Are the Skrulls in The Avengers? – SPOILERS

There has been a lot of speculation and debate about the upcoming Avengers feature film. In early set pictures we saw our intrepid heroes facing off in a chaotic urban warzone against foes dressed in motion capture suits. It was then assumed that whoever the Avengers would be facing off against, it would be some sort of alien race that would be filled in with CGI special effects.

But exactly which aliens would they be? Well the most notable alien invasion in The Avengers books has been the Kree/Skrull war that Earth gets caught in the middle of. The Skrulls took form of large bulking aliens that were capable of shapeshifting.

Then when we caught a look at this screenshot in the first full Avengers trailer (compared to comic book images of Skrulls) fans everywhere were convinced.

But despite the producers denying outright that the Skrulls would not be in The Avengers, there was a wave of doubt in those words. WE SAW THEM! You can’t fool us!

So now that the red carpet advanced screening has happened and reviews are starting to litter the interwebs, we half want to find out if we were right all along.

THE FOLLOWING IS POTENTIALLY A SPOILER You were warned.

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The answer is no. And kind of Yes.

The alien armada that Loki recruits to do battle against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are in fact aliens, but they are called The Chitauri.

Joss Whedon explains who they are and why he went with this race as the alien footsoldiers in Loki’s street gang:

“The alien race are the Chitauri — or a version of them — because they are not one of the key races and they don’t have a storied history. That wasn’t the point. I know this debate will go on long after I’m dead. I would say it was the Kree-Skrull race.”

And this is why I say it is NO and still kind of a yes.

There are two interpretations of the Chitauri in the Marvel comics. The first took place in the golden age of Marvel comics in the main continuity known as Earth 616. They were an alien race of shapeshifters who attempted to infiltrate World War 2 earth posing as humans to destroy their culture from within. Their dogma was to eliminate chaos and free will in the universe. Humans had far too much of both. Later on, when the Skrulls were introduced the comparison was drawn to the Chitauri. While the Skrulls deny they are related to the Chitauri (but admit being aware of them) vague details surface that the Chitauri are in fact a mutation or religious sect from the Skrull’s past culture. This vague suggestions has most thinking Chitauri were kind of a predecessor or offshoot of the Skrull race.

Now, the other interpretation is from Marvel’s “Ultimate” universe that retells the story of the Marvel Universe in a parallel dimension known as Earth-1610. In that world, the Chitauri are pretty much taking the place of the storyline played out for the Skrull. So a retelling of the Chitauri backstory and in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the Chitauri are essentially Skrulls.

So are the Skrulls in The Avengers? No. The aliens are Chitauri.

Is it arguable that the Chitauri are a variation of the Skrulls? Yes. So the Skrulls are kind of in The Avengers after all.

Except they are not.

Hope that clears it up!