Yirbek

The Yirbek were a humanoid^[3] reptilian^[1][4] species, with a humanoid distribution of limbs,^[2][1][3] but covered in green scales.^[1][3] They also show two compound red eyes,^[3] fangs in their mouth, and long claw-like nails^[2] on the five fingers (including one opposable thumb) of their hands. They were far higher than an average human at 6'7".^[1][3] Yirbek wore clothes and armor.^[2] Some Yirbek, however, were red-skinned, with black eyes, a horn on the head, and hands with three claws (including opposable thumb, but different from fingers). These red Yirbek had strong jaws and could use their teeth as weapons, biting an enemy's high-technology weapon.^[5] Yirbek were subservient to their authorities, but also obsessive when they hated other beings or races.^[1]

The species evolved on the planet Yirb, second from the sun in the star system Bek in the Andromeda Galaxy.^[1][3] Their tropical world's gravity was higher than Earth's and an atmosphere slightly different from Earth's, as a well as a high amount of water-covered surface.^[1] The Yirbek did not have any further evolutive adaptations, except those required to live in their planet^[1][3] and in others, including Earth, without protective gear.^[6] The Yirbek did have advanced technology, including warp drive-enabled starships^[1][3] with cobalt throttles, hyper-sensitive robot detectors that could be rocketed to star systems to track their targets, deltanoid rays able to obliterate advanced facilities without warning,^[2] and other advanced, nuclear weaponry^[3] that could destroy planets (or at least cause important damage to the civilizations there). The Yirbek technology, while higher than Earth's, was not as high as the Skrulls'.^[1]

Centuries ago, the Yirbek managed to craft a small empire of planets in the Andromeda Galaxy. Then, they fought a war against the Skrulls and lost.^[1][3] From that moment one, Yirb became one of the 978 planet-members of the Skrull Empire^[7][8] and one of the empire's base of operations,^[4] and the Yirbek became one of the races governed by the Skrulls^[4] thorugh a military dictatorship on the Skrull part.^[1][3] The Skrulls also took over the Yirbek empire,^[1] and began using the Yirbek military as mercenaries in conflicts that they considered minor by galactic standards - but the Skrulls failed to provide the Yirbek with the most advanced Skrull technologies.^[1] Nevertheless, the Yirbek were among the Skrulls' most steadfast allied species,^[9] and the Skrulls learned how to shapeshift into Yirbek shapes to make use of the Yirbek's natural skills.^[5]

Other Yirbek worked, also as mercenary forces, for the Consortium,^[10] an intergalactic business conglomerate with financial interests on thousands of worlds through the Milky Way.^[6] The Consortium employed members of several different species,^[6] developing even a universal translating system to ensure communication. They moved through the galaxy in starships powered by planets; it is believed that the Consortium took over planets, exterminating or recruiting their native species, then using the planets themselves as energy source,^[11] but this was not the case with Yirbek, as Yirb was still a part of the Skrull Empire with 4.3 billion inhabitants.^[1]

Among the conflicts in which the Skrulls used the Yirbek, one of the most important was^[1] a centuries-long^{[2][4][12][13]} war against the Kallusian species,^[1][3] also members of the Skrull Empire,^[7][8][4] in response to a Kallusian uprising. The Kallusians' tenacity,^[4] in combination with their technology, comparable to the Yirbek's,^[14][15] prevented the Yirbek from easily winning the war, even if they spent several centuries laying siege to Kallu,^[1] the Kallusians' home planet, also in the Andromeda Galaxy.^[14][15] Eventually, the Yirbek prevailed^[13] and took over Kallu, exterminating its population^[1] until only some 11,000 individuals were left.^[14] While Kallu ended up in Yirbek hands,^[3] a small contingent of Kallusians escaped, trying to find a planet to hide and regroup.^[13][12] Led by the Kallusian king Ogor,^[2][12] they left the Andromeda Galaxy, reaching the Milky Way, and after months of desperate search,^[2] hid beneath the Earth's Arctic ice cap.^[2][13][12] The Yirbek, however, would not be satisfied with anything less than the complete genocide of the Kallusians, and rocketed their robot detectors to many planets while sending their own speeding fleet through the galaxies. The Kallusians hoped that the Yirbek would abandon that area of the galaxy without finding them, but one of the Yirbek sensors went through Pluto, reached the Earth's moon and picked up a trace of the Kallusian species. The Yirbek robot identified a Kallusian monitoring station on the surface of the North Pole, and destroyed it immediately with a deltanoid ray so that it would not send an alarm - but a surviving Kallusian in the area, in an exploration mission, notified Ogor in the Kallusian main base.^[2] Initially, Ogor considered fighting the Yirbek on Earth, but the Kallusians had promised to their Earth-born ally, Dr. Hjarmal Knute Svenson, that they would ensure the Earth wouldn't be harmed by their fight with the Yirbek, but doing so would mean fighting the Avengers too. Thus, the Kallusians left Earth^[2][13][12] for a location 1,200 light-years from it,^[2] which they called Sector 18-G, where they would confront the Yirbek fleet.^[2][13] Uatu the Watcher saw the Kallusians leave and concluded that Earth would never know whether the Yirbek defeated the Kallusians in that fight or not.^[2]

Some time later, the Skrull Raksor once adopted the shape and skills of a red-skinned Yirbek while confronting the Kree Bel-Dann in the Blue Area of Earth's moon. Raksor's Yirbek mouth bit the Kree's robo-rifle, disarming his enemy, but Bel-Dann refused to give up the fight, claiming that he had survived previous fights without weapons. Uatu the Watcher interrupted their duel, transforming Raksor back to his Skrull form, as both Bel-Dann and Raksor had important messages from their leaders.^[5]

A number of Yirbek warriors were seen among the Consortium forces in Canada^[10] when the Consortium tracked the artificial cosmic being Her there. Her had earned the enmity of the Consortium and tried to find shelter and allies on Earth, crashlanding in Toronto;^[6] the Consortium mother ship^[10] demanded that she be handed over, but Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight refused, and the Consortium began an attack on Toronto, using atmospheric ship raids^[6] and ground troops of several species, including Yirbek. Alphas Diamond Lil and Sasquatch fought several helmeted Yirbek.^[10] Due to the immensity of the crisis, the Avengers went to help Alpha Flight,^[10][16] and Avengers Hercules and She-Hulk also confronted the Yirbek; Hercules enjoyed fighting this new enemy, claiming to give his Yirbek foe the honor of being beaten by him, while Sasquatch used a bus as a ranged blunt weapon against the Yirbek, in both cases successfully.^[16] The Consortium was eventually defeated when the mother ship and fighter ships were disabled;^[11] it is unclear what happened with the Yirbek ground troops.

81% of surface covered by water and mostly tropical.^[1]

150% Earth standard.^[1]

76% nitrogen, 23% oxygen.^[1]

4.3 billion.^[1]

Military dictatorship under the rule of the Skrull Empire.^[1]

The Yirbek possess vessels capable of warp flight^[1][3] and advanced, nuclear weaponry^[3] that could destroy planets. Their technology, while higher than Earth's, was not as high as the Skrulls'.^[1]

Obsessive in hatred, but subservient to their masters.^[1]

• The

  

  number of toes of a Yirbek has been listed as five in the species profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12 (although that same profile was illustrated with an image of a four-toed Yirbek), then corrected to four in their profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #15.
• Unnamed in their first appearance in Avengers #14, the species received name only in their profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12 - and even then, they were still unnamed in the profile of the Kallusian species in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 (and also in Avengers Log, published 11 years after Official Handbook #12).
• In Fantastic Four Annual #18, a Skrull shapeshifts into a red-skinned, horned Yirbek that looks nothing like the green Yirbek that had been seen in Avengers #14 and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Thus, a Yirbek can have different skin colors and apperances.
• Norway's entry in Marvel Atlas #1 says that the Kallusians, hiding from the Yirbek, contacted with Knute Svenson circa 1100 AD. While the Kallusians may have reached Earth in the 11th century, Svenson was certainly not alive back then.