They have the green skin of a frog, the pointy ears of Mr. Spock and the transformation powers of RuPaul.
They’re the Skrulls, and the alien race’s debut in “Captain Marvel” has been a longtime coming.
The shape-shifting warriors were introduced way back in 1962’s Fantastic Four No. 2 and, since then, have become among the most enduring characters in the Marvel universe.
Marvel Studios’ president Kevin Feige and others have been talking about bringing the Skrulls to life on-screen since the studio’s earliest days, but the time was never right.
In “Captain Marvel,” the Skrulls are warring with their fellow aliens the Kree, and Earth becomes the battlefield.
Getting the Skrulls’ design and the look of their world right was crucial.
“I have a rule that with any creature, the audience has to absorb and buy that it’s a real character in the first two minutes,” Shane Mahan tells The Post. Mahan is effects supervisor and co-owner of Legacy Effects, which handled the Skrulls’ makeup.
The creatures’ design started with art from the comic books. From there, the look was tweaked to best appear on-screen.
The crew spent four months sculpting, molding and camera-testing the Skrulls makeup. The ears especially took a lot of trial and error.
“They’re drawn with these very specific ears, and the ears were very important for Kevin Feige,” Mahan says. “We didn’t want them to look like Vulcan or elf ears.”
The look was completed with silicone prosthetics glued to the face and makeup. The actors, including Skrull leader Ben Mendelsohn, were allowed input to enhance their performance.
Mendelsohn asked that the prosthetics around the eyebrows be thinner so he could emote better.
In the comics, the Skrulls wear bright purple jumpsuits, but the film’s costume designer instead went with a dark purple, asymmetrical look that’s shiny and leathery — to look better during nighttime scenes.
The filmmakers also thought about how the Skrull spaceship might represent the race. Because the Skrulls are shape-shifters, the production went with a more organic look.
“The main Skrull battle cruiser is a cross between a lobster and a whale,” production designer Andy Nicholson tells The Post. “There’s so much that’s been done before, as far as spacecraft. It was hard to do something different.”
The ship’s interior contained lots of ceramics, organic materials and curved lines. Compare that to the Kree vessel, which is much more harsh and angular.
Although “Captain Marvel” ends with a resolution of sorts for the Skrulls, the smart money is on them returning in future movies. (Nicholson says his Skrull designs will turn up “many times in the future.”)
Rumors have abounded that the shape-shifters could return as a stealth invading force who secretly assume various heroes’ identities.
Or maybe they’re already here.