Brace yourselves, fatigued fans, because the Marvel Cinematic Universe is adding at least 10 more new superheroes and villains this month in “Eternals,” the new film by Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao.
The Eternals are not quite people, not quite gods .
They were sent to Earth by the Celestials, an ancient group of godlike beings, some 7,000 years before the events of the film to defend humankind against the Deviants, mutant monsters also created by the Celestials when some tests on early Earth-dwellers went awry.
Like most protagonists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who have gotten their own origin stories, the Eternals probably don’t fancy themselves superheroes.
In the comics, the Eternals are often led by Ikaris, usually portrayed as a blond-haired, blue-eyed muscleman reminiscent of He-Man but with laser eyes.
He can fly at speeds up to 850 miles per hour, creates convincing illusions and shoots laser beams out of his eyes, among many other abilities.
She’s something of a historian of humankind, having had a first-row seat to events like the fall of Rome and the French Revolution, per Marvel.
Though she’s just as old as her counterparts, she has the appearance of a perpetual preteen, which she uses to her advantage — one comics run saw her starring in her own teen sitcom.
The inventor of the group and a sworn pacifist, Phastos is also the first out, gay superhero in the MCU.
The speed runner Makkari has dashed all around the planet and is, frankly, bored by what she’s found.
Kingo can do what basically every Eternal can do — kick butt with little effort, though he prefers to fend off foes with the panache of a leading man.
There’s a darkness to Druig that the other Eternals lack.
We won’t go into the finer details of his comic book history, but for readers who don’t mind spoilers, Marvel has an expansive biography.