Secret Invasion: How Much Stronger Are Skrulls Than Humans? Director Ali Selim Has The Answer

When it comes to superhero and comic book properties, it's paramount to establish clear guidelines on power sets and strength. You don't want characters randomly acquiring new powers without any explanation or being able to handily defeat someone who's ordinarily stronger than them. So when it came to defining the Skrulls' powers on "Secret Invasion," director Ali Selim and his team wanted to keep things simple. 

First and foremost, the Skrulls are most easily recognizable with their ability to shape-shift into anyone. This power was laid out in 2019's "Captain Marvel," but "Secret Invasion" lays out the rules a bit more clearly. The Skrulls kidnap human beings so that they can replicate their appearance. There's also a machine that allows the Skrulls to peer into the subject's mind to obtain their memories, which no doubt aids them in perfectly supplanting the identities of world leaders.

However, the Skrulls are definitely more dangerous than merely being shape-shifters, and Selim revealed how they gave the Skrulls an extra boost to make them even more of a threat to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and the rest of humanity.

Skrulls can clearly handle themselves in a fight, but there appears to be a distinct advantage in the Skrulls' favor. That's no mistake, as director Ali Selim confirmed they intentionally made the Skrulls 15% stronger than average humans. Selim spoke about this attribute in an interview with Gizmodo, "The rule that we created was 15% stronger than humans, so they get into the fights like you saw, and they're just a little stronger. They can defeat a human, but when it's two Skrulls, they're both equally 15% stronger."

By the sound of it, Skrulls don't necessarily have superhuman strength. They wouldn't be much of a match for Hulk or even Captain America. However, "Secret Invasion" has foregone superheroes being present, and instead, Nick Fury and other regular humans are the center of attention. This can readily be seen in Episode 2 of the series, where Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and his comrades take out numerous humans to rescue one of their own. It's barely a challenge for them, and it shows how much 15% truly is.

Ultimately, shape-shifting and a bit of extra strength don't make them too intimidating, but that could all change very soon. Selim teased what could come next in "Secret Invasion," teasing, "One of the spoilers that I'm not gonna give you is what would a Skrull do if he had superpowers." Episode 2 also hinted at the arrival of the legendary Super Skrull, which seems to be what Selim is referring to. Superpowers or not, "Secret Invasion" has made the Skrulls a terrifying threat within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.