The Eternals: Everything you need to know about who – or what – they are

Ajak

The first thing you need to know about Ajak is that, in the comics, he’s a male character, whereas in the upcoming movie, Ajak will be played by actress Selma Hayek. The second thing you need to know is that Ajax tends to act as a diplomat between humanity and the Celestials, speaking on behalf of his creators. So in addition to the powers and abilities gained as an Eternal, Ajak could also telepathically communicate with the Celestials.

In terms of Ajax’s history from the comics, he and his brother Arex were born in an ancient Eternals city called Polaria near the North Pole. A renowned warrior, Ajax first fought the Deviants in ancient Babylon circa 2500 B.C. He, along with Area, also fought in the Trojan War, where they became known as the Ajax the Greater and Ajax the Younger. Later, Ajak would head to South America were he was worshiped as the god Tecumotzin by the Icans and as Quetzalcoatl by the Mayans. Then, after the time of the Third Host, he placed himself into suspended animation in a hidden city in the Andes Mountains until the Celestials returned some 1,000 years later.

Since the character’s gender has been changed for the movie, we’ll have to wait and see what else has been changed about the character. Or, if the conceit of Eternals will be that the legends are different than history, maybe much about Ajak from the comics will stay the same despite being a different sex.

Thena

One other aspect about the Eternals is that there’s also a royal family after a fashion. Their king, if one could call him that, was Kronos’ son, Zuras, whom the Ancient Greeks believed to be Zeus. Zuras had a daughter named Azura, who would later change her name to Thena (Angelina Jolie). Because of this, she was mistaken by the ancient Greeks as Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom. As a matter of fact, she encouraged this.

In addition to her other Eternal powers, Thena is able to mentally rearrange molecules, including her own. Because of this, her specialty is creating swords, axes, spears and other bladed weapons literally out of thin air. Her being a literal one-woman arsenal is what also made her study and master various forms of close quarters combat over the centuries.

She’s also had illicit romances in the past with Deviants, the most long-term and prominent with a shapeshifter named Kro. It was during one of their many love affairs that resulted in Thena becoming pregnant with twins. Not wanting the other Eternals or Deviants to find out, Thena used her powers to literally implant her unborn twins into a human woman. The twins, Donald and Deborah Witter, would grow up and eventually have the power to merge into a single being called Dark Angel.

Oh, and there’s one other interesting tidbit about Thena. Thanos just so happens to be her cousin.