KR'LL race

Classification: Extradimensional (Reality-691) extraterrestrial sentient race

Location/Base of Operations: Unrevealed
   formerly the planet Klatuu which orbits an X-ray star "beyond the Pleiades" (a star cluster about 440 light-years from Earth)

Habitat: Unrevealed
Gravity: Earth-like
Atmosphere: Earth-like (now controlled by Main Frame)

Known Members: None
Estimated population: Unrevealed

Affiliations: Shi'ar, The Keeper (Norrin Radd)

Enemies: Galactus (Galan)

First Appearance: (Unidentified) Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (November, 1990);
   (Kr'll race identified) Guardians of the Galaxy I#12 (May, 1991)
   (Klatuu) identified Guardians of the Galaxy I#23 (April, 1992)

Powers/Abilities: Unrevealed

Cultural Traits: Unwilling to accept death without fighting to live

Type: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Limbs: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Fingers: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Toes: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Skin color: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Hair: Unrevealed (perhaps inapplicable)
Average height: Unrevealed (possibly 7') (see comments)

Type of government: Unrevealed

Level of technology: Advanced. The Kr'll are known to have built the starships which they used to leave Klatuu, but it has not been revealed exactly how advanced these starships were.

   The Kr'll are known to have had contact with the Shi'ar, so they may have had some form of technology that enabled interstellar communication. Or maybe the Shi'ar provided that technology. Or maybe the Shi'ar just visited Klatuu.

   Although it is known that the Kr'll were given psychic dampeners by the Shi'ar, the reason for this gift has never been revealed.

   The machines built by the Kr'll were durable and continued to function long after their creators had left Klatuu. These machines apparently controlled everything on Klatuu from its climate to planetary stability.

History:

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#5 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy I#12 (fb) - BTS) - The Kr'll are a race of sentient beings who inhabited a planet that orbited an X-ray star located somewhere beyond the Pleiades. It has not been revealed if the Kr'll actually evolved on that planet or if they originated elsewhere and colonized this planet..

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#23 (fb) - BTS) - The Kr'll name for the planet was "Klatuu."

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#12 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Kr'll had contact with the alien Shi'ar race. For reasons which have never been revealed, the Shi'ar gave psychic dampeners to the Kr'll.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy I#23 (fb) - BTS) <Sometime after the 26th Century (Earth calendar)> - The Keeper arrived on Klatuu and warned its inhabitants of the coming of Galactus.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Kr'll fled in starships that they had constructed.
         OR
(Guardians of the Galaxy I#22-23 (fb) - BTS) - The Keeper removed all of the life forms from Klatuu, including not only the Kr'll but all fauna and flora, and relocated them to another, uninhabited world.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (fb) - BTS) - Long after the Kr'll had fled, the android Avenger known as the Vision arrived on Klatuu during his search for the mutants who had left Earth before the War of the Worlds. Although the planet was uninhabited, the machines left behind by the Kr'll continued to function without them, and the Vision was able to interface with their central terminal. After an unspecified period, the Vision chose to give up his humanoid physical body and exist as a consciousness within the machines that ran Klatuu. In this new form, the Vision chose to rename himself "Main Frame."

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Main Frame discovered where the mutants had settled but, lacking a body, he could no longer join them and, since the danger to Earth had ended long before, he no longer wished to do so.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Captain America's shield, which had been removed from Earth by Doctor Doom to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Martian conquerors, was brought to Klatuu by either Doctor Doom himself or his servant Antag, a "space wanderer who reveled in puzzle making."

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#5-6 (fb) - BTS) - Antag incorporated some of what he learned about Main Frame's past into the clues that he left (allegedly for Major Astro to find) that led to Main Frame's planet.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy Annual I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Antag wrote (at least) two copies of the Book of Antag, and he wrote them in the runes used by the Centaurians.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 (fb) - BTS/Guardians of the Galaxy I#3) - A copy of the Book of Antag came into the possession of the mercenary group Force, and they began following the clues that led to "the legendary invincible shield."

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1 (fb)/Guardians of the Galaxy Annual I#1 (fb)) <3017 A.D.> - Yondu Udonta, the Centaurian member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, found a copy of the Book of Antag among his belongings in his quarters aboard the Freedom's Lady. Yondu showed the book to Major Astro who recognized the brightly-colored disk in one of the chapters as being Captain America's shield. Astro theorized that the Book of Antag was a galaxy-spanning puzzle that led to the shield, and he convinced the other Guardians to undertake the quest with him.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#1-4/Guardians of the Galaxy I#5 (fb) - BTS) - Following the clues led both Force and the Guardians of the Galaxy to Main Frame's world.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#5-6) - After arriving on Main Frame's world, the two teams were coerced into taking part in a series of contests to determine who was the most worthy to possess the shield. Both teams interpreted this as meaning that they had to physically battle and defeat their opponents. In the end, Main Frame decided that the Guardians had won and teleported Force and their starship to a location in space about 15 parsecs away.
   Back on Klatuu, Main Frame confirmed Vance Astro's realization that he had been the Vision and revealed that the competitions had actually been tests of courage, cunning, mercy, charity/forgiveness, honor, faith and soul, and that the Guardians had almost lost. Main Frame then stated that the Guardians had to leave, but before they did so he revealed some information about the shield, Antag and the planet, then provided the Guardians with the coordinates of the planet where the descendants of the mutants from Earth were now living.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#12) - In a conversation with Starhawk (Stakar), Main Frame revealed that the former inhabitants of his world were the Kr'll.

(Guardians of the Galaxy I#23) - While remotely monitoring the movements of Galactus, the Keeper (Norrin Radd) spoke his thoughts aloud and mentioned "Klatuu" as the first time where he had done what he must now do (i.e., relocate all the life forms from one world to another).

Comments: The Kr'll and their planet Klatuu created by Jim Valentino and Steve Montano.

   None of the Kr'll were depicted or described in-story so it's impossible to provide their physical characteristics. However, the fact that Yondu could stand upright in the room where Main Frame introduced himself to the Guardians indicates that the ceiling in that room was over 7 feet in height. This could mean that the Kr'll were that tall...or they were shorter but just liked high ceilings. Also, some of the abandoned vehicles seen in the empty starshipyard did seem consistent with human-sized passengers but, since none of the alien visitors were shown standing next to any of them, their sizes can't be confirmed.
    I had initially wondered if the Kr'll might have been a robot race like the Mekkans or Autocrons...the notes about the Keeper removing all flora and fauna seems to argue against that, but it first says removed all lifeforms, and robotic life would be considered lifeforms...
--Snood

   Although Main Frame's world first appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy I#5, information about its original name and its previous inhabitants was doled out slowly. First, it was in Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 that Starhawk (Stakar) told Aleta that the large enclosed space they were in was where "the former inhabitants of this planet built the starships within which they escaped this world." Later that issue, Main Frame revealed that "The beings who once inhabited this planet had long fled, having been warned of the coming of Galactus by the Keeper -- but their machines continued to function."
   It was six months later, in Guardians of the Galaxy I#12, when Main Frame told Starhawk (Stakar) that "The psychic dampeners...were given to the Kr'll, the former inhabitants of this world, by the Shi'ar..."
   And finally, it was almost a year later, in Guardians of the Galaxy I#23, when the Keeper, after detecting movement by Galactus, mused to himself, "He is moving yet again. So must I now do what I have done since that time on Klatuu." A footnote from "Know-it-all Valentino" identified Klatuu as "Now known as Main Frame's world."

   The "Beyond the Pleiades" clue only makes sense if one is aware that that direction is meant to be relative to Earth's location. Without knowing that Earth is the viewpoint location, that clue could be used to describe ANY location. For example, from Klatuu, Earth is also "beyond the Pleiades." I guess that Antag assumed that anyone who was seeking the shield would know that it was from Earth and would take that fact into account when trying to figure out his clues.

Profile by Donald Campbell.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Kr'll race has no known connections to

The planet Klatuu of Reality-691 should be distinguished from

Klatuu
Note: This subprofile only deals with the planet as it existed up until it was first visited by the Guardians of the Galaxy.

   A planet that orbited a star that emitted (most of) its radiation in the X-ray frequency, Klatuu was inhabited by the race known as the Kr'll until sometime after the 26th Century (Earth chronology) when the Keeper warned them of the coming of Galactus. The Kr'll responded to this warning by fleeing the planet in their starships (or by allowing the Keeper to relocate them to another planet). The machines that the Kr'll left behind on Klatuu continued to function without them. It has not been revealed if those machines were sentient at that time or if they only became a single sentient entity after the Vision interfaced with their central terminal.

   According to some accounts, when the Keeper rescued all of the sentient beings from a world threatened by Galactus, he also removed all flora and fauna in order to insure a successful transplantation on a new planet. If the Keeper actually did do this on Klatuu, then the planet would have been left intact but completely lifeless after his departure.

   Oddly, Galactus did not consume Klatuu and the reason why he (apparently) chose to not do so has never been revealed. However, even though Klatuu survived, the Kr'll never returned. It has not been revealed if they either never learned of Klatuu's survival or if they simply felt safer staying away from a planet that Galactus had already targeted once before.

   Sometime before the early 31st Century, the planet was transformed into what was described as "a world-wide sentient computer." It has not been revealed if this transformation was the work of the Kr'll or if they only began a process that their machines completed after they fled. This computer ultimately came to control everything on Klatuu, from its climate to its internal stability, and attacks by computer viruses and power drains could disrupt its control, leading to massive earthquakes that could tear the planet apart. At some point, the psychic dampeners given to the Kr'll by the Shi'ar were integrated into the computer's circuitry.

   The planet remained uninhabited for a long time until the android Vision arrived. Discovering that the Kr'll machines were still functioning, the Vision interfaced with their central terminal and eventually relinquished his humanoid body. In his new form, the Vision began calling himself "Main Frame," and the name "Klatuu" became lost to antiquity, remembered only by a few (like the Keeper).

   At some point, Captain America's indestructible shield was brought to Main Frame's world and remained there until 3017 A.D. when two teams, Force and the Guardians of the Galaxy, followed clues from their Books of Antag and arrived in search of it. After the members of the two groups competed in seven different one-on-one contests, Main Frame judged the Guardians to be the more worthy and awarded the shield to them, then banished Force from his world.

   During their time on Klatuu, neither the Guardians nor Force got a chance to see much of the planet. When they teleported down to the planet, each team materialized within a windowless "huge antechamber" where they were greeted by Main Frame, the consciousness within the machinery that surrounded them. During the seven contests that Main Frame asked that they undergo, twelve of the participants were teleported (in groups of four) to three locations on the planet.

    The first group was teleported into a sprawling labyrinth of tunnels that was over a mile-and-a-half wide and the third group was teleported into a very large enclosed area within which the Kr'll had built the starships which they had used to flee from their homeworld.

    Only the second group was teleported to a location that seemed to be on the surface. This area appeared to be a badlands, a type of dry terrain where softer rocks had been extensively eroded by wind and water, leaving behind steep-sided dry ravines and multiple tall, thin spires of harder rock (hoodoos). The four aliens saw no animal life in the area (aside from themselves) and only a few small clumps of vegetation were seen (but Nikki did find a single short and leafless tree from which she broke off a branch to use as a spear). It has not been revealed if these arid and lifeless conditions were limited in size or if they were prevalent over much or all of the planet's surface.

   It's possible that the various enclosed areas visited by the Guardians were all part of an immense subterranean complex, one that may have extended beneath much of the planet's surface. The fact that Klatuu orbits a star that emits much of its energy as X-rays that are harmful to living tissue could have motivated the Kr'll to build their structures underground for protection from that radiation. However, since the existence of such a subterranean complex has not been confirmed, the motivations that the Kr'll might have had to possibly build such a structure can be no more than speculation.

   According to a clue in the Book of Antag, this planet was located "Beyond the Pleiades." A fact that that clue doesn't mention is that that vector is meant to be relative to Earth's location. Depending on how far beyond the Pleiades it is, Klatuu could be in a planetary system located in the Taurus Dark Cloud or in one that was closer to the stars Mira or Zeta Aurigae. It is known that it took the Guardians "one month" to travel from Courg to Main Frame's world in a starship built by the Stark race but that doesn't really help to establish Klatuu's position in space.

   The idea that Klatuu orbits "a star that gives no light" because it "emits in the x-ray frequency" is scientifically inaccurate. All stars emit the energy that they produce across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and even those stars which emit most of their radiation in forms that are invisible to the human eye (like X-ray stars) will still emit a lot of visible light. Only very old stars or stellar remnants might be cold enough to not emit ANY visible light.

   Klatuu has (at least) two moons in orbit around it but little has been revealed about them because the image above is the only source of data. To make matters worse, what information can be obtained from this image is misleading because the relative sizes of the starship Captain America II, the two moons and Klatuu cannot be accurately determined without knowing the distances between them. For example, although the starship appears to be longer than the widths of either of the moons, the fact that it is closer to the POV means that the moons are actually larger in relation to the starship than they appear to be. Unfortunately, since the degree to which they are larger than the starship depends on the distance separating them, their actual widths could range from being just slightly greater than the starship's length to tens or even hundreds of times greater. In the absence of any precise data, all that can be reliably deduced is that the diameter of Klatuu is over four times greater than that of its largest moon.

   Although precise deductions cannot be made, some basic observations are possible. First, while Earth's Moon orbits its primary at a distance of about thirty times the diameter of Earth, Klatuu's moons orbit it far more closely. In fact, their orbital distance appears to be so small that it might be approaching the Roche limit, the distance in which a celestial body, held together only by its own gravity, will disintegrate due to a second celestial body's tidal forces exceeding the first body's gravitational self-attraction. However, if the moons were denser than one might expect, then they could orbit closer to Klatuu without being pulled apart.

   Second, the closeness of the two moons is exceedingly odd and should be impossible. Even though the distance between them has not been revealed, the size of the outer moon's shadow on the inner moon clearly indicates that they must be in VERY close proximity to each other, so much so that they must be either touching or almost touching. However, when celestial objects of such size/mass are so close together, their gravitational pull on each other should be strong enough to cause them to collide. Although a gentle enough collision could have caused the two moons to form a contact binary, the strength of Klatuu's gravity should have been enough to force them to orbit it at different speeds, thereby forcing them apart. Alternatively, a stronger collision would have smashed them together into a single moon. The oddity is that neither of these outcomes seems to have occurred.

Note: Some online resources spell the planet's original name as "Klaatu." They are ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!!

--Guardians of the Galaxy I#5-6

images: (without ads)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#5, page 1 (Klatuu)
      page 14, panel 1 (surface of Klatuu)

Appearances:
Guardians of the Galaxy I#5 (October, 1990) - Jim Valentino (writer/artist), Steve Montano (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy I#6 (November, 1990) - Jim Valentino (story & art), Steve Montano (inking), Craig Anderson (editing)

First Posted: 03/25/2019
Last updated: 10/15/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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