Eternals
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The Eternals is a fictional race of superhumans in the Marvel Comics universe. They are an offshoot of humanity created on Earth by the alien Celestials, and wage war against their counterparts, the Deviants. The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby in The Eternals #1 (July 1976).
The Eternals are an ancient godlike race who have in the past been worshipped as gods by unsuspecting humans. This worship led to a short-lived war between the Eternals and the various pantheons of gods, which ended when the Eternals terminated their relations with mortal humans.
Most Eternals possess superhuman physical attributes and the powers of flight and energy projection and manipulation. A number of Eternals have honed their abilities to develop different powers; for example, Sersi has the ability to transmute physical objects and organisms, and Makkari can attain superhuman levels of speed.
After a civil war millennia ago, a small faction of the Eternals were exiled from Earth to the planet Uranus. Many of these Uranian Eternals, after constructing a spaceship using alien Kree technology found in an abandoned supply depot, tried to return to Earth to renew the civil war. They were however attacked by the Kree, for stealing their technology, before reaching Earth. The survivors built a civilization on Saturn's moon Titan. The rest of the Uranian Eternals were later wiped out, as they had grown weary of life and allowed the entity called Deathurge to kill them.
The Earth-based Eternals have for the most part departed Earth, to explore deep space in the guise of the Uni-Mind. A few of them remain in their city, Olympia, on the top of Mount Olympus in Greece.
Notable Eternals created by Kirby include Ikaris, Makkari, Sersi, and the Forgotten One. Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme is a member of his world's version of the Eternals.
The Titans of Titan, originally part of the discrete mythology introduced into Marvel continuity by Jim Starlin in Iron Man and Captain Marvel in the 1970s, have now been retconned into the Kirby's later-created Eternals mythos. Starlin's Thanos, now a mutant Titanian Eternal, is by far the most powerful of his race.
Bibliography of Eternals titles
- Eternals #1-19 (1976 series) (Marvel Comics, July 1976 - January 1978)
- Eternals Annual #1 (Marvel Comics, 1977)
- Eternals #1-12 (1985 series) (Marvel Comics, October 1985 - September 1986)
- Eternals: The Herod Factor (Marvel Comics, 1991)
- The New Eternals: Apocalypse Now (aka Eternals: The New Breed) #1 (Marvel Comics, February 2000)
- The Eternal #1-6 (Marvel Comics, August 2003 - January 2004)
First appearances
- Aginar in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Ajak in Eternals (1976 series) #2
- Arlok in What If #27
- Astron in What If #27
- Cybele in Eternals (1985 series) #1
- Delphan Brothers in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Domo in Eternals (1976 series) #5
- Druig in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Eternals in (1976 series) #1
- The Forgotten One in Eternals (1976 series) #13
- Ikaris in Eternals (1976 series) #1
- Interloper in Defenders #147
- Khoryphos in Eternals (1985 series) #1
- Kingo Sunen in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Kronos (Chronos) in Iron Man #55s
- Makkari in Eternals (1976 series) #5
- Mentor (Alars) in Iron Man #55
- Phastos in Eternals (1985 series) #1
- Sersi in Eternals (1976 series) #3
- Sigmar in Eternals (1976 series) #17
- Sprite in Eternals (1976 series) #9
- Starfox (Eros) in Iron Man #55
- Sui-San in Captain Marvel (1976 series) #29
- Thanos in Iron Man #55
- Thena in Eternals (1976 series) #5
- Uni-Mind in Eternals (1976 series) #12
- Uranos in Captain Marvel (1976 series) #29
- Valkin in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Vampiro in Thor #290
- Virako in Thor Annual #7
- Zarin in Eternals (1976 series) #11
- Zuras in Eternals (1976 series) #5
External links
- Encyclopaedia Olympianna (http://www.geocities.com/brenni_au/)