Ever since the Kree made an appearance in Captain Marvel, some fans have been wondering about the Kree. We’ve seen several examples of them by now, and have even had the opportunity to see their leader. But what do we actually know about them?
The Kree are actually quite prevalent in Marvel Comics – they’re consistently showing up in Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as some of the Earth based hero series. Here’s a handy beginner’s guide to this enigmatic, powerful race.
The Basics
There was a brief period of time where the Kree were known as the Ruul, though that didn’t stick in the long run. The Kree are both scientifically and technologically advanced, but that much was probably obvious from what we saw in Captain Marvel.
As also indicated in the movies, the Kree use their advancements to help their militaristic goals. It’ll come as no surprise that the Kree are well known for their ability to get themselves into wars. Like a lot of races, some opinions are more extreme than others.
Skin Tones
There are two different skin tones represented in the Marvel comics, and three in the MCU. There’s the most obvious, the blue-skinned Kree. They’re the social and political elite, for the most part. There are exceptions to this, of course.
The Kree with lighter skin are much more common, and can easily pass for humans. The MCU also portrayed darker-toned Kree, which may or may not be canon and just haven’t been shown elsewhere.
The Kree/Skrull War
As mentioned above, the Kree tend to use their scientific and technological advances when it comes to war. They’ve become adept at starting them and at finishing them. One of the most famous wars was the Kree/Skrull war. Granted, the interpretation and perspective of the wars as shown in the comics and in the movies are quite different.
In the comics, it’s almost universal to show the Skrulls as an antagonist. There are exceptions (see the Young Avengers, for example), but they are few and far between. The movies take a more sympathetic turn for the Skrull.
None of this changes the fact that the Skrulls and the Kree have been warring for years, however. The war ends up becoming so big that it eventually pulls Earth and its heroes into the mix. Naturally, as the Skrulls are involved, dealing with it becomes quite difficult.
The Kree/Nova Wars
Once again, the Kree have been involved in many major conflicts. The war with the Nova Empire is one of the longest-running, however. The war started over a thousand years ago, but a treaty was recently signed to end the fighting.
Some were angered by the treaty, especially considering all the past bloodshed and the fact that many of the populace were not actually consulted in the decision. Though it was a certain Kree who took this anger to a new level.
The Kree/Shi’ar War
The Shi’ar are another race that the Kree found themselves involved in a war with. Unfortunately, the Shi’ar are also a militaristic empire, and they have gods backing their beliefs and actions.
Eventually, the Shi’ar released a Nega-Bomb that killed almost the entirety of the Kree race. Less than two percent survived. There was more to the plot than meets the eyes, as it turns out that the release of the bomb was planned from inside the Empire. It had all been done in hopes of forcing the Kree to evolve at a faster pace.
Their Home Planet, Hala
The Kree come from a planet known as Hala. Hala circles Pama, which is inside the Large Magellanic Cloud – meaning that it is one of the smaller galaxies circling the Milky Way. The planet itself has higher gravity as well as a higher nitrogen count in the air, at least compared to Earth. Hala was eventually destroyed after a series of events, all of which were circling around the Black Vortex and those that wanted to either destroy it or possess it.
The Captain Marvel series proved that in other universes Hala still survived, as did most of the Kree Empire. An attempt was made to bring one of these planets back to Universe 616, but Captain Marvel ultimately fought against it, as she felt the pain of the populace during the forced transition.
Supreme Intelligence
As shown in Captain Marvel, the Kree are ruled by a being called the Supreme Intelligence. This may sound counter-intuitive, but the Kree themselves were the ones that developed the Supreme Intelligence. The brains of the greatest Kree minds went into the project (literally), but don’t worry! They weren’t added until after the natural death of each figure.
The original goal of the Supreme Intelligence was to create a power similar to the cosmic cube. That was nearly a million years ago, however. Since then, the Supreme Intelligence slowly gained more and more influence until it eventually became the ruler of the Kree.
Inhumans
The Kree are directly responsible for the creation of the Inhumans back on Earth. The Inhumans are a subset of humans, much like mutants. However, their abilities have to be forcefully activated via the Terragen mists (which also happen to be a threat to mutants). Inhumans and their abilities vary as dramatically as mutants do.
There have been several famous characters that ended up being Inhumans, such as Medusa, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and countless others. The Kree created the Inhumans during one of their many biological experiments (the Kree have long been looking for the perfect biological weapons). To our knowledge, the Inhumans are the Kree’s most successful experiment to date.
Strained Relationships
Because of their militaristic tendencies, the Kree aren’t always that great at making friends. Most notably, their relationships with both the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Nova Corps could be considered strained at best.
While these relationships are tense, they have proven that they can work together – when needed. Situations with the Shi’ar are significantly more tenuous, but the blame could just as easily be laid on the Shi’ar Empire in this instance.
Kree You’ve Seen in the MCU
There have been several instances in the MCU alone where we’ve seen Kree – and we’re talking about before Captain Marvel even hit the screens. The conflicted and beloved character Yondu was Kree, as is Ronan the Destroyer.
The Kree appearances don’t end there. Nebula is a Kree – though admittedly a heavily-modified one.
Korath the Pursuer was another Kree we saw. He made appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy but then showed up in Captain Marvel’s Kree team. The Kree also made appearances in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - one was comatose, but the other, Vin-Tak, had a more talkative appearance.
