KNOW YOUR ETERNALS II: CELESTIALS & DEVIANTS

[MattBrady]

As the debut of Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.’s Eternals miniseries draws closer, Newsarama is helping you to prepare for the arrival, by…refreshing your memory of just who the Eternals (and their “family) are, and just what they’re about. We’ve alredy taken a look at the Eternals themselves, and now…time to dig a little deeper with the Celestials, the race of cosmic beings which created the Eternals, and the Deviants, the “cousins” of the Eternals.

Again, the information herein comes courtesy of Marvel’s All-New Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A to Z.

Ready?

There will be a test.

First up – the Celestials.

KNOWN MEMBERS: Arishem the Judge, Ashema the Listener, Devron the Experimenter, Eson the Searcher, Exitar the Executioner, Gamiel the Manipulator, Gammenon the Gatherer, Hargen the Measurer, Jemiah the Analyzer, Nezarr the Calculator, the One Above All, Oneg the Prober, Tefral the Surveyor, Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial, Ziran the Tester, others unidentified

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile in the known universe

FIRST APPEARANCE: Eternals #2 (1976)

TRAITS: The Celestials are an enigmatic assembly of extraterrestrial giants who manifest their energies inside of physical shells, appearing as immense suits of armor, most standing 2000 feet high. In these forms, they also access various tools and vessels to assist them in their duties. Each Celestial possesses vast cosmic powers of unknown limits. Celestials can destroy entire planets, and possibly stars as well. The Celestials are each defined by their function, and are outfitted with powers to aid them in their roles, such as Exitar the Executioner’s ability to destroy or recreate, and Arishem the Judge’s ability to judge races worthy or unworthy of existence.

Celestials seldom communicate verbally, instead preferring avatars, sometimes creating Replicoids of mortals they have encountered and employing these Replicoids to speak on their behalf. Their power is such that few beings can engage them in combat, but they have created warriors of their own such as the Godstalker to deal with their enemies.

The Celestials have a keen interest in the evolutionary forces of other races, and have experimented on countless species, usually visiting worlds in a series of four visits, forming an exploratory body called “the Host.” The Host are the best known of the Celestials, guided from their mothership by the One Above All, and their purpose is determined by the one who leads the Host on the planet: when Gammenon leads a Host, the Celestials’ interest is in exploration. Should Arishem the Judge lead a Host, their mission is to judge the entire planet in question.

HISTORY: The origins and true purposes of the Celestials can only be guessed at. They are known to have a special bond to Eternity, the embodiment of time, and have performed actions based upon Eternity’s will, but the scope of this relationship is unrevealed. At least one Celestial was born from the dying galaxy known as the “Black Galaxy,” but it is not known if this is typical of Celestial reproduction. Although the Celestials appear physically to be mere armor-clad giants, they exist beyond conventional understanding of space and time, permitting them to exist in more than one place at a time. They have also participated in many of the gatherings held by the abstract beings of the cosmos, often to receive rulings from the Living Tribunal. At one time they created the race known as the Brethren from mere bacteria, sending them out to destroy races deemed unworthy, but they were finally driven from the Celestials’ service.

The young Celestials Devron the Experimenter and Gamiel the Manipulator were once responsible for monitoring Earth-78411 (“Dinosaur World”), but a petty argument between them escalated into pitting the Hulk and Devil Dinosaur against each other. The two were reassigned to monitor the Kree and Skrull races, and may have been involved with turning those races into mortal enemies.

The Celestials are most notorious for the Host’s four visits to Earth. The first Host arrived one million years ago, releasing a swarm of Gatherer robots to collect DNA samples. The demonic Elder God Set sensed the purpose of the Celestials, knowing they would experiment upon primitive hominids. Set sent some of his semi-humanoid offspring, the Serpent Men, to curry favor with the hominids in the hopes that they would convince the Celestials to include them in their experiments, but the hominids saw through the Serpent Men and drove them off. When the Serpent Men attempted to appeal to the Host themselves, the Host destroyed them. Taking the hominids into their vessel, the Host altered their evolutionary process so that three species sprang from the hominids rather than one. One species became known as the Eternals, endowed with cells charged with cosmic energy, which they learned to tap into over the ensuing centuries; another species was the Deviants, cursed with an unstable genetic code which caused them to mutate unpredictably with each generation; the final species was humanity itself, gifted with the potential for genetic mutation, a gift which would not become fully apparent until modern times.

The Celestials are known to have made similar experiments upon the Skrulls, Kree, Eyungs, and Gigantians, and likely many more. The Skrulls’ Deviant race ultimately overwhelmed the other two races, inspired by a Deviant from Armechadon named Tantalus, who caused Deviant uprisings on several worlds. The Deviant Skrulls are now the only Skrulls in the cosmos, save for one normal Skrull who escaped to Earth. The Kree Eternals are now extinct save for the warrior Ultimus. The Eyungs and Gigantians destroyed each other in a war, but the Eyung Eternal Over-Mind still survives.

When the second Host returned to Earth around 18,000 B.C., the Deviants had become the dominant race on Earth, subjugating most of humanity, and ruling from the land Lemuria. The last outpost of human resistance in Atlantis had just been sunk in a volcanic eruption while attempting to drive out Lemurian invaders, and the area surrounding Atlantis was now in danger of further volcanic activity. When the Deviants beheld the Celestials’ mothership in their skies, they arrogantly opened fire on them. The Celestials responded by firing upon Lemuria, and, coupled with the preexisting instability, the entire continent of Mu sank, slaying millions of humans and Deviants. This event was known as the Great Cataclysm.

While on Earth, the Celestials were forced to turn on one of their own, a golden Celestial named Tiamut. Unable to slay Tiamut, they used a cosmic weapon that drove the energy from its form, turning its armor black. The Celestials struck all records of Tiamut’s name from history, so that it is now known only as either “the Black Celestial” or “the Dreaming Celestial.” The Eternal Valkin witnessed this event, and the Celestials placed their weapon into his hands for safekeeping, along with the contained energy taken from the Celestial. The Dreaming Celestial’s crime remains unrevealed, although the Deviants came to believe that it was their creator, and had been punished for making them. An entire priesthood which worshipped the Dreaming Celestial came into existence over the millennia that followed.

When the third Host came one thousand years ago, humanity had become the dominant species on Earth, and some of the cultures who observed the Celestials worshipped them as “Space Gods,” building temples and statues in their honor. The Incas’ City of the Space Gods, built high in the Andes, served as their main base on Earth during this Host. Other beings worshiped by humanity were distressed by the Celestials’ interference, and the gods Zeus, Odin and Vishnu confronted the Celestials. The Eternal Ajak was sent to communicate on the Celestials’ behalf, and he was warned that if the gods attempted to interfere with their mission, the Celestials would sever the Earth’s connections to their godly realms, denying them any contact with their worshippers.

The three gods agreed not to interfere with the Celestials for a thousand years, but Odin immediately began to prepare for an all-out war with them, fashioning the mystical armor of the Destroyer to combat them one day. The goddess and Earth mother Gaea sought a peaceful solution to the threat of the Celestial judgment and, allied with goddesses of all the Earthly religions, she began to gather what they regarded as the best specimens of humanity. Tantalus of Armechadon came to Earth during this time, but the Celestials exiled him there, leaving him unable to tend to his star-spanning empire. The Eternals Ajak and Zuras assisted the Celestials in their departure from Earth, and Ajak placed himself within suspended animation at the City of the Space Gods to await the fourth Host. Zuras ordered the Eternal Ikaris to hone his powers to sense the approach of the final Host, so that he could revive Ajak in time. The Celestials left behind one of their vessels, which was later claimed by the mutant En Sabah Nur, eventually known as Apocalypse, who transformed himself using the Celestials’ technology.

In modern times, Ikaris awakened Ajak and, alongside the humans Margo and Dr. Daniel Damian and the Deviant warlord Kro, they witnessed the arrival of the fourth Host. The Deviants, still humbled by the effects of the second Host, feared what judgment might bring, and attempted to manipulate humanity into assaulting the Host, but the Eternals were able to cooperate with humanity and convince them to let the Celestials do their work. As Eson inspected the new incarnation of Deviant Lemuria, it wound up unintentionally destroying the city, forcing the Deviants to relocate yet again. When the Deviants attempted to assault the Celestial mothership, the Eternal called the Forgotten One came to their rescue, dismantling the Deviants’ bomb. The One Above All was so impressed that the Forgotten One was brought aboard the mothership and rechristened “Hero.” As Hero, he was sent to warn the Eternals from interfering with the Celestials, but the Eternals’ ally Thor bested him in combat.

Odin finally convinced the Eternals to side with him against the Celestials, and Odin absorbed the souls of all the Asgardians into the magical Destroyer construct, expanding its size to match the Celestials and armed with the mystical Odinsword. Aided by the Eternals joined together as the psychic entity the Uni-Mind, they were nevertheless destroyed by the Host. Although Thor later recovered all of the slain Asgardians with the aid of the other Earthly gods, Zuras was slain by psychic feedback from the Uni-Mind’s destruction. Gaea finally faced the Celestials herself, and presented to them twelve young men and women she and her allies had gathered, and this offering to judge in Earth’s favor swayed Arishem. The Host departed Earth with the twelve “Young Gods,” whom they placed in the care of Juniper and Katos, two extraterrestrials serving aboard their mothership.

Soon afterward, the Deviant priestlord Ghaur acquired the energies of the Dreaming Celestial and attempted to claim its power for himself, but the Dreaming Celestial sought only to awaken from its slumber. The Celestial was prevented from awakening by the Eternals and Avengers, who recaptured its energies.

Although humanity had been spared Celestial judgment, the Space Gods went on to judge other worlds. Thor found a fourth Host which had judged against the world Pangoria, and attempted to drive off Exitar the Executioner before it could carry out the planet’s sentence. Although Thor fought valiantly, he was no match for the Celestials, and ultimately learned that the Celestials did not seek to destroy the planet, but rather purge it of its most unsavory elements; Exitar transformed Pangoria into a virtual paradise.

As the Celestials were engaged in their fifth Host visit to a world where widespread mutation had produced factions known as the Chosen (those with a human-like appearance) and the Rejects (those with a nonhuman appearance), the Celestials summoned the Ship they had left on Earth during the second Host so they could study what it had recorded during the centuries. Abandoned by Apocalypse, Ship had become the headquarters of the mutant heroes X-Factor, and they were drawn into the events on the world of the Rejects and Chosen. X-Factor finally drew the Rejects and Chosen together by allying them against the Celestials to defy their judgment. When Arishem attempted to judge against the world, the mutant Jean Grey unleashed the Phoenix Force to destroy its hand, making judgment impossible. They left behind a vessel identical to Ship to record that world’s progress for a later visit.

The Celestials began to perform experiments in the so-called “Black Galaxy,” a galaxy in which every form of life had been consumed by the hideous Ego, the Living Planet. Their experiments drew the attention of the High Evolutionary, an advanced human who fancied himself the pinnacle of human evolution, and he determined that the Celestials were about to birth a new Celestial, but would require a mortal and an immortal for study. They also drew the attention of Stellaris, a woman whose world had been destroyed by the Celestials, and who now sought to destroy them. The Celestials chose the immortal Hercules as part of the process, but passed over the High Evolutionary in favor of Eric Masterson, then the alter ego of Thor. Stellaris tried to attack the new Celestial just as it came into being, but instead of slaying it, her assault provided the energy needed to bring it to life. The new Celestial joined its brethren, and Hercules and Eric Masterson were returned to their friends. Subsequently, the new Celestial confronted Ego, and both were seemingly consumed by the bio-verse from which Ego sprang. Their immediate fates are not known, but when Ego next appeared, he had gone mad, seeking to bring worlds to “life” like himself.

When Tantalus finally broke free of the Earth, the Celestials dispatched the Godstalker to deal with him, but the Godstalker mistook Tantalus’ son Blackwulf for his father. When it learned that they had a common foe, it bonded to Blackwulf’s Shadowlance, and helped Blackwulf slay Tantalus. Later, the Godstalker was assigned to the Desecration Annex, overseeing the imprisonment of beings who had tampered with other races, such as the religious leader of Carmondy IV, Veeda Leebre. Although Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) forced the Godstalker to return Leebre, it was too late to make a difference on Carmondy IV, where all of his followers had committed mass suicide.

A member of the extraterrestrial Watchers called the One had been responsible for receiving all observations made by the Watchers over the millennia, and was designed to survive the death of this universe, so that his knowledge will be passed on to the next reality. However, the Celestials determined that the One was intentionally causing the death of the universe to speed up so that he could fulfill his role, and the Watchers and Celestials confronted each other, with Arishem judging that the Watchers should no longer exist. Exitar slew the One, but the Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman tapped into the nigh-infinite energies of hyperspace and slew Exitar. As a result, the balance between the Watchers and Celestials was maintained, and its development has been delayed for thousands of years, until a new Exitar and a new One will take their place.

The Celestials returned to judge Earth again when young Franklin Richards created a new Earth, placing several of Earth’s heroes upon it to save them from the psychic monster Onslaught. Ashema the Listener assumed mortal form to communicate with Franklin, forcing him to choose one of the Earths to be destroyed. However, Ashema’s mortal body took sympathy upon Franklin, and arranged to spare the new Earth, rendering her true form comatose. The new Earth was relocated by Dr. Doom to the opposite side of the sun from Earth-616, and took up the position of Counter-Earth. Ashema’s mortal form remained on Counter-Earth, and had to contend with the Dreaming Celestial, whose spirit had awakened during the planet’s creation and recreated itself on Counter-Earth. Ashema was forced to ally with Doom in order to oppose the Dreaming Celestial, and finally drove it back into slumber.

The Celestials were recently revealed to have been the custodians of the Monolith, a rectangular black object which has appeared on Earth during pivotal points in humanity’s evolution. Machine Man, a robot that had studied the Monolith, was ultimately brought into the Celestials’ presence and remained with them for an unknown period of time. When the Eternal Thanos obtained vast cosmic power from the Heart of the Infinite, the Celestials stood alongside the many abstract cosmic powers and heroes of several worlds against him, but their power was insufficient. Thanos ultimately destroyed the universe, only to recreate it and neutralize his own magnified powers.

NOTE: In the alternate world of Earth-691, a Celestial known as Scathan the Approver was responsible for judging against the Protégé, a cosmic-powered youth who attempted to duplicate the powers of the abstract entities.

Deviants

KNOWN MEMBERS: Deviants of Lemuria: Ahqlau, Argos the Hunter, Broop, Chudar, Coal, Darg, Dark Angel (Donald & Deborah Ritter), General Dasrax, Dragona, Ulysses Dragonblood, Dulpus, Enigmo, Erishkigal, Fascit, Finn, Frathag, Ghaur, Haag, Ignatz, Odysseus Indigo, Jorro, Karygmax, Nuncio Klarheit, Kro, Lugner, Marcelus, Medula, Morga, Plokohrel, Phraug, Pyre, Ragar, Ranar, Ransak, Shelmar, Sledge, Sluice, Spike, Stranglehold, String, Taras Vol, Thunder, Tobias, el Toro Rojo, Tutinax, Brother Tode, Veeg, Queen Vira, Brother Visara, Randy Lee Watson, Weller, Yrdisis, Zakka, Zona

Mutates: Bandrhude, Brutus, Cataphrax, Dromedan, Giganto, Gigantus, Glomm, Gorgilla, Gort, Grottu, Karkas, Lizard Men, Megataur, Metabo, Minotaur, Molten Man-Thing, Neolithic, Spore, Tricephalous, World-Devouring Worm

Deviants of Lyonesse: Blackwulf (Pelops), Blackwulf (Lucian), Bristle, Id, Khult, Lady Trident, Mammoth, Pandara, Schizo, Tantalus, Touchstone, Toxin, Wraath

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Lemuria, beneath the Pacific Ocean; Lyonesse, beneath New York City; formerly New Lemuria, beneath New York City; many other Deviant bases located in Subterranea and throughout the Earth.

FIRST APPEARANCE: (Kro) Red Raven Comics #1 (1940); (Eternals) Eternals #1 (1976)

TRAITS: Deviants possess an unstable genetic code, which causes random mutations from one generation to the next; no Deviant child has been known to resemble its parents. Mutations sometimes grant Deviants superhuman abilities such as telepathy or strength; many Deviants develop physical mutations that result in tentacles or an unusual height. The most monstrous Deviants are called mutates, and are considered undesirable in their society. The results of Deviant genetic experiments are also called mutates, and are usually employed as weapons. Deviants who resemble humans are called Rejects, and are feared by other Deviants.

HISTORY: The Deviants are an evolutionary offshoot of humanity produced by the enigmatic Celestials around one million years ago during the Celestials’ First Host. The godlike Eternals and humankind itself also sprung from the Celestials’ experiments, but the unstable genetic code of the Deviants set them apart from their “cousins.” Initially the Deviants hid from the Eternals and humans underground, carving out the immense empire of Subterranea, which stands to this day. The Deviants developed advanced technology faster than humanity, and sometime after the rule of King Kull of Valusia circa 18,500 B.C., they gradually became the dominant race, enslaving humans. The Eternals were divided on whether they should interfere with the Deviants, although some warriors such as Ikaris and the Forgotten One led many raids on Deviant colonies. While the Deviants were inferior to the Eternals’ physical powers, they turned to science for advantages, creating mutates such as the Spore to rival the Eternals, and brainmines, devices that can render Eternals comatose. The scientist Taras Vol also experimented on the neanderthals Gort, One-Eye, and Cole to seek the means of prolonging their species’ lives.

The Deviants established the seat of their empire in the City of Toads in the kingdom of Lemuria on the continent of Mu, and by 18,000 B.C. the only significant human kingdom resisting their influence was Atlantis. When the Second Host of the Celestials arrived on Earth, the Deviant Emperor Phraug ruled Lemuria, and had sent his armies to conquer Atlantis from its rulers Kamuu and Zartra. Phraug faced opposition from a human priest named Atra who crafted the Serpent Crown to aid the Serpent Men, children of the Elder God Set, in conquering Lemuria for their lord. However, Atra found that Phraug was a worshiper of Set as well, and they fought for the Serpent Crown.

To defeat the Lemurian and Muvian armies sent to take Atlantis, Kamuu unleashed the city’s magma pits (which had been used for heating) to destroy their fleets. However, the opened pits caused a destructive eruption that began to sink Atlantis. At the same time, the Deviants sighted the Celestials’ mothership, and opened fire upon it. The Celestials then fired on Lemuria, and the resulting explosion coupled with the volcanic eruption in Atlantis caused the entire continent of Mu to sink, taking Lemuria with it. Emperor Phraug was killed along with thousands of Deviants, and their race has never recovered from this catastrophe.

Those Deviants who survived the Great Cataclysm moved into the subterranean kingdoms, and eventually repopulated Lemuria underwater. No longer possessing an abundance of human slaves, the Deviants bred an entire class of cloned slaves to carve out their underground empire. However, the slaves eventually revolted against the Deviants, and successfully broke away to form their own society as the Gortokians (named for the rebel leader Gor-Tok). Some Gortokians later worshiped and were mutated by the demon Cha’Sa’Dra, becoming known as the Lava Men. Reeling from this failure, the Deviants designed two new classes of slaves who possessed limited faculties for free will, but who could operate and maintain their sophisticated devices. They sent the new slaves into war with the Gortokians, but the Gortokians defeated them, and the Deviants ultimately abandoned both classes of slaves, and did not contest the Gortokians’ territories.

At the time the Celestials had sunk Lemuria, they also disciplined a member of their ranks for an unknown crime, striking his name from their records and placing his inert body in an underground vault. The Deviants came to believe that this “Dreaming Celestial” had been punished for creating them, and an entire religion sprang up in Lemuria centered around worship of the fallen Space God. The Deviant priesthood foresaw a day when they would have their revenge upon the Celestials, and began to stockpile an army of Deviants in suspended animation whom they dubbed “the Fifth Host.” In order to expand the army’s ranks, they established the ritual of “Purity Time” in Lemuria, in which the most monstrous of their numbers would be rounded up and sent to the priests, supposedly to be executed. The priests kept their goal a secret from the rest of the populace, even the ruling classes. “Purity Time” also served to exclude undesirable mutations from the Deviant gene pool, as over time the Deviants had become so disgusted with their bodies that reproduction stagnated, and the Deviants’ own population growth has been negligible.

Although the Eternals continued to oppose the Deviants, they fell into half-remembered legends by most of humankind, save for rare clashes with humans such as when the Tribe of the Moon fought a band of rogue Deviants. However, the people of the lost city El Dorado once clashed with the Deviants, and stole a cobalt flame which they went on to worship as though it were a living thing. One significant Deviant who lived through the Great Cataclysm was Warlord Kro, whose unnaturally long lifespan caused him to hide his nature from the public, afraid that the priesthood would dissect him. Kro pretended to be his own descendants in the centuries that followed. One thousand years ago, just prior to the arrival of the Celestials’ Third Host, the powerful mutate Dromedan once led fellow Deviants Tutinax, Thunder and the World-Devouring Worm against the Eternals, ultimately resulting in the death of Ikaris’ father Virako, but the Eternals beat Dromedan with the help of Thor.

In the aftermath of the Third Host’s visit, the Deviants made a truce with the Eternals, as both sides agreed not to interfere with humanity until the Fourth Host arrived to judge the Earth. At some point Earth was visited by Tantalus, a Deviant of unknown origins, said to have been personally fashioned by the Dreaming Celestial on another world. Tantalus was the ruler of the Deviants on four other worlds where the Celestials had performed similar experiments, and made his throneworld the planet Armechadon. Tantalus’ philosophy of Deviant supremacy inspired the Deviants of other worlds to rise up against their fellow sub-species and exterminate them, such the Skrulls, who were populated entirely by their Deviant sub-species of shapeshifters when the others were all but destroyed. The Celestials exiled Tantalus and his followers to Earth, and they founded their own kingdom of Deviants separate from Lemuria, the kingdom of Lyonesse.

Lemuria was later visited by the outcast Inhuman geneticist Phaeder, who mated with a Deviant woman named Morga, who bore his son Maelstrom. Morga was killed because she resembled a human, and Maelstrom was sent to Lemuria’s slave pits until Phaeder rescued him. Maelstrom vowed vengeance upon the Deviants. He later mated with the Deviant Medula, but abandoned her, unaware that she was pregnant with his son, Ransak. Maelstrom and Phaeder went on to be two of the foremost geneticists on Earth, and shared their knowledge with humans such as the High Evolutionary, Arnim Zola and the Enclave, allowing humans to rival the Deviants in that field.

In the 20th century, a band of rogue Deviants, Eternals and humans joined forces to create the Damocles Foundation, an organization devoted to determining what the next dominant species on Earth would be, and to controlling this species for themselves. Led by Odysseus Indigo, the Damocles Foundation became convinced that this species would be mutants, an offshoot of humanity who became increasingly common as the century went on. In the 1950s, a Deviant named Sledge aided the United States government, and was granted U.S. citizenship. Sledge went on to live amongst humans, making personal advances in science.

To surreptitiously spread chaos, Warlord Kro was assigned to release a variety of mutates on humankind, including the giant ape Gorgilla in Borneo, the Molten Man-Thing in Polynesia, the giant ant Grottu in Mombasa, and re-created dinosaurs in Wakanda. Kro’s involvement in these attacks was exposed by the Eternal Makkari and his allies, the Monster Hunters. Kro was forced to abandon the Deviant outpost at Monster Isle where many of the mutates had been bred, and the island, mutates, and abandoned technology were claimed by the Mole Man, who also became the master of one of the classes of slaves the Deviants had abandoned centuries earlier, terming them the “Moloids.” The other class of slaves had been taken over by the one-time Roman emperor Tyrannus, terming them the “Tyrannoids.”

Kro later made an attempt on the Eternal Pixie, who had served as a member of the First Line, but otherwise the Deviants kept to themselves, waiting for the Fourth Host. Thena, daughter of the Eternals’ ruler Zuras, had been attracted to Kro for centuries, initially believing his claim to be his own descendant. In one of their secret encounters, they made love, and Thena became pregnant with twins. She placed them within the womb of a human woman in order to keep their existence a secret from both of their races, and they were raised as Donald and Deborah Ritter.

When the time of the Fourth Host’s arrival was at hand, Kro was sent to try to prevent Ikaris from guiding the Celestial mothership to Earth, but he failed. Rather than attack the Celestials again, the Deviants instead attempted to trick humanity into an assault upon the City of the Space Gods in the Andes where the Celestials were stationed, but the Eternals revealed themselves to the humans and prevented an open conflict. Thena and Kro were reunited by the crisis, and Kro invited her to Lemuria to witness a battle between the gladiators Karkas (a mutate) and Ransak (a reject). Thena was astonished by the cruelty of the handsome-looking Ransak as well as the philosophical nature of the inhuman Karkas. Kro hoped that Ransak’s human appearance boded well for his people, and Thena took Ransak and Karkas into her care, making them residents of the Eternals’ city of Olympia.

After the Celestial Eson damaged Lemuria, causing a partial evacuation, the Deviants targeted the mothership, launching a bomb which they hoped would destroy the Celestials’ vessel. The Eternal Sprite noticed the launch and sent the Forgotten One to oppose them. Although the Forgotten One prevented the bomb from striking the Celestials, the Deviant priesthood secretly sent a ship of their own to the mothership in the confusion, and their agents stole aboard the vessel and sent the priests data on a crystal key. The priests fashioned a replica, which they hoped would one day help to awaken the Dreaming Celestial.

Brother Tode, ruler of the Deviants, sent Erishkigal to the City of the Space Gods to spy upon the Celestials, but Thor thwarted her. Thor’s encounter with Erishkigal led him to seek out the Eternals and aid them against the Deviants, discovering New Lemuria, the new home for the Deviants which Brother Tode had begun to construct beneath New York, while Tode’s son Ranar helped finance a restoration of the original Lemuria. Brother Tode sent Metabo, a mutate designed to absorb the Eternals’ energies, to combat their intruders, but Thor bested Metabo, and the Deviants were forced to destroy New Lemuria. Later, the Deviant el Toro Rojo posed as a costumed wrestler to battle the Eternal costumed wrestler el Vampiro, but was beaten by Thor. El Toro Rojo was later bonded to the autistic child Tupac Amaru as a punishment.

The Fourth Host ultimately judged in favor of the Earth, and departed. Brother Tode then launched an ambitious invasion of Olympia, imprisoning the entire population by using brain-mines to incapacitate them. Brother Tode then began to convert the Eternals into energy so that he could consume them in a futile effort to prolong his life. The Eternals were rescued by Iron Man (James Rhodes), and the Deviants were all captured. Kro escaped by placing a brain-mine on Thena, which allowed him to control her, while the rest of the captive Deviants who comprised most of the ruling class, were fused by the Eternals into a giant block of stone. When most of the Eternals subsequently departed Earth as a Uni-Mind to seek their destiny in space, the Uni-Mind took the stone block with it.

Lemuria’s rebuilding had been completed by this time, but the loss of the ruling class was a harsh blow to the Deviants. Ranar confronted the priesthood, demanding to be made ruler, but the priestlord Ghaur refused and slew him. Kro was ultimately accepted as Lemuria’s new ruler, but Ghaur made it clear to him that he was considered nothing more than a puppet king while the priesthood ruled from the shadows. The priesthood arranged for Kro to gain access to the Pyramid of the Winds, where the Eternals had sealed the essence of the Dreaming Celestial, entrusted to them by the Second Host. The priesthood had not intended for Kro to return from this mission, but Thena came to his rescue, sacrificing her own status as Prime Eternal to save him. The two former rulers went on the run; Ghaur commanded Lemuria’s forces to locate them, and finally caught them when they attempted to meet with Kro’s resistance faction in Lemuria. Ghaur demonstrated that the priesthood had knowledge of every Deviant’s genetic code except for Kro, and that he could control every Deviant except for him.

Ghaur also captured Margo Damian, human lover of Ikaris, and this led Ikaris to Lemuria to try to save her. Ghaur tried to disguise Margo as a Deviant, but the Deviants’ limited understanding of human genetics resulted in their experiments killing her instead. Ghaur captured Sersi the Eternal and controlled her in an attempt on Ikaris’ life, but this also failed. Ikaris led the Eternals to halt Ghaur’s attempt to use the replica of the crystal key and essence of the Dreaming Celestial to claim the Dreaming Celestial’s power, but Ghaur succeeded, and activated the Fifth Host to attack the Eternals. However, Kro and Thena destroyed the machinery keeping the Fifth Host alive, and they all perished. Ghaur was unable to control the Dreaming Celestial’s essence, which destroyed him as it attempted to free its physical form from its resting place, only to be beaten by the Eternals and Avengers.

Kro resumed the role of ruler of the Deviants, and was once tricked by the High Evolutionary into attacking Atlantis, but then sided with Atlantis against the High Evolutionary. Ghaur eventually regained his physical form, becoming leader of rogue Deviants in an alliance with Llyra, a member of the Lemurians (an offshoot of the Atlantean Homo mermani race who had settled in a sunken portion of the original Lemurian continent). He sent a trio of Deviants who resembled members of the New Mutants to Atlantis to steal the Horn of Proteus, and summoned a sea creature to destroy Atlantis, but it was beaten by Namorita, Surf, and the New Mutants. Ghaur was slain again when he and Llyra fashioned a replica of the Serpent Crown which consumed them.

The Deviants once captured the Eternal Elo and held him in Lemuria, but Makkari and his friend Quasar rescued Elo. Kro ultimately chose to cease ruling Lemuria, and Visara became the new ruler. He advocated the actual execution of mutates and rejects (in keeping with the defunct priesthood’s supposed policies), and the Deviant artist Yrdisis and her Eternal lover Khoryphos helped smuggle intended victims to safety. Ultimately, the Eternals and Kro helped turn the populace against Visara, and he was killed. At the same time, Donald and Deborah Ritter were revealed to be Kro and Thena’s children, and the twins were made welcome in Olympia. Kro entered the twins into the Delta Network, a gathering of Deviants from both Lemuria and Lyonesse who wished to assimilate with human culture. When the Avengers were captured in Lemuria during a plot to resurrect Ghaur, Kro led his children alongside Karkas, Ransak, Dragona, Enigmo and el Toro Rojo as a “Delta Force” to rescue them. The newly revived Ghaur assumed control of Lemuria.

In the kingdom of Lyonesse, Tantalus and his followers the Peacekeepers were opposed by rebel leader Blackwulf (Tantalus’ own son Pelops) and the Underground Legion, a U.S.-sponsored team of Deviants and other superhumans who helped keep Tantalus’ existence a secret. When Tantalus killed Pelops, Pelops’ brother Lucian assumed the identity of Blackwulf to continue the battle. Lucian ultimately slew Tantalus on Armechadon, and Tantalus’ adviser Khult assumed control of Lyonesse. In Lemuria, Ghaur transferred his consciousness into a statue of himself for a time, and captured a number of Eternals in an attempt to force them to create a Deviant equivalent of the Uni-Mind, the so-called “Anti-Mind,” but Kro led a rebellion against Ghaur, and rescued the Eternals with the help of the Heroes for Hire.

Subsequently, the near-immortal mutant Apocalypse set off nuclear missiles at Lemuria, causing a surge in mutations. During the tumult, Ghaur’s statue form was captured by the United States military, forcing Ghaur to resume his mortal form. The Eternals helped end the rampages that resulted from the incident, and in the aftermath, Kro and Ghaur formed an alliance in which Kro resumed his role as ruler, but was forced to share power uneasily with Ghaur. When the Black Panther found a Deviant mother and her human-like child in Wakanda, Ghaur demanded their release, which Prince T’Challa refused. This sparked an international incident, and nearly plunged Wakanda into war with Lemuria when Klaw tricked the Wakandans into firing upon Lemuria, but T’Challa’s friend Everett K. Ross eventually discerned that the child was Ghaur’s daughter, and Ghaur feared the scandal that would erupt were it known he had sired such a human-like offspring. Ghaur ultimately stood down, and the mother and child were placed in the custody of the Sub Mariner, with their deaths faked for the sake of the public.

The Damocles Foundation pursued numerous scientific endeavors in attempts to master mutantkind, including the study of Arcadia Deville, a mutant with reality-warping powers; the town of Almost Reno, New Mexico, where they combined mutant and Deviant genes to help the town’s sterile population reproduce, but the superhuman children who resulted proved to be unstable as many were consumed by their powers; and an attempt to activate a Gatherer robot left behind by the Celestials. They were repeatedly thwarted by members of X-Force, as well as Sledge and former Damocles Foundation member Ulysses Dragonblood.

When the time traveler Kang the Conqueror prepared to invade Earth, he offered a place in his new rule to anyone who would rise up and conquer territory for him, and the rogue general Dulpus led his soldiers to invade China, but the Avengers defeated them. Kro apologized to the Avengers for the incident, and later aided them by offering Lemuria’s sanctuary to the United States’ president when Kang conquered the Earth, and then added Lemuria’s forces in the uprising, which ultimately overthrew Kang.

The Deviants remain apart from humanity, but are now recognized by the United Nations, and under Brother Kro’s rule are on amicable terms with the United States and Atlantis.

[Whipsnakes]

Man, this stuff reads more like A Brief History of Time then a comic book. Exactly how much LSD was kirby doing back in these days?

And remember kids, I still have the Eternals 1-16 for sale. Makes great stocking stuffers.

[rroch]

Thank's for the information.

[mrpunch0]

Ummm ... I really hope that the new series is a lot easier to get through than these synopsis. My eyes go crossed at the first metion of Oneg the Prober ...

I thought DC's backstories were tough to follow. Crisis has got nothing on Kirby.

[bizarrolike]

They created life from bacteria?? Here I thought DC charactors were powerful

[Konami Code]

This article should've included some shots of the Celestials from their appearance in Earth X, for no other reason than those shots - either the covers by Ross or the interiors by Leon - looked awesome.

[bishop-m]

The Eternals are so cool. I remember Ghaur being such a bad @$$ along with Kro!

I am so looking forward to the new series! Bring it on!

[NovemberRose]

You should throw in all that Earth X stuff too. You know...for reference

[shady878]

Originally Posted by mrpunch0

Ummm ... I really hope that the new series is a lot easier to get through than these synopsis. My eyes go crossed at the first metion of Oneg the Prober ...

I thought DC's backstories were tough to follow. Crisis has got nothing on Kirby.

Im going through the same thing. I scratch my head and hope that for the person who isn't so much into the Eternals, Celestials, deviants and their third cousins mothers brother, that the series is easily accessible and doesnt alienate people who might want to pick this up.

[AJBrown]

I know Newsarama are trying to be nice by providing this background, but I wish they would condense it and just give us a concise history.

I am looking forward to the new mini (mainly for JRjr's art) but I know nothing about the Eternals and would love a brief, easy-to-read history!

If anyone could give me a link it would be much appreciated

[Bird Flu Man]

Originally Posted by mrpunch0

Ummm ... I really hope that the new series is a lot easier to get through than these synopsis. My eyes go crossed at the first metion of Oneg the Prober ...

Yeah, what this new Eternals series needs is a lot of two-page spreads of the planet Earth from space. Good ol' Bendis and his pals in the New Avengers never make me read or think this much!

Seriously, though, this is why I love the Marvel Handbooks so much. For only $3.99 you get 64 pages of this stuff. It keeps me busy for days!

[Winteriscoming]

Cool stuff, but again, it can be a bear to read all of it. I got the basics down and thats pretty much all I need.

[mpartyka]

The Deviant Skrulls are now the only Skrulls in the cosmos, save for one normal Skrull who escaped to Earth.

Anybody know who this "normal Skrull" is and in what comic he/she appeared?

[mrpunch0]

Originally Posted by AJBrown

I know Newsarama are trying to be nice by providing this background, but I wish they would condense it and just give us a concise history.

I am looking forward to the new mini (mainly for JRjr's art) but I know nothing about the Eternals and would love a brief, easy-to-read history!

If anyone could give me a link it would be much appreciated

I think this IS the brief, easy-to-read history.

[I am MODOK]

Originally Posted by AJBrown

I know Newsarama are trying to be nice by providing this background, but I wish they would condense it and just give us a concise history.

I am looking forward to the new mini (mainly for JRjr's art) but I know nothing about the Eternals and would love a brief, easy-to-read history!

If anyone could give me a link it would be much appreciated

Eternals - godlike good guys

Deviants - godlike bad guys.

That should be enough to get you started!

Oh, and their speedster, Makkari, got beaten in a race by Barry Allen!

[AlejandroR3]

Guys your all missing a very important point. You think Kirby was doing LSD and making this hard to understand? Imagine if Grant Morrison was writing this series?

Your MIND WOULD EXPLODE after just panel 1!!

[Stewart]

Sorry to sound negative, but my enthusiasm for the new Eternals series shrinks drastically everytime I try to read one of these articles. How on Earth is anyone supposed to keep track of all these characters? Nezarr the Calculator? Gamiel the Manipulator? The Dreaming Celestial? The Forgotten One? Deviants? Lemurians? Space Gods? Please, make it stop... head hurts....

I don't envy Neil Gaiman having to keep the existing fans happy, whilst also making it accessible to the rest of us. I'm still looking forward to the new series. I think...

[Bird Flu Man]

Originally Posted by AJBrown

I know Newsarama are trying to be nice by providing this background, but I wish they would condense it and just give us a concise history.

Are you joking?

This takes decades' worth of comics (and not like today's "written for the trade" comics, these things were dense) and condenses it down to what has to amount to only 2 or 3 pages of text. That's pretty concise by my standards.

Are you looking for a paragraph? A run-on sentence?

Oh well, I guess it's a sign of the times . . .

The Celestials are a mysterious race of ancient beings (so powerful that they once spanked the gods of Earth) who cruise the universe judging the worth of other races and frequently mutating entire races for kicks.

The Deviants are an offshoot of humanity created one million B.C.E. by the Celestials who became enemies of the Eternals and enslaved humanity until they were attacked by the Celestials and had their city destroyed.

[xdemon]

Originally Posted by AJBrown

I know Newsarama are trying to be nice by providing this background, but I wish they would condense it and just give us a concise history.

I am looking forward to the new mini (mainly for JRjr's art) but I know nothing about the Eternals and would love a brief, easy-to-read history!

If anyone could give me a link it would be much appreciated

This is the concise version!

[MShivers]

Wow.

People will complain about anything.

I loved this article. I love the rich history of the Marvel Universe (and DC, to, of course, though Marvel was "my first.")

Couple of questions/comments:

• I would love it more if there were comments or annotations indicatinng the issues in which some of these stories took place. Half the fun of a long-standing shared comic book universe is tracking down old issues with stories that might be interesting.

• Didn't the Dreaming Celestial awaken during Walt Simonson's fun on Fantastic Four? Been a looooong time since I read that story, but I thought he was ultimately destroyed.

Sooooo looking forward to Gaiman's new series.

[DreamLord]

Very cool article. I learned a lot.

[KingStalin]

Amazinbg, can not wait for this series. I love the Cellestials.

[gwangung]

Originally Posted by Bird Flu Man

Are you joking?

This takes decades' worth of comics (and not like today's "written for the trade" comics, these things were dense) and condenses it down to what has to amount to only 2 or 3 pages of text. That's pretty concise by my standards.

Are you looking for a paragraph? A run-on sentence?

Nah. Something that's on the level of a seven year old.

That's what they mean by kid friendly, ya know....

[strathcona]

Originally Posted by mpartyka

Anybody know who this "normal Skrull" is and in what comic he/she appeared?

The baseline Skrull is from the short lived Blackwulf series from the early 90s.

And people that are complaining about these histories... Newsarama didn't write them, they are lifted directly from the current Marvel Universe Handbook series.

[furioso2012]

Originally Posted by Stewart

Sorry to sound negative, but my enthusiasm for the new Eternals series shrinks drastically everytime I try to read one of these articles. How on Earth is anyone supposed to keep track of all these characters? Nezarr the Calculator? Gamiel the Manipulator? The Dreaming Celestial? The Forgotten One? Deviants? Lemurians? Space Gods? Please, make it stop... head hurts....

I don't envy Neil Gaiman having to keep the existing fans happy, whilst also making it accessible to the rest of us. I'm still looking forward to the new series. I think...

You have to take into account that these synopses cover THIRTY YEARS of post Kirby Eternals continuity. I seriously doubt Gaiman has taken all these twists and turns into account: I think his mini is tied to Kirby's run. You will not need a scorecard.

For my money, only Earth X (and DeFalco & Frenz's under-rated Kirbyesque run on THOR) made good use of The Eternals mythos. The rest is, err, rather messy and unnecessary, and example of continuity weaving gone more than a little awry. When everything is tied together (Thanos, Skrulls, Kree, et alia), writers can loose breathing room for new creations: tying the Celestials into almost every MU race was short sighted, IMO. Surely the universe is big enough to encompass worlds where the Celestials' hand is/was unknown.

Bottom line: the new mini will be amazing, don't worry about memorizing these synopses (hats off to whomever assembled them, though!).