Who the Clix? Hulkling

Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

For the full Who The Clix? archive, click here. If you think these articles are worth more than $0, click here.

Appearances in Heroclix: Empyre, Civil War: Storyline OP,  Avengers
First Appearance: Young Avengers #1 (April 2005)
Team Affiliations: Young Avengers, New Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy
Powers: Superhuman Strength, Shapeshifting, Accelerated healing factor, Biological pheromone immunity
Created by: Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung

Teddy is raised by a single mother on Earth before joining the Young Avengers. When he is a teenager, the Super-Skrull appears and tells Teddy that he is a Skrull. Teddy escapes alongside the other Young Avengers and returns to Wiccan's home, where Teddy's mother is waiting. The Super-Skrull follows the young heroes and uses a device meant to reveal Teddy's true form only for Teddy's mother to be revealed as a Skrull. Super-Skrull is shocked and accuses Ms. Altman of being a traitor, only for Ms. Altman to reveal that she was charged with protecting Teddy from everyone. Even the Super-Skrull. She aims to defend her charge with a weapon only for the Super-Skrull to accidentally kill her.

The Super-Skrull reveals the truth about Teddy's heritage. Years before, the Super-Skrull captures the Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell and brings him before the then Emperor Dorrek VII. While in captivity, Princess Annell becomes enamored with the Kree hero and together they conceive a child. Because of the long and vicious blood feud between the two races, the Emperor demands the child be killed as soon as it is born. Despire this, the princess names her newborn after her father and demands the young boy's chambermaid protects him. This chambermaid smuggles him to Earth and raises him as Theodore Altman.

The Super-Skrull has come to Earth to retrieve Teddy and have him unite the Skrulls as their rightful emperor. Once this is all explained, a contingent of Kree soldiers arrives to also take Teddy back as one of their own. In the ensuing chaos, a plan is hatched that begins with Teddy surrendering. Teddy agrees to spend 6 earth months with the Kree and then 6 months with the Skrulls before ultimately declaring his allegiance. This Teddy is actually the Super-Skrull in disguise, serving the being he believes to be his true emperor.

During the superhero Civil War, Teddy sides with the Secret Avengers along with the other Young Avengers. He is pivotal in Captain America's plan to free the captured heroes from Prison 42 by impersonating Yellowjacket.

When news spreads that Captain Mar-Vell is returned from the dead, Teddy confronts him about his supposed heritage. Mar-Vell confirms the events of the Super-Skrull's story and apologizes for never finding Teddy, asserting that because he never saw the princess again he didn't realize he had another son. Unbeknownst to Teddy, or this Mar-Vell himself, the revived hero is actually a Skrull impostor. During the process of granting him some of Mar-Vell's powers, however, the Skrull comes to truly believe he is the long dead hero.

During the Skrull attempt to conquer Earth after their long Secret Invasion, Teddy is ordered to be killed on sight so as to avoid any attempt by the young man to usurp leadership. Xavin saves their new ally from an assassination attempt. Teddy is later able to speak to a Skrull, learning that this conquest is a last desperate attempt by the Skrulls to find a home since all the planets of the Empire have been destroyed.

After years more of adventuring, Teddy and Billy join Sunspot's New Avengers. During their time with the team, a small group of Kree-Skrull hybrids comes to Earth for Teddy. They believe that he is destined to unite the two races as a king and present him with the Star sword as proof. Teddy is able to wield the blade, naming it Excelsior and aids the small group against an evil mage. He then tells them that he must honor his commitments to defend the Earth but will fulfill his destiny when he feels the time is right.

Teddy takes a trip to the newly formed nation of Krakoa and is met by Raksor and Bel-Dann. The pair ask him to unite the Kree and Skrull in an alliance to battle a growing threat on the Moon. A small group of Skrull soldiers, calling themselves the Children of Lost Tarnax, attack the trio while calling them heretics. Teddy transforms into his full Hulkling form and summons Excelsior, which intimidates the Children of Lost Tarnax. Hulking is taken to a spaceship and meets with Tanalth the Translator, who names him Dorrek VIII of the newly formed Kree-Skrull Alliance. Hulkling is reunited with the Super-Skrull and he punches the elder Skrull before they make amends and Super-Skrull expresses remorse for killing Teddy's surrogate mother. Before the flight moves out, leaving everything Teddy has ever known behind, including Billy, they stop at Mar-Vell's grave.

Teddy comes into conflict with the Avengers, who have been used by the ancient Cotati to gain enough time to grown into a threat. The Cotati turn on the Avengers, bringing the heroes of Earth into an alliance with the Kree-Skrull Alliance against this new menace. While battling the aliens, Tanalth is also revealed to be Empress R'Kill, Hulkling's maternal grandmother. Hulkling is deposed at one point and replaced with R'Kill so she can attempt to use a super weapon known as the Pyre to destroy the Earth and wipe out the Cotati. Billy is able to help the Earth heroes rescue the real Hulkling and together they are able to overcome the villainous elements and attempt to usher in a new age of peace between the Cotati, Kree and Skrulls.