- These are The Eternals.
They're an ancient race of cosmic beings
from the bonkers brain of Jack Kirby
and have secretly lived among us on Earth
since time immemorial.
And here's everything you need to know about The Eternals
before they conquer the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Welcome to Explainiac.
I'm Dan Casey, and today we're delving into the past
of one of Marvel Comics' weirdest corners: The Eternals.
They're set to make their big-screen debut
on November 6th, 2020.
Now directed by Chloe Zhao, "Eternals" stars
a veritable murderous row of superstars:
Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden,
Kit Harington, Ma Dong-Seok, Kumail Nanjiani,
Kumail Nanjiani's 12 individual abs, and many, many more.
It's a film that Kevin Feige promised
a screaming crowd at Brazil's Comic Con experience
will redefine and change the MCU,
but the biggest question most Marvel fans
have about "The Eternals" is the same one most of us had
when "Guardians of the Galaxy" was first announced.
- Who?
- The Eternals are the weirdo brain children of Jack Kirby.
Now back in 1970, old king Kirby left Marvel
to work at DC Comic where he created the Fourth World:
a sprawling sci-fi saga about warring pantheons of gods
which, coincidentally, is also making its way
to the big screen in the next couple of years.
Now unfortunately, Kirby's ambitious sci-fi series
about these all-powerful beings locked in never-ending war
was canceled before he could finish it.
So he did what any one of us would do:
return to Marvel to make a totally different
ambitious sci-fi series about all-powerful beings
locked in a never-ending war.
It's definitely not the same thing.
Dubbed "The Eternals", the series,
which was also ultimately canceled
before Kirby could end it on his own terms,
laid the groundwork for much
of subsequent Marvel Comics mythology.
The Eternals number one debuted in 1976
and took us into an archeological dig in the Andes Mountains
where Kirby laid out the central conflict of the series.
Omnipotent, god-like beings in massive robot bodies known
as The Celestials visited earth millions of years
before the dawn of mankind.
Now you may remember them
from the "Guardians of the Galaxy",
in which we saw a Celestial use the Power Stone
to wipe out an entire planet.
But in Earth's case, they just decided
they wanted to play this messed up version of "The Sims",
performing some cosmic chemistry on apes
to make three powerful new species.
The Deviants,
these guys are basically horrifying monster-men
who live underground.
Evolutionary incels that just create weapons
of mass destruction and never ever moisturize.
The Humans, that's us.
Humans basically wound up trashing the joint
through greed and violence,
but that's neither here nor there.
We just suck and Jack Kirby knows it.
The Eternals, now these, our ostensible heroes,
are aloof ageless beings with incredible powers
who were regarded with equal parts awe and fear
by the human societies who encountered them.
Before straight up peacing out
to the stars, the Celestials tasked the Eternals
with defending the humans from the Deviants,
which, pretty tall order if you ask me.
As time went on, a rift formed between the Eternals,
with one faction led by Uranos believing they should rule
over mankind, and another led
by Kronos believing they shouldn't.
Civil war erupted and led to Uranos' defeat prompting
him to form his own civilization on Uranus.
And eventually Titan, which doesn't sound like a butt.
Meanwhile, back on earth when Kronos perished
in an unfortunate cosmic energy accident,
insurance scam,
his sons Zuras and A'lars formed a Uni-Mind.
Basically, it's a mind meld that lets multiple Eternals act
as one being, so they could determine a new ruler.
Zuras won out and A'lars left earth
to avoid any future conflict, settling down
on the Eternals' colony of Titan,
which had been through the ringer.
Where he met a woman named Sui-San
and basically repopulated the entire planet.
First of all, nice.
Second of all, gross.
Now actually, you may have heard of two
of their offspring, Starfox and Thanos.
And no, not that Starfox, though it'd be pretty cool.
But yes, that Thanos.
Fun fact, Thanos is actually an Eternal
with something known as Deviant Syndrome,
which causes him to look like a crossfit California Raisin
instead of a conventionally hot, god-like being.
So there's a neat little connection there
to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right off the bat.
Now back on Earth, the Eternals created the mighty cities
of Olympia in the mountains of Greece,
Polaria in the Siberian tundra,
and Oceana in the Pacific Ocean.
These Eternals on Earth formed the basis
for most modern human mythology within the Marvel Universe.
They're revered and feared as gods,
whereas the Deviants were largely responsible
for tall tales of things like monsters, demons and devils.
These two groups would battle for many years
before eventually settling on a mutual non-aggression pact
until the Celestials' return.
And oh boy, return did they ever.
Our first introduction to this conflict is told
through the eyes of Ike Harris, a weird-looking dude
in a hat and sunglasses who, surprise surprise, turns
out to be an Eternal named, Ikaris.
Did Bart Simpson name this guy?
What the hell here Jack Kirby, come on.
Played by Richard Madden in the movie,
Ikaris or Ike Harris, if you say it,
real stretch it out like it's nice pizza pie, making dough,
ooh, ah, gabagool.
Ikaris possesses a wealth of powers including:
superhuman strength, flight, cosmic energy beams
that shoot from his eyes, teleportation, and many more.
Most useful of all, he possesses the power of exposition,
which he display again and again and oh boy again
in the series' first issues.
While aiding the archeologist Dr. Daniel Damien
and his daughter Margo on an expedition of the Andes,
Ikaris discovers a God Chamber from the Incan Empire
that could be used to summon the Celestials to Earth.
This of course, invokes the wrath of the Deviants,
who send a devilish doofus named Kro
to try and prevent that signal from going out.
What follows is a brief fight scene
in which Ikaris reveals his super powers
and is promptly defeated by a gun
that launches a poncho at him.
You know, because comics.
Ultimately, one of the mighty Celestials, Arishem,
leader of the Fourth Host, lands on this giant pylon
where he's gonna stand for 50 years
before rendering judgment on all of the Earth.
Now obviously, this situation is
what many scientists would call, not great.
So Ikaris has to reunite his fellow Eternals
to help fend off Deviant incursions
and figure out a way to spare humanity
from the Celestial's wrath.
To do so, Ikaris recruits Eternals like Circe,
Makkari and Thena to help save the day.
Now before the Celestials can deliver
their judgment, the Deviants try
to bomb the Celestial mothership,
which basically guarantees
a guilty as charged obliteration verdict.
Fortunately, our heroes manage to stop them
before they can execute their dastardly plot
and in doing so save the Earth.
Now while this is a potential avenue
for Chloe Zhao's big screen adaptation to pursue.
A far likelier candidate is Neil Gaiman
and John Romita Jr's, 2006 "Eternals" miniseries.
In this modern adaptation, the Eternals
can no longer recall who they are.
This collective amnesia is the result
of mental manipulation by one of their own, Sprite.
An Eternal who's trapped in the body
of an 11-year old for all time.
Sucks dude.
The only one who remembers the Eternals' true identities
is old Ike Harris aka Ikaris, I'm not gonna get over it.
Ikaris must once more help his friends
to remember who they are.
And prevent a newly awakened Dreaming Celestial
from judging all of humanity before it's too late.
As for the Eternals themselves, let me quickly rundown
who we're gonna be seeing on the big screen.
Richard Madden is Ikaris.
Angelina Jolie is Thena, an immortal warrior
who can create illusions.
Salma Hayek is Ajak, an Eternal capable
of communicating with Celestials.
Gemma Chan is Circe, a mythological enchantress
with the power of molecular manipulation.
Don Lee or Ma Dong-seok is Gilgamesh, an outcast
and perhaps the strongest Eternal of them all.
Kumail Nanjiani is Kingo, the swordsman turned movie star.
Lauren Ridloff, is the speedster Makkari.
Lia McHugh is the puckish trickster, Sprite.
Brian Tyree Henry, is Phastos, the engineer
and weapon smith of the Eternals.
And Barry Keoghan is Druig, Ikaris'
flying, teleporting cousin.
And as for "Game of Thrones" alum Kit Harrington,
well, he's not an Eternal at all.
He's playing Dane Whitman aka Black Knight,
an armor-clad superhero who wields a mystical sword,
who's Circe's long-time love interest.
Now, unfortunately for them a man named Proctor,
who is secretly another reality's version
of Dane Whitman, began trying to murder Circe
in every reality across the multiverse
after he got rejected by the Circe in his own dimension.
But that my friends is a story for another episode.
We'll just have to wait until November 6th, 2020
to see for ourselves though.
In the meantime, tell me:
What Eternals story do you most want
to see on the big screen?
Which of the Eternals is your favorite?
Let me know in the comments below
and give me a thumbs-up while you're there.
Thank you so much for watching.
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And remember, not everything in life can be explained.
But for everything else, there's this show.
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