The
Earth is not the only planet in the universe populated by sentient life. The universe
is teeming with other life forms, the number of which is incalculable. Because
the denizens of Earth have not yet perfected a practical faster-than-light stardrive
enabling interstellar travel, the majority of the alien races encountered by Earth
people are those races who have mastered interstellar travel themselves and have
visited Earth. Due to the fact that the Earth's solar system is near a natural
warp-space access point, there has been a high incidence of alien visitation since
before human life first appeared. Indeed, numerous advanced civilizations left
outposts on Earth during prehistory, including the Kree, the Lumina, the Arcturans
and the Celestials. In the 20th Century, alien visitation reached epidemic proportions
with well over eighty different alien races dispatching exploratory parties and,
in some cases, armadas to Earth. The Earth has been of particular interest to
the warring Kree and Skrull Empires, since the Earth would be a strategic military
outpost from which to launch attacks on the other. One of the main factors accounting
for the increase in the extraterrestrial investigation of Earth is the explosive
growth of Earth beings who through mutation or transformation have demonstrated
superhuman capacities. No other races of beings have manifested such a vast variety
of powers as Earth people, and many races are curious to determine why. (The human
race's capacity for benevolent mutation is a legacy of the alien Celestials who
examined the genetic material of human beings at the dawn of man.) It is these
superhuman beings who have been so phenomenally successful thwarting the selfish
designs of the scores of alien invaders. Virtually every superhuman champion on
Earth has had at least one extraterrestrial encounter.
The
majority of the alien races documented here have humanoid configurations (bilaterally
symmetrical, upright posture, two arms, two legs, brain located in head). Some
are astonishingly similar to the human race, being virtually indistinguishable
until the cellular level. Other races resemble humanoid versions of other Earthly
animals, such as lizards, skunks, insects, fish, and so on. The reason for this
staggering similarity in phenotypes among races evolving on countless worlds separated
by millions of light years is not known. A being called "Xorr the God-Jewel"
once claimed that the "seeds" of all humanoid faces were contained within
Xorri, the now-extinct race that formed the jewel. The validity of this claim
is questionable, but it is also unlikely that the vast similarities among certain
races can be attributed to parallel evolution. There must something to account
for so many coincidences among these alien races, but as yet there is no indication
what it is. It is possible that humanoid races do not dominate the universe as
it would appear, and that it is mere happenstance that the majority of the alien
races Earth has encountered are humanoid.
Most
of the alien races which comprise the Shi'ar
Empire have yet to be identified, and so are not listed here. Also any races that
have become extinct or one or two survivors with no means to perpetuate their
species are listed here.