The Eternals were created by the legendary writer and artist Jack “The King” Kirby upon his return to Marvel Comics in the mid-1970s. They first appeared in The Eternals #1 (July 1976). Kirby, having previously explored similar themes of space gods and mythic heroes with his Fourth World saga at DC Comics, brought his signature cosmic scope and epic imagination to the Marvel Universe. The series was heavily influenced by the “ancient astronauts” theories popular at the time, particularly Erich von Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods?. Kirby's core concept was that the gods and monsters of human mythology were not supernatural beings but were, in fact, powerful alien-engineered humanoids whose ancient conflicts were witnessed by early humanity. The series established the Celestials as the silent, all-powerful creators and the Eternals and Deviants as their warring children. Though Kirby's initial series only ran for 19 issues and one annual, its concepts were later integrated into the broader Marvel continuity by writers Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald, solidifying the Eternals' place in the universe's cosmic hierarchy.
Approximately one million years in the past, a colossal starship belonging to the First Host of the Celestials arrived on Earth. These silent space gods conducted a series of genetic experiments on the planet's dominant intelligent lifeform, nascent humanity. From these experiments, three distinct offshoots of the human race were created:
The early history of the Eternals was marked by a devastating civil war. Two factions, led by the brothers Kronos (peaceful and scientific) and Uranos (warlike and expansionist), clashed over the future of their race. Kronos's faction was victorious, and Uranos and his followers were exiled into space. They eventually settled on the moon of Uranus, where they built a new colony. A later internal conflict among these exiles led to a second group settling on Saturn's moon, Titan, becoming the ancestors of the Titanian Eternals, most famously A'lars (Mentor) and his mad son, Thanos. Back on Earth, a laboratory accident involving cosmic energy disintegrated Kronos's physical body, but elevated him to a cosmic entity with mastery over time. His sons, Zuras and A'lars, became the new leaders. Zuras was elected Prime Eternal, the leader of Earth's Eternals, who built their hidden cities of Olympia in Greece, Polaria in Siberia, and Oceana in the Pacific. They adopted a policy of non-interference with humanity, only acting to combat threats from Deviants or other cosmic forces that endangered the planet's overall survival.
The origin of the Eternals in the MCU, as detailed in the film Eternals (2021), is a radical departure from the comics. In this continuity, the Eternals are not an organic offshoot of humanity but are synthetic beings—sophisticated androids created by the Prime Celestial, Arishem the Judge, in the World Forge. Their stated mission was to protect emerging intelligent life on designated planets from the Deviants, a species of predatory monsters that had also been created by the Celestials but had evolved beyond their control. For 7,000 years, the team of ten Eternals assigned to Earth—led by Ajak and including Sersi, Ikaris, Thena, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, and Gilgamesh—lived among humans, fighting Deviants and quietly guiding human development. However, their true purpose was a closely guarded secret known only to the Prime Eternal, Ajak. The real mission was not to protect humanity for its own sake, but to cultivate a large enough human population to trigger the “Emergence.” An embryonic Celestial, Tiamut, was growing within the Earth's core, feeding on the life energy of its inhabitants. The Emergence would result in the birth of this new Celestial, but in doing so, would completely destroy the Earth and all life on it. This process was cyclical. Once an Emergence was complete, the surviving Eternals would have their memories wiped by Arishem and be “recycled” for deployment on a new planet. The Deviants on Earth had evolved, developing the ability to absorb the cosmic energy of the Eternals they killed, allowing them to heal and gain new abilities, creating a far greater threat than anticipated. The revelation of their true purpose created a profound schism within the Eternals, forcing them to choose between their duty to their creator and their newfound love for humanity, a conflict that formed the central plot of their debut film. This backstory also provides the in-universe answer to the frequently asked question, “Why didn't the Eternals help fight Thanos?”—they were under strict orders from Arishem not to interfere in human conflicts unless Deviants were involved.
All Eternals possess a baseline of superhuman abilities derived from their ability to metabolically process and manipulate cosmic energy. While some Eternals specialize, they all share these core powers:
A recent retcon in Kieron Gillen's 2021 run revealed the true nature of their immortality: upon death, an Eternal's consciousness is uploaded to “The Machine” (the Earth itself) and a new body is activated. However, this process comes at a terrible cost: it requires the life force of a random human being, a fact that was hidden from the Eternals for millennia.
The Uni-Mind is the ultimate expression of the Eternals' collective nature. It is a powerful gestalt entity composed of the combined consciousness and cosmic energy of multiple Eternals. To form it, the Eternals engage in a ritual, merging their physical and mental forms into a single, massive being of pure energy and thought. The Uni-Mind possesses the aggregate power and intellect of all its component members and is used to make critical decisions or to confront threats that are too powerful for any single Eternal. The Prime Eternal typically initiates and directs the Uni-Mind.
| Name | Primary Role | Key Distinctions/History |
|---|---|---|
| Ikaris | Tactical Leader, “The Prime Mover” | Often serves as the field leader. Possesses some of the most powerful and refined energy projection abilities. Deeply traditional and devoted to the Eternals' cause. He is famous for his role as the “guiding dove” in the story of Noah's Ark. |
| Sersi | Transmutation Expert, Human Liaison | The most skilled in molecular manipulation and the Eternal who most enjoys living among humans. She is a former member of the avengers and has had a long, complex romantic history with both Ikaris and the Black Knight, Dane Whitman. |
| Thena | Prime Scholar, Warrior | Daughter of Zuras, she was born Azura but had her name changed to seal a pact with the Olympian gods, reflecting her similarity to Athena. She is a master of weapons and strategy but has historically suffered from Mahd Wy'ry, a form of Eternal dementia. Had a long-standing forbidden love with the Deviant Warlord, Kro. |
| Makkari | Master Engineer, Speedster | Obsessed with speed and technology. He has channeled most of his cosmic power into achieving super-speed, far surpassing any other Eternal. In a recent storyline, he became the prophet for the Dreaming Celestial. |
| Zuras | Prime Eternal | For most of their history, Zuras served as the stoic and powerful leader of the Earth Eternals. He is the father of Thena and the brother of A'lars (Mentor of Titan). He was killed during a confrontation with the Celestials but has since been resurrected. |
| Ajak | Celestial Communicator | The only Eternal capable of directly communicating with the Celestials when they are present. Ajak served as a priest and archaeologist, studying the Celestials' works. After being held in suspended animation for centuries, he became disillusioned and antagonistic. |
| Druig | Schemer, Lord of Nightmares | Ikaris's ambitious and ruthless cousin from the Polar Eternals. Druig revels in power and manipulation, often using his psionic abilities to inflict fear and control others. He has frequently been an antagonist to the other Eternals. |
| Gilgamesh | The Forgotten One | An outcast Eternal who spent centuries wandering the Earth, his deeds giving rise to the myths of Gilgamesh, Hercules, and Samson. He is one of the strongest Eternals physically and also a former member of the avengers. |
In the MCU, the Eternals' powers also stem from cosmic energy, but they are far more specialized. Each Eternal was specifically designed by Arishem with a distinct primary ability, preventing significant overlap and encouraging teamwork. They channel this cosmic energy to power their abilities and to create golden, hard-light constructs.
The MCU team is a curated group of ten, with some significant changes in name, gender, and personality from their comic counterparts to create a more diverse and cinematic ensemble.
| Name | Primary Role | Key Distinctions/History and Powers |
|---|---|---|
| Ajak | Prime Eternal, Healer | The wise and maternal leader of the team. She possessed the ability to heal both humans and Eternals and was the sole line of communication with Arishem. Her growing love for humanity led her to defy the Celestials. |
| Sersi | Empath, Transmutation Expert | The most empathetic Eternal, with a deep affection for humanity and history. Her primary power is matter transmutation, able to change inanimate objects from one substance to another. She is the central protagonist of the film. |
| Ikaris | Tactical Leader, Powerhouse | The most powerful and tactically brilliant of the Eternals. His powers include flight, superhuman strength, and the ability to project intense cosmic energy beams from his eyes. His unwavering devotion to Arishem's mission puts him in conflict with the others. |
| Thena | Elite Warrior | The most skilled warrior among the group, able to manifest any weapon she can imagine out of cosmic energy. She suffers from a condition called Mahd Wy'ry, where her millennia of memories become fractured, making her dangerously unstable. |
| Kingo | Energy Projector | An outgoing and fame-loving Eternal who became a successful Bollywood movie star. He can project bolts of cosmic energy from his hands, shaping them like projectiles from a firearm. |
| Sprite | Master Illusionist | An Eternal permanently trapped in the physical body of a 12-year-old girl. She can project complex, life-like illusions, a power she uses for storytelling and deception. Her unrequited love for Ikaris and frustration with her eternal childhood are her main motivations. |
| Phastos | Master Inventor | The team's technologist and engineer. He can conceptualize and construct any invention he can imagine by manipulating cosmic energy and technology. He is the first openly gay superhero in an MCU film, with a husband and son. |
| Makkari | Super-Speedster | The fastest woman in the universe. She channels all her cosmic energy into superhuman speed, creating sonic booms as she moves. Makkari is depicted as deaf in the MCU, communicating via sign language. |
| Druig | Mind-Controller | An aloof Eternal with the psionic ability to control the minds of humans. He became disillusioned with his team's non-interference policy and isolated himself for centuries in the Amazon, protecting a small community of humans. |
| Gilgamesh | The Strongest | The physically strongest Eternal, able to create a powerful exoskeleton of cosmic energy around his arms and fists to deliver devastating blows. He served as Thena's loyal guardian and caretaker during her struggles with Mahd Wy'ry. |
The Eternals' primary affiliation is to their own race and their sworn duty to the Celestials. Their insular nature means they rarely join outside organizations. The most notable exceptions are Sersi and Gilgamesh, who both had official tenures as members of the avengers. These instances were born of unique circumstances and are not representative of the Eternals as a whole, who prefer to operate from their hidden cities.
The original run that established the entire mythology. The story begins with archaeologist Dr. Daniel Damian and his daughter Margo discovering the existence of the Eternals through Ikaris. The series introduces the core conflict: the impending return of the Fourth Host of the Celestials to judge Earth's worthiness. The Eternals must prepare for their creators' arrival while simultaneously battling the Deviants, who see the Celestials' return as a chance to seize power. This storyline laid the groundwork for the cosmic hierarchy of the Marvel Universe, establishing the Celestials as a power level far beyond anything seen before and defining the fundamental purpose of the Eternals and Deviants.
This critically acclaimed seven-issue miniseries revitalized the Eternals for the modern era. The story opens with the Eternals living on Earth as ordinary humans, their memories completely erased. A medical intern named Mark Curry (secretly Makkari) begins to have strange dreams and is contacted by Ikaris, who is slowly piecing together their true identities. They discover that their collective amnesia was the work of Sprite, the child-like Eternal, who used the power of the Dreaming Celestial (a dormant Celestial buried beneath San Francisco) to rewrite reality so she could finally age and live a normal life. The series was a masterful reintroduction, focusing on mystery, identity, and the human cost of immortality, and it successfully brought the Eternals back to the forefront of the Marvel Universe.
Launched to coincide with the MCU film, this series fundamentally redefined the Eternals' lore. The story begins with Ikaris's resurrection following his death, only for him to learn a horrifying truth from Zuras: “The cost of resurrection is a human life.” The Machine of Earth that resurrects them requires a life to be forfeit. This revelation shatters their perception of themselves as protectors. Furthermore, they discover one of their three guiding principles (“Protect Celestials”) has been corrupted by a traitor, leading them to unknowingly protect a hidden flaw in their programming that is driving them to self-destruction. This series adds a layer of cosmic body horror and moral tragedy to the Eternals, reframing them as tragic figures trapped in a system they never understood, forced to confront the sins of their own existence.
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, the concept of the Eternals is radically different. The series Ultimate Origins reveals that humanity itself was genetically engineered by the Celestials (depicted as silent, towering figures of different colors and shapes) to become the universe's ultimate super-weapon. The “Eternals” of this universe are a select group of these engineered humans who were granted immense power and longevity to act as planetary overseers and heralds for their creators, known as the “Gods.” When a universal threat like the Phoenix Force is detected, they are tasked with terraforming the world and activating its population to fight it.
In the dystopian future of the Earth X universe, the Eternals, like many of Earth's super-beings, have a hidden origin. It is revealed that the beings they believed to be the Celestials were, in fact, cosmic manipulators who planted a Celestial embryo in the Earth's core. The Eternals of this reality were created to be the planet's “antibodies,” destined to protect the growing Celestial from threats like Galactus. However, the ultimate twist is that the Eternals are revealed to be prime specimens of the Skrull race, brainwashed and manipulated into believing they were a unique offshoot of humanity.