Eternals looks like a real curveball in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introducing a host of new characters that don’t have the pop culture cachet of the Hulk or Captain America and hoping that audiences are willing to come along for the ride. The source material, as originally flowed from the pen of Jack Kirby, is a messy meal of alien space gods, secret civilizations, and bright costumes. If you don’t want to be totally lost, here are some comics to read through before you see the movie.
Eternals (1976)
As with most things in the Marvel Universe, we have to start with the King. After his New Gods epic was prematurely ended by DC, he returned to Marvel. But although the House of Ideas let him launch Eternals, which touched on many of the same themes, it wasn’t really given a lot of promotional focus. Heavily inspired by Erich von Daniken’s hit novel Chariots of the Gods, the 19 issues of Eternals introduced mysterious alien experimenters the Celestials, immortal superhuman Eternals, and their nemeses, the evolutionarily chaotic Deviants. This book is kind of a mess, but it’s the source of all of these wild ideas.
Thor: The Celestials Saga
Originally, Kirby intended for the Eternals to not be a part of the Marvel universe at all – what good were a few dozen more superheroes in a world that already had hundreds? Unfortunately, editorial edicts would not be denied and in 1979 Roy Thomas and John Buscema brought the Celestials over in the pages of Thor. When the Thunder God discovers one of the space gods in the Andes, it seemingly obliterates him with a single gesture. This kicks off a sprawling story that goes to lots of places before it winds up, and lays the groundwork for the characters to interact with other superheroes moving forward.
The Return Of The Uni-Mind
A few years later, writer Peter B. Gillis brought Kirby’s cosmic gods back in the pages of Iron Man Annual #6. In the story, Iron Man discovers that the Eternals have been captured by the Deviants in their own home, with the repulsive Tode draining their life essences in an attempt to become immortal. He frees them and the group go back to their business, next appearing in a three-part Avengers story written by Roger Stern that sees the Uni-Mind and most of the Eternals and Deviants leaving the planet, while Sersi would stick around for a stint with the Avengers for a while.
Eternals (1985)
Peter B. Gillis wrote most of this 12-issue series (with an assist from Walt Simonson). The Celestials have eradicated Earth’s memories of their visit, and the Eternals left behind are working to find their place in the new world. But when the Deviant priest Ghaur discovers the existence of a sleeping Celestial still on Earth, things get rowdy. By this time, Kirby’s mythology had been well ingrained into mainline Marvel continuity, and this was the culmination of the past few entries into a truly epic saga. If you can handle extra-wordy 80s Marvel, there is a lot of cool stuff in here.
Atlantis Attacks (1989)
For a while in the late 80s, Marvel had a gimmick where they’d tell an epic-length story in the pages of their yearly Annuals across almost the entire line. In 1989, it was Atlantis Attacks, where the Deviant priest Ghaur tricks the Silver Surfer into restoring his physical body and launches a grand conspiracy to restore the ancient god Set to life. It’s a good look at how the Deviants work without the Eternals to counterbalance them – in some ways, the bad guys of the franchise are more interesting, so to see them outside of that context is fun.
Earth X (1999)
Alex Ross, Jim Kreuger and John Paul Leon’s brilliant miniseries casts us into a dystopian Marvel future where nearly everybody has fantastic powers and the Earth has been ruined as a result. The Eternals, Deviants, and Celestials figure into this story in a vital way, as we learn that the many godlike pantheons in the Marvel universe are actually Celestial experiments and the planet has an egg of a gestating Celestial at its core. The world-eater Galactus exists to keep their population in check. It’s a sweeping tale that masterfully incorporates tons of Marvel mythology.
Eternals (2006)
The last high-profile attempt to reboot the concept came with superstar writer Neil Gaiman, who rarely worked for Marvel. With artist John Romita Jr, Gaiman produced a seven-issue miniseries that delved into exactly how these immortals had gone unnoticed for so long. Without their memory, living amongst humans, the Eternals have to rediscover themselves in time to stop world-ending threats from within their own ranks. This was the bridge that brought the group into the modern era, and it’s a very solid read.
Eternity War
Al Ewing is one of Marvel’s absolute best at exploring the corners of the universe, and his run on Ultimates brought cosmic adventure to new heights. When the malevolent force of Logos destroys the last Celestials in the universe, one is preserved by the Never Queen, manifestation of possibility. In the “Eternity War” storyline, the team ventured to the beginning of existence itself, an all-devouring entity known as the First Firmament. From there, we learn that the Celestials were the initial creations of that creature, rebelling against their maker by introducing change and growth into the universe. Travel Foreman’s art really nails the massive epic scale of this one.
The Final Host (2018)
The activities of the Celestials in Earth’s distant past are to blame for Earth’s unique status as a generator of metahumans, but in a recent Avengers storyline, we learned more about what brought them to Earth in the first place. Jason Aaron’s run transported us back in time a million years to the first Avengers, humanity’s only defense against the first Celestial host. In the modern era, Celestials are falling to earth as corpses, and our heroes must discover what could be powerful enough to strike down a space god and why. When Loki, the team’s first foe, leads the Final Host to cleanse the planet, things go from bad to worse pretty fast.
Eternals (2021)
Unsurprisingly, Marvel has brought the Eternals back to the spinner rack with a new series under the pen of writer Kieron Gillen. Some changes have been made to the characters to bring them closer to their on-screen appearances, but this is a very good series that delves into exactly what these immortal beings think they’re preserving and why they’re so bad at it. Narrated by the omniscient voice of Planet Earth itself, it packs some surprises and has lovely Esad Ribic art.
Be sure to check out Mashable’s review of Eternals as well: ‘Eternals’ brings great new heroes to the MCU but leaves us wondering why
