Who Is Talos? The Skrull General On The Hunt For Nick Fury
The American comic book created by Marvel Comics Secret Invasion is on everyone’s lips due to the imminent premiere of the series based on this story. The character Talos is the leader of the Skrulls race, who can change their appearance. But Talos is well known for being one of the few who cannot change his look.
Peter David and Gary Frank created the character. He made his debut in 1994 in The Incredible Hulk #418. Since then, until now, Talos has participated in several MCU movies.
Who is Talos in Marvel Comics?
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Unlike his kind, Talos was born without the ability to shape change. Therefore, he is considered a mutant among his own kind. Despite this, he managed to compensate for this defect, becoming one of the strongest and most feared Skrulls of his planet, becoming General.
He earned the title of Talos the Indomitable thanks to his sinister and savage nature. But, being captured by the Kree, he did not commit suicide, all to gain the glory of survival. From there came his disgrace, gaining the title of Talos the Indomitable to humiliate him.
This character married Soren, and from that union, they had a daughter, G’iah. His family was separated when they had to flee their home planet Skrullos. His wife and daughter sheltered with other Skrulls in the Laboratory of Mar-Vell, a Kree scientist.
Talos, instead, thanks to the alliance with Nick Fury, searched for a new planet. But on the way, due to Mar-Vell’s death, he lost contact with his family without knowing the location of his Laboratory.
By extracting information about the Light Speed Engine, thanks to Carol Danvers, he reached Earth and reunited with his lost family. From there, with ups and downs, he established a relationship with several humans, including Nick Fury.
Talos Biography
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Since his birth, Talos has struggled to earn a place among his own kind. Not possessing the innate ability of his other compatriots, fighting has been his main tool to do so.
One of his first battles was on Earth when he attended the wedding of Rick Jones and Mario Chandler. And when he came face to face with the Hulk, he started a fight against him. But he immediately abandoned the fight when the Hulk learned that Talos was fighting for his people. Despite feeling frustrated, the Skrulls considered his attempt quite impressive.
Another of his fights was against Devos the Devastator. This happened when Glorian called him to the planet Godthab Omega. The two were captured and imprisoned when the planet was attacked by the Annihilation Wave, which allowed the two to escape.
No matter how hard Talos tried, he could not find a way to be accepted, and one event or another led to humiliation. So it happened when Queen Veranke did not allow him to participate in the Secret Invasion because of his inability to change form.
Among his exploits was his joining the United Front army. Upon becoming a member, he fought against the Annihilation Wave. And among his less honorable actions was disguising himself so that Howard the Duck would do an investigation into a necklace.
The Black Cat had stolen that necklace. When Howard retrieves it, he discovers that the gems are similar to the Infinity Gems, granting them certain powers. Talos intended to use it to gain favors from the Skrulls, so the Fantastic Four learned him.
Talos’ Powers and Abilities
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The Skrulls are an alien race whose main advantage is that they can change their shape. Unlike his siblings, Talos does not have this ability, so his people categorize him as a mutant. It is considered a genetic defect.
Hence, he has been given durability and superhuman strength to compensate for it. This allows him to have the ability to defend himself against people as strong as the Hulk. In addition, he has a cybernetic eye, which was given to him after losing his own in combat.
In the same way, he is one of the few Skrulls that carry armament. His unique weapon allows him to materialize certain weapons of manual use from nothing. He also has wide expertise in close combat and using different weapons. This makes him an innate warrior, worthy of his opponents.
Thus, we can summarize Talos’ powers and abilities as follows:
- Superhuman abilities for not having carbon as a base, being able to:
Replicate his memory.
Superhuman strength.
Durability.
- Expert fighter.
- Expert leader.
- Expert tactician.
Talos in the MCU movies
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Talos has been present in several of the MCU movies. The actor who will play this character is Ben Mendelsohn. Who has done other Marvel movies such as:
- Captain Marvel (2019).
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
- Spider-Man: No Way Home.
History of Talos in the Comics
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In his history in the comics, Talos has well-marked events; we tell you about them.
Pursued by the Kree
Talos, as General of the Skrulls empire, led the survivors of his planet. The Accusers and the Kree Empire caused destruction. Foreseeing this situation, he allied with the scientist Mar-Vell in 1989 to give refuge to his family and survivors.
The Mar-Vell space laboratory orbited planet C-53, and one of the scientists’ objectives was to create a light-speed engine. This is to travel the galaxy and escape from the Kree.
Unfortunately, Mar-Vell was killed by the commander Yon – Rogg of Starforce. Causing his absence that the surviving Skrulls were stranded in space.
So, in 1995, several Skrulls led by Talos left that Laboratory to look for a solution. Thus they arrived in Torfa, where they lived for a while. But this tranquility did not last long.
Planet C53
After a battle in Torfa, Talos arrived in Los Angeles, California. Their means of transport were some capsules, four specifically, where Norex and two other Srull came besides Talos.
The order was to locate Vers, who was accused of having murdered Mar-Vell. As they had fallen on the west coast, the 4 Skrulls imitated some surfers to pass unnoticed.
Thus he manages to infiltrate the S.H.I.E.L.D., and in the Pursuit of the Skrulls, in their offices, he locks up Director Keller to gain the confidence of his colleagues. There he worked hand in hand with Nick Fury.
Fury entrusted Talos to inform him after finding Vers’ location. Fury found Vers in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, where he was looking for information about Dr. Wendy Lawson.
Battle at the Mar-Vell Laboratory
After some altercation, Carol Danvers recover her memories. So, she, along with Talos, Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau, begins the search for the mysterious Mar-Vell laboratory.
This Laboratory orbited around the Earth. And in search of reaching its mission, Norex, a Skrull, sacrificed himself, allowing himself to be killed by Yon – Rogg. Thus, Talos arrives at the Laboratory to reunite with his family and the other Skrull refugees that Mar-Vell managed to rescue.
For the bad luck of Talos and the others, Yon-Rogg called the Accusers. Thus a battle began where the Kree captured the humans and Skrull, arresting them. Talos manages to escape by disguising himself as one of Starforce’s guards.
Talos and his people meet up with Fury, Goose, and Rambeau. In trying to escape, Talos kills other guards. But, almost getting on the ship, he is shot by Yon-Rogg. In the end, Danvers manages to get the Kree to leave their planet, leaving Talos and his people in peace.
Thus, Talos and the surviving Skrul manage to settle on Earth while they look for a new planet to be their home. This way, strategies began to be traced between humans and Skrull to achieve this task.
Attack of the Elementals
By 2024, Talos was contacted by Fury to supplant him on Earth. Fury needed to be absent and spend some time in space. Talos and Soren accepted the proposal, the latter pretending the appearance of Maria Hill, Fury’s friend.
When Fury left Earth in his Insignia ship, he asked Talos to behave like him to keep an eye on Peter Parker. He was required to make sure the latter received Anthony Stark’s glasses.
Now simulating the human couple, Fury and Hill began investigating the event in Ixtenco. This was a town devastated by an as-yet unidentified identity. But, the locals stated that a humanoid was being attacked them.
This was Sandman, an elemental from an alternate reality to Earth. Who confronted the couple, joining Beck, and their mission was to prevent these elementals from destroying other planets.
Battle of London
After the emergence of a new elemental, Talos calls Beck, who has shown himself to be an ally in fighting these beings. The objective was to check that London was out of danger. Waiting for a response, Harold Hogan contacted Talos to report that Beck was a fraud.
Thus, upon the attack on the Tower Bridge by the Elemental Fusion, Talos requested a report from Beck. He was convinced that everything indicated was false by issuing a far-fetched description. So, after the Elemental Fusion attack on the Tower Bridge, Talos asked Beck for a report.
Thus Talos was already waiting for his death. Soren went up to the roof to defend him. And Peter Parker sabotaged a hologram of the Elemental Fusion. Thus Talos could see that Beck had sent an armed drone in stealth mode to assassinate him. Soren came to his aid, thus defeating Beck together.
Talos in Secret Invasion
Image: Marvel Studios
Talos command the Skrulls and one of his main allies Nick Fury. He arrived on Earth in the 90s and, since then, has worked with humans without problem, helping to replace Nick Fury’s appearance when required.
The actor who will play this character in Secret Invasion is the Australian Ben Mendelsohn. Who already has a track record in Marvel movies? So, fans should be anxious to see how his relationship with his daughter G’iah develops in this series after years of absence.
The Disney+ Secret Invasion series will premiere on June 21, 2023. It comes with an all-star cast, including new and returning actors.
The series will have six episodes, completing Phase Five of the MCU where Kyle Bradstreet will be present, accompanied in the direction with Ali Selim and Thomas Bezucha and the script by writers Tucker and Brant Englestein.
Featured Image Via Marvel Comics
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