-Men.

(Silver Surfer III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Empress R'Klll borrowed male intelligence agent Aptak from Warlord Kylor and sent him (in female form) to spy on the Waziliah from the planet Waziliah.

(Fantastic Four I#257 - BTS) - Galactus' new herald Nova (Frankie Raye) led her master to the Skrull throneworld. Because Nova remembered the location from her time with the Fantastic Four, she wasn't fooled by the Skrulls' attempts to hide the planet rom her. Nova easily destroyed the Skrull space fleet that had scrambled to protect Homeworld.

(Fantastic Four I#257) - Meanwhile, an enraged R'Klll demanded to know why Galactus had found the Skrull galaxy after uncounted millennia of safety. Before she could beat an answer out of her underlings, she was joined by her daughter Anelle who was confused about what was going on. Resigning herself to the fate that was about to befall them, R'Klll told Anelle she had hoped her daughter would have slept through the end of the world. She comforted Anelle, assuring her there was no way to escape, just as the royal palace collapsed around them and Galactus showed up to consume Tarnax IV.

(Secret Invasion: Skrulls!) - Queen Veranke ordered Skrull Chancellor Kal'Du to compile files on noteworthy members of their race for the Skrull Warbook. Kal'Du included empress R'Klll, praising her hardline stance towards Earth and the Shi'ar, claiming it might have been crucial in the destruction of the Dark Phoenix entity. However, Kal'Du also pointed out that there are those who claim the loos of the Skrull homeworld might have been prevented if R'Klll had spent more money on border security.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, Joe Sinnott.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Empress R'Klll has no known connections to

• any other "Empress" or "R'Klll" characters
  

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#209, p6, pan6 (main image)
X-Men I#137, p6, pan3 (on screen)
Fantastic Four I#257, p9, pan1&2 (with Anelle)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#206 (May, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooter (editors)
Fantastic Four I#209 (August, 1979) - Marv Wolfman (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Marv Wolfman, Jim Shooters (editors)
X-Men I#137 (September, 1980) - Chris Claremont, John Byrne (writers), John Byrne (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Jim Salicrup, Louise Jones (editors)
Fantastic Four I#257 (August, 1983) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Al Milgrom, Ann Nocenti (editors)
Fantastic Four Annual#18 (August, 1984) - John Byrne (writer), Mark Bright (pencils), Mike Gustovich (inks), Michael Carlin (editors)

First Posted: 09/30/2013
Last Updated: 07/01/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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