We are officially a week away before The Eternals join the MCU, so I’m dedicating the next week to giving you all the information you need about the new team!

Today, we’re starting with the obvious question.

Who Are The Eternals?

Put simply, the Eternals are a group of people who are immortal and have powers, created as an experiment millennia ago.

Where Did They Come From?

The Eternals came from genetic experiments on early humans. These experiments were performed by a set of beings known as the Celestials (more on them tomorrow).

In short, the Eternals are technically human – they come from early humanity, they just are capable of living longer lives than humans, and have additional powers.

What Do They Do?

Mostly, the Eternals live secluded lives away from humanity. They’ve built cities for themselves, such as Olympia in Greece, and generally live peacefully together, with the exceptions of a few wars breaking out between factions.

Why Are They Here?

The Eternals main job is to protect the Earth from the Deviants – an offshoot of the experiments which created the Eternals themselves, which I’ll go into this weekend. Other than that, the Eternals are told not to interfere with humanity, so they aren’t likely to jump in when someone like Thanos attacks.

Where Can I Read More About Them?

The best place to start is Jack Kirby’s Eternals (1976) as that is where they made their first appearance in Marvel Comics. After that, you should go onto the Peter B. Gillis run (1985), where Phastos is introduced, and the mythology of the Eternals is expanded upon.

Or, if you want to see them with other Marvel heroes, check out the Eternals Saga (1978-1980) by Roy Thomas, where the team have to work with Thor to take down the Deviants. The series also, interestingly, brought in the idea of the Time Variance Authority, for anyone missing Loki!

But, if you aren’t a fan of earlier comics, give Neil Gaiman’s Eternals (2006) a go! Neil gave the team a more modern update, which focused on the idea of the Eternals having no memory of who, or what, they are.

The final option is to go with 2021’s Eternals reboot by Kieron Gillen, which assumes you as a reader have very little Eternals knowledge and goes from there.

And that’s my quick introduction to the Eternals! For the rest of the week, I’ll be giving you all the details on Celestials, Deviants, and helping you to get to know each individual Eternal, so don’t forget to follow this blog so you don’t miss a thing!

And, as always, if you have any questions or anything you want me to cover, let me know and I’ll get right on it!