The Eternals: Everything you need to know about who – or what – they are
By Mike McNulty
The Eternals
So then, what is an Eternal? Well, aside from being an offshoot of humanity, Eternals, as the name implies, are also immortal. Or, at the very least, they live for thousands of years. Hence why, although created to be Earth’s protectors (supposedly), they more or less adopt a “hands-off” approach. This also means that they come across as rather arrogant and standoffish, which may account for why comic fans didn’t warm up to them.
Of course how the Eternals were supposed to protect Earth became the grounds for a civil war, and an excuse for two twin brothers to take their sibling rivalry to a whole new level. One brother, Kronos, felt they should be stewards of humanity, while the other brother, Uranos, believed they should rule them instead. Kronos’ side won, of course, with the losers exiled to the planet Uranus and Saturn’s moon, Titan. And if any of these names sound familiar to you, that’s by design. Because the Eternals just so happen to be the actual heroes and gods from ancient myth, folklore, and legend.
As part of his efforts to protect Earth from the Deviants, and possibly his now exiled brother, Kronos started experimenting with cosmic energy. Unfortunately, his experiments resulted in an explosion which not only killed him, but also destroyed the Eternals’ capital city of Titanos. Yet it also had the side-effect of activating latent genes within the Eternals, and imbued them with a near-limitless supply of some unknown “cosmic energy”.
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It’s this “cosmic energy” which allows all the Eternals to fly, have super strength, shoot energy blasts from their eyes or hands, teleport vast distances, read minds, and self regenerate. Combined with their immortality, this also means that Eternals are extremely difficult to kill. The only effective way to kill an Eternal is for their body to be completely atomized. Even then, they can still be “reincarnated” into a new body thanks to something the Celestials created deep within the Earth called “The Machine.”
Eternals can also focus their energy to either enhance one particular ability or give themselves a unique and distinctive superpower. Thus while Eternals all have the same super powers, some are better at certain abilities than others. Also, when three or more Eternals are together in one place, they can create what is known as the “Uni-Mind,” in which their collective thoughts, powers, and physical bodies literally merge into a single humanoid-looking being made of pure, cosmic energy. In other words, think Captain Planet years before there ever was a Captain Planet.
Because of their immortality, Eternals also have very low birth rates, and what offspring they do have don’t inherit their powers. They’re also “programmed” by the Celestials not to harm them in any way, and must always protect them whether they want to or not. Because again, Celestials can be massive jerks.