[1] In the Marvel Universe, the Eternals are an offshoot of humanity known as Homo immortalis which were created one million years ago by the enigmatic alien Celestials to defend Earth with their superhuman powers and abilities.

Due to their virtual immortality, Eternals have largely secluded themselves from humans, with their god-like status forming the basis of various mythological figures around the world.

[2][3] They made their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with their own feature film Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, which was released November 5, 2021.

[7][13][14] According to comic-book historian Peter Sanderson, "editor in chief Jim Shooter disliked Gillis’s scripts, so Walter Simonson wrote the final four issues.

In 2003, writer Chuck Austen and artist Kev Walker rebooted the franchise for Marvel's mature readers-focused MAX imprint, resulting in The Eternal.

"[17] In an interview with Newsarama he gave an outline of his planned plot: In this version, we take some of the concepts from [the original series] and build around them, throwing away some stuff and keeping others.

We've already been judged and found wanting, too violent to be allowed to flourish and spread, and Ikaris and the others have to stop the Celestials, who consider us their property, from destroying the entire planet as they have done to many others, including another in the Solar System.

[19] Neil Gaiman,[20][21] with artist John Romita, Jr.,[22] created a 2006 miniseries, which helped bring the Eternals' role in the modern Marvel Universe up-to-date.

[23] Solicited as a six-issue series, an extra issue was added to the run, because, according to editor Nick Lowe, "There was too much story to fit into the structure we set for ourselves.

[citation needed] Long ago, a civil war broke out amongst the Eternals over whether to conquer the other races, with one faction led by Kronos and the other by his warlike brother, Uranos.

Some of Uranos's group soon tried to return to Earth to re-kindle the war, but they were attacked by a passing Kree ship and forced to land on Saturn's moon Titan.

Zuras was chosen to be the Prime Eternal, and A'lars chose to leave Earth to avoid causing another civil war and journeyed to Titan.

[citation needed] There he found that a war (allegedly caused by the Dragon of the Moon) had erupted on Titan and wiped out all but one member, a woman named Sui-San.

[citation needed] During the early 20th century, a human scientist made contact with the Uranian Eternals and was taken to live with them along with his young son, who would later become Marvel Boy.

[28] After World War II, some Eternals allied with humans and Deviants to form the Damocles Foundation, which tried to create a new breed of superhuman to rule Earth.

[citation needed] At some point, Thanos of the Eternals of Titan nearly destroyed their colony, but they rebuilt it, and would help Earth's heroes to oppose him on several occasions.

[citation needed] In recent times, Ikaris met the archaeologist Daniel Damian and his daughter Margo, and accompanied them into an old Eternal city in the Andes, where he awakened Ajak.

[30] When the Celestials returned to judge the worthiness of their creations a few years ago, the Eternals found themselves clashing with the Deviants again, and decided to publicly reveal their existence to humanity.

[36] With the ascension of Priestlord Ghaur as leader of the Deviants, the Eternals joined the Avengers in defeating him after he absorbed the power of a Celestial and tried to gain godhood.

With the help of ancient Eternal machines, he forged a prophecy to incite war between the two races and transformed Ajak in a murderous monster.

Sersi rejected the idea, on the basis that the ritual was designed to kill the infected Eternal, and solicited his family to perform the Gann Josin bond between her and her lover the Black Knight.

[41] Later Thena and other Eternals helped the Avengers in the battle against the Gatherers and Proctor, who was an alternate Black Knight and who infected Sersi with the Mahd Wy'ry disease for spite.

The two Deviants managed to kidnap Sprite, and the trapped Makkari, using him to awaken the Dreaming Celestial, who was under Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Ikaris is also able to reveal that the only way to prevent the Final Host from unleashing the Horde is the Uni-Mind and sends a message into Stark's mind before dying.

[citation needed] At one time, the official limit to the Eternals' durability was such that they could only be permanently destroyed by dispersing their bodies' molecules over a wide area.

As long as "The Machine" (a restoration device of Celestial origin; possibly the Earth itself)[59] keeps running, any destroyed Eternal will eventually return, as was the case with Ikaris after he was completely vaporized by a particle accelerator as part of a series of "experiments" performed upon him by the Deviants.

[78][79][80] Jared Gaudreau of Comic Book Resources asserted, "The seven-issue mini-series covered previous themes like creation and did an excellent job expanding Eternals lore and adding numerous new side characters.

"[81] Marc Buxton of Den of Geek wrote, "This is a must read for any fan of American Gods as Gaiman and Romita examine recurring themes of mythology made real and they channel it all through a magnificent Kirby lens.

[83][84][85] K. Thor Jensen of PCMag called the Eternals comic book series the "last high-profile attempt to reboot the concept," stating, "This was the bridge that brought the group into the modern era, and it’s a very solid read.

It's an intriguing new start for readers new and old, alike and, at the very least, it's evident this creative team is setting out to establish a definitive take for one of Marvel's biggest unproven ideas.