The moment everyone was waiting for...and it turned out to be a hoax.
Just as we know next to nothing about Commander Nebula's backstory, neither do we know how Zurg became an Evil Emperor. He owns a vastly powerful, sinister empire that constantly threatens the sanctity of the galaxy and the Galactic Alliance. It is also not shown what planets he possesses, but it is apparent that he owns several; such as the mining planet in "Shiv Katall".
In one episode, "Stranger Invasion", he told Buzz Lightyear that he was his father; however, this was a ploy to distract Buzz, which led to Zurg taking the upper hand. He was quick to pass off the claim as a "Made You Look" scheme.
Physical Appearance
Zurg is a very tall alien with purple skin, red eyes, and neon green teeth (though this appears to be part of his helmet), long gray gloves, and always wears the same purple armor and a fancy dress robe. When he speaks, his tone fluctuates often.
Zurg has a "Z" emblem on the front of his cape. The emblem is a secret button which can, when pressed, activate Zurg's rocket boots allowing him to fly.
Although not obvious at first, due to his long robes obscuring them all the time, he does indeed have feet, once stating that he owns a pair of rocket boots that he "got on sale".[1]
Personality
The Not-So-Evil Emperor Zurg
Evil Emperor Zurg is not your usual despicably evil supervillain. Despite being the most evil, nefarious villain of the galaxy for years on end and a constant thorn in the side of Star Command, Zurg has been known to take himself less than seriously, and actually seems to have a well-developed (if demented) sense of humor.
His evil schemes are routinely less-than-stellar in design (such as one scheme to make children afraid to eat their vegetables so that years later they would be too weak to fight when he invades...a plan which only Buzz thought clever), and he is quick to shunt the blame for failures onto others' shoulders (usually his Grubs or Brain Pods).
His main downfall whenever fighting against Buzz Lightyear, his nemesis, is the trademark error of every villain: the gloating monologue. Because of this, Zurg has never won out of the 3,247 times [2] he's tried.
He has a strange fear of being touched, mentioning something about "personal space" and "cooties" in the episodes "The Torque Armada" and "The Main Event".
He is also somewhat picky about his schemes, claiming when politicians were being kidnapped that he would never do something "so obvious."
Abilities
Laser Vision: He has laser vision, but rarely uses it in battle, and seems to use it when losing his temper. Whether this is a species trait or an artificial enhancement is left to the imagination of the viewer.
He is also shown melting a military gun from a distance with no visible lasers, but with his eyes glowing, suggesting something more akin to heat-vision.
Ion Blaster: Zurg's signature weapon is a tri-barrel Ion-blaster. Zurg uses this often, and seems skilled with it, stating at one point that the secret is to squeeze, not pull the trigger, showing he knows well how to use this weapon.
Electricity Generation: In "The Adventure Begins" he has sharp talons capable of cutting through glass and was shown creating a ball of electricity from his fingers to torture the LGMs with.
The back box art of the Adventure Begins video also displays Zurg shooting lasers from his fingers, but this ability was never seen on the show.
Flight: Zurg wears a pair of unseen rocket boots under his robe to propel him through the air and space in the same respect as Buzz's rocket pack.
Super Reflexes: While invading Roswell, he is shown catching a missile with his bare hands.
"Hold your fire. Don't damage the HYPER DEATH RAY!"
Trivia
Zurg's species is a subject of much debate in the fandom, but there is canonical evidence that rules out him being a robot. He requests a glass of water,[3] eats popcorn, and is shown coming back from recently using the restroom. And in The Crawling Flesh, he is affected by Brain Pod 26's gas and turns into to a blob, a sign that he is organic.
When enslaving the people of Roswell, Zurg states that he is an "equal opportunity enslaver", a parody of "equal opportunity employer."
