John the Skrull

Origin

130John is a Skrull that was sent to Earth in the 1960s as part of an invasion force that was thwarted. He was part of a group of four Skrulls that were to replace the Beatles but when the invasion ended, the four defected and stayed on Earth. Though it was never addressed, the Skrull Empire may have commissioned its soldiers to impersonate the Beatles because of the band’s contact with the Human Torch and the Thing in Strange Tales #130 – Meet The Beatles!.

Creation

John the Skrull was created by Paul Cornell and Trevor Hairsine and first appeared in Wisdom issue 1 (2007).

Major Story Arcs

Joining MI: 13

John then joined MI: 13 as a member of Pete Wisdom‘s superhuman team and helped to stop and interdimensional alien invasion among other weird happenings in the UK.

At the beginning of the recent Skrull invasion of Earth, John was nearly killed as a possible traitor to Earth in his cell in Shoredditch by a Skrull impersonating MI:13 agent Grimsdale. Fortunately, Wisdom interceded to save him. The faux Grimsdale’s assassination attempt was revealed to be part of a larger strategem by Skrull infiltrators to kill off Skrull defectors, which John helped Pete Wisdom in stopping. He remained a very important member of MI:13 in their fight against the Skrull invasion on England and Avalon. Bound with Wisdom, Spitfire, and Tink, he was executed as a traitor near the end of the battle for Avalon and British magic. John was so fixed on not being a fascist like the rest of the people, he did everything he could to undermine and insult them. He refused to shape shift back to his original Skrull form even when faced with death and even following his death his body did not revert back to its natural form.

Powers

John is a Skrull and, like all Skrulls, has the ability to shape-shift for disguise, as well as offensive or defensive purposes. John uses his ability to take the form of John Lennon of the Beatles most of the time. Other dominant uses of his powers include wings for flight ability and tentacles for offensive abilities. He once changed his left hand into a mace in order to prevent a Skrull from shooting Spitfire.