The Eternals: Everything you need to know about who – or what – they are
By Mike McNulty
The Deviants
If the Eternals are the gods and heroes of legend and mythology, then the Deviants are the demons and monsters of those same legends and mythologies. Like the Eternals, the Deviants are immortal; unlike the Eternals, they’re all physical deformed, but no two Deviants have the same type of deformity. Whatever this disfigurement or mutation entails is what also gives them their powers, typically making them stronger, faster, and smarter than your average homo sapien but not as powerful as the Eternals. In short, it’s the “you can tell they’re the bad guys because they look ugly” trope.
They have been expanded beyond just ugly looking villains, though. In Neil Gaiman’s The Eternals comic book series, it’s revealed that the Deviants worship something called “the Dreaming Celestial.” Basically, the Deviants believe the Dreaming Celestial was a rogue Celestial who created them before the Eternals and that Earth rightfully belongs to them. Never mind, of course the Dreaming Celestial, should it wake up, will end up destroying the Earth.
In addition, the Deviants have mastered the science of genetic engineering, which, in turn, has resulted in them creating Deviant mutates. Most of these Deviant Mutates live underground and have aligned themselves with the Fantastic Four villain known as the Mole Man. And, just to make things even more complicated, you know the alien race of shapeshifters known as the Skrulls? Well, technically, they’re all Deviants, too, having wiped out the original Skrulls on their home planets centuries before.
Oh, and get this: Thanos is also a Eternal Deviant hybrid. How? Because a group of Eternals left Earth to colonize Titan and, due to what is called “Deviant Syndrome,” this is why Thanos was born with purple skin and chin ridges. At least that’s his backstory in the comics. Who knows if the MCU will somehow retroactively fit this in.