Skrulls take over for Iron Man, Venom, Hulk, and more in Marvel's May variant covers

Iron Man #20 Skrull variant cover by Pasqual Ferry
Iron Man #20 Skrull variant cover by Pasqual Ferry (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The Skrulls are back in a big way in the Marvel Universe - and not so coincidently, also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in 2022. 

As a companion to a Secret Invasion follow-up in May by writer Ryan North and artist Francesco Mobili starring Nick Fury and Maria Hill, Marvel is publishing a series of variant covers throughout its comics line depicting Skrull versions of Marvel heroes. And because the premise of the original 2008 Secret Invasion and the 2022 follow-up is about Skrull agents secretly infiltrating Earth, unlike past variant cover themes that featured Gwen Stacy (or Carnage, or others) mashed up with other heroes, these Skrullified heroes have some potential to be the real deal. 

Skrulls hiding on Earth is also expected to be the focus on the upcoming Secret Invasion Disney Plus streaming series reuniting Samuel L. Jackson (as Nick Fury) and Ben Mendelsohn (as Talos) along with new stars Olivia Coleman and Emilia Clarke. 

Here's a look at the Skrulls variant cover schedule of titles and artists along with the first batch of 17 covers Marvel released.  

On sale May 4

  • Captain Marvel #38 by Stephen Segovia
  • Miles Morales: Spider-Man #38 by Ernanda Souza
  • Shang-Chi #12 by Ron Lim
  • Venom #8 by Inhyuk Lee
  • X-Men #11 by Javier Garrón

On sale May 11

  • Amazing Spider-Man #3 by Salvador Larroca
  • Avengers #56 by David Lopez
  • Black Panther #6 by Khary Randolph
  • Iron Man #20 by Pasqual Ferry
  • Moon Knight #11 by Francesco Manna
  • Silver Surfer Rebirth #5 by Mico Suayan
  • Spider-Punk #2 by John Tyler Christopher

On sale May 18

  • Eternals #12 by Nao Fuji
  • Fantastic Four #44 by Lucas Werneck
  • Iron Fist #4 by Sergio Dávila
  • Silk #5 by Kael Ngu
  • Strange #3 by Leonardo Romero
  • Wolverine #21 by Trevor Von Eeden

On sale May 25

  • Amazing Spider-Man #4 by Jan Bazaldua
  • Avengers Forever #6 by Phil Noto
  • Carnage #3 by Björn Barends
  • Ghost Rider #4 by David Baldeón
  • Hulk #7 by Junggeun Yoon
  • Immortal X-Men #3 by Nicoletta Baldari

The original Secret Invasion ranks high on our list of the most impactful Marvel Comics events of all time.

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.