The Eternals are a race of humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were created by Jack Kirby, making their first appearance in The Eternals #1 (July 1976).
In the Marvel Universe, the Eternals are an offshoot of humanity known as Homo immortalis which were created one million years ago by the enigmatic alien Celestials to defend Earth with their superhuman powers and abilities. Their primary adversaries are the Deviants, who share a similar origin and pose a regular threat to humanity. Due to their virtual immortality, Eternals have largely secluded themselves from humans, with their god-like status forming the basis of various mythological figures around the world.
Since their appearance, the Eternals have had several of their own series, in addition to crossing into other titles, such as Thor and X-Men. They made their live action film debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with their own feature film Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, which was released November 5, 2021.
Publication history In 1970, Jack Kirby left Marvel Comics to work at DC Comics, where he began the saga of the New Gods, an epic story involving mythological and science fiction concepts. Though he had planned for a definitive ending, the series was abruptly cancelled. Upon his return to Marvel, Kirby continued exploring his interest in mythological science fiction through The Eternals.
Originally titled "The Celestials", Marvel changed the title to "Return of the Gods", whose comic book cover bore stylistics similarities to Erich von Daniken's book Chariots of the Gods?. To avoid potential legal issues, the name was again changed to “Eternals". The Eternals' saga was thematically similar to the New Gods' and it shared the same fate: Kirby's new series also was eventually canceled without resolving many of its plots. Writers Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald used the Eternals in a Thor storyline that concluded in Thor #301,Thor Annual #7 (1978) and Thor #291-301 (May 1979 - November 1980) resolving those lingering plotlines. Subsequent to the Thor storyline, the Eternals (and the mythology connected to them) have appeared or been mentioned in numerous Marvel comics. In particular, the Celestials' experiment on humanity has been used to explain how certain humans can develop super-powers. The Titanians (created by Jim Starlin) and Uranians (created by Stan Lee)Marvel Boy #1 (December 1950) were later retconned as being Eternals as well.
The Eternals returned for a 12-issue miniseries in 1985 under writer Peter B. Gillis and penciler Sal Buscema.Eternals (Marvel, 1985 series) at the Grand Comics Database. Note: Copyrighted title per its published postal indicia is Eternals. Trademarked cover logo is The Eternals.The Eternals at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. from the original on June 17, 2016. According to comic-book historian Peter Sanderson, "editor in chief Jim Shooter disliked Gillis's scripts, so Walter Simonson wrote the final four issues."
In 2000, a one-shot comic called New Eternals: Apocalypse Now #1 featured an older conflict between the Eternals and Apocalypse. In 2003, writer Chuck Austen and artist Kev Walker rebooted the franchise for Marvel's mature readers-focused MAX imprint, resulting in The Eternal.
The Eternal series from Marvel's MAX imprint written by Chuck Austen was based on an idea he had been working on for a while: "I pitched this back when I first started working at Marvel, but Joe Quesada was against doing it. He saw no future in this particular old Kirby concept." Austen described the plot as involving "Ikaeden, the leader of the Eternals, who arrives on Earth at the dawn of man, and evolves humankind from Homo erectus so he can use them as slaves to mine raw materials for the Celestials, his bosses, basically," as well as "Kurassus, who is the second-in-command of the mining mission, and who is determined to undermine Ikaeden and kill Ikaeden's precious slave-girl and son." In an interview with Newsarama he gave an outline of his planned plot:
Planned as an ongoing series, it was cancelled after six issues.
Neil Gaiman, with artist John Romita, Jr., created a 2006 miniseries, which helped bring the Eternals' role in the modern Marvel Universe up-to-date. Solicited as a six-issue series, an extra issue was added to the run, because, according to editor Nick Lowe, "There was too much story to fit into the structure we set for ourselves. Neil was starting issue five and told me that he might need a seventh issue. He just had too much story to fit in six issues (even with the first and sixth double-sized)."
A fourth Eternals series ran as an ongoing series for nine issues and one annual from August 2008 – March 2009.
The Eternals returned in Jason Aaron's Avengers, a story arc involving the Dark Celestials, which saw the Eternals all killed in the fourth issue. However, the characters were resurrected in their new ongoing series launched in January 2021 by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Esad Ribić.
Fictional history When the Celestials visited Earth 1,000,000 years ago and performed genetic experiments on early proto-humans, they created two divergent races: the long-lived Eternals, and the monstrous Deviants. These experiments also led to the capacity for mutations in humans.
A civil war broke out amongst the Eternals over whether to conquer the other races, with one faction led by Kronos and the other by his brother, Uranos. Kronos's side prevailed; Uranos and his defeated faction left Earth and journeyed to Uranus, where they built a colony. Some of Uranos's group tried to return to Earth to re-kindle the war, but were attacked by a passing Kree ship and forced to land on Saturn's moon Titan, where they established a colony.
Kronos's experiments in cosmic energy caused a catastrophic release of energy throughout the Eternals' city, Titanos, destroying it, activating latent genes in the Eternals, and disintegrating Kronos's body. The Eternals gained the ability to channel cosmic energy, granting them near-godlike power. Kronos's son Zuras was chosen to succeed Kronos as Prime Eternal, while his other son A'lars chose to leave Earth to avoid causing another civil war and left for Titan.
While Zuras ruled, three new Eternal cities were built. The first was Olympia, located in the mountains of Greece, near the main portal between the Earth dimension and the Olympians' home dimension, which led many ancient Greeks to confuse some of the godlike Eternals with members of the Olympian pantheon. Eventually, an agreement was reached with the gods where some Eternals, such as Thena, would impersonate the Olympians before their worshipers. The other two Eternal cities were Polaria (located in Siberia) and Oceana (in the Pacific).
After World War II, some Eternals allied with humans and Deviants to form the Damocles Foundation, which tried to create a new breed of superhuman to rule Earth.X-Force #79 (1998) Some Eternals, such as Makkari, were also active as superheroes, or living amongst humans, keeping their true nature hidden. The Eternals also helped to move the Inhumans' city to the Himalayas to keep it hidden.
Modern Age Ikaris accompanies Daniel Damian and his daughter Margo into an Eternal city in the Andes, where he awakens Ajak. Ajak begins the process to receive the Celestials. These movements alert the Deviants, who decide to attack New York.Eternals #1-4 When the Celestials return to judge the worthiness of their creations, the Eternals find themselves clashing with the Deviants again, and decided to publicly reveal their existence to humanity.Eternals #5-10 However, Zuras is killed in the battle against the Celestials.Thor #284-301
Some time later, the Deviants attack Olympia, kidnapping the Eternals and intending to disintegrate them. The hero Iron Man (James Rhodes) rescued the Eternals and helped them defeat the Deviants.Iron Man Annual #6 Most of the Eternals (led by Valkin) leave for the stars, while some – those most heavily involved in Earthly affairs – remain on Earth.The Avengers #248
With the ascension of Priestlord Ghaur as leader of the Deviants, the Eternals join the Avengers in defeating him after he absorbs the power of a Celestial and tries to gain godhood. Meanwhile, Ikaris questions Thena for her poor choices as leader of the Eternals. After a special ceremony, Ikaris succeeds her as leader of the Earth's Eternals.Eternals (vol. 2) #1-12
Memory loss and the Dreaming Celestial The Eternals began reappearing on Earth in Neil Gaiman's new take on the immortal beings. Most seemed to have no memory of their own history and abilities, except Ikaris, and few records of their previous appearances remain. Sprite, angered at having to remain an eleven-year-old and unable to grow any further, managed to change reality, inducing collective amnesia in the Eternals as well as distorting their perceptions of history. He uses a Uni-Mind with the Dreaming Celestial and other unwilling Eternals to achieve his desire, transforming himself into a child.Eternals: (vol. 3) #5 (2006)
Makkari, Sersi, Thena, and Druig meet at a party in Vorozheika, with their reunion inadvertently causing them to regain their powers. Two of the Deviants manage to kidnap Sprite and Makkari, using him to awaken the Dreaming Celestial, who resides underground in San Francisco. Upon awakening, the Celestial decides to judge humanity. The Eternals, now remembering their past, arrive in San Francisco, and realizing that they cannot stop the Celestial, decide to leave him be. Makkari becomes the Celestial's herald.Eternals (vol. 3) #5-7 (2006)
Resurrection and confrontation with Thanos
After the events of The Final Host, the Eternals are revived by the Machine with no memories of their recent events. As Ikaris retrieves Sprite, Zuras is mysteriously murdered, forcing Ikaris and Sprite to retrieve others after encountering Thanos. Phastos is the first Eternal reborn and learns the shocking truth about the Machine: every time an Eternal is resurrected, one human life is taken in return. Shocked by this revelation, Phastos vows to end it by ending the Eternals. However, Thanos kills Phastos to hide the truth and works with Druig to depose Zuras. The Eternals learn the truth after Ikaris sacrifices himself to repair the machine.
Thanos is elected as the new Prime Eternal and disposes of Zuras. The group infiltrates the Avengers' base to confront the Celestial Progenitor and learn why the Celestials created the Eternals. While the Eternals stall the Avengers, Ajak gains access to the Progenitor's consciousness and uncovers the truth of their origin. She learns that when the Progenitor died from sickness, the necrofluid began to contaminate life on Earth, which resulted in excess deviation and mutation. The Celstials began designing the Deviants to stabilize the necrofluid, while the Eternals served as antibodies to eliminate the Deviants if the mutations were unstable. After Thanos' defeat, Druig becomes Prime Eternal and begins to suspect the mutants' settlement on Krakoa as Deviants, wishing to eliminate them.
A.X.E.: Judgment Day
Believing that mutants represent another form of deviation, Druig orders the Eternals to attack Krakoa, starting a conflict with the X-Men. The Avengers became involved as the conflict escalated, while Ajak, Makkari and Phastos seek a way to stop the war.
The conflict changes when the Celestial Progenitor awakens and begins judging humanity to determine whether they are worthy of continued existence. Ajak questions the Progenitor's authority and attempted to understand the purpose behind his judgement. Simultaneously, Uranos escapes prison and attacks Olympia.