The Eternals. Did anyone honestly expect these guys to be some of the next characters to get ushered into the MCU? I know I sure didn't. We're talking about characters that are so obscure that even genuine, hardcore comic fans would be given a pass for not knowing much about them. Admittedly, I know very little about The Eternals as well, and what I do know is mostly from a little out of continuity story called Earth X. Having said that, I've heard rumors that The Eternals could be used as a vehicle for introducing all forms of the Cosmic MCU, as well as introducing Mutants. I'd like to take a moment to explain how there is definitely precedence for this in the comics. So sit back, grab a snack, and allow me to force feed you ideas in a semi-concentual way!
1. Earth X
In order to get to the meat and potatoes, we must first take a look at the story of Earth X. For those unfamiliar with this story, Earth X tells a tale of a Marvel Universe 30 years in the future. A world where Homo Superior has taken its rightful place as the next step in human evolution. You see, every human is now born with powers, and more importantly, the X-Gene. Everyone is a mutant. This has made for a very chaotic world to live in, as everyone has the power for incredible acts of heroism or unspeakable evil. Our heroes are aging fast and many have already fallen. An alien race called The Hydra have invaded the Earth and assimilate everyone they can get their squid-like appendages on, turning them into mindless minions. To top it all off, its been discovered that the Earth has a VERY limited amount of time before collapsing on itself and ending it all. It is here where the story gets interesting....
2. The Celestials and Their Grand Scheme
One of the things that The Eternals are most known for is their exploration into the 616 Cosmic Marvel Universe. Its in The Eternals comics that we see and learn a great deal about The Celestials. Its been explained that The Celestials are an incredibly powerful race. A race that acts as gods, going from planet to planet, seeding life and then leaving it to fend for itself. The Celestials then return in multiple "Hosts" over the course of the next unknown thousands of years and pass judgement on their creations. If their creations do not meet their standards, they destroy them and start new.
We don't know what their motivations are, or what cosmic purpose they serve, if any. But we do know a few things. We know they are massive in size, even dwarfing the likes of Galactus. We believe they are made entirely of cosmic energy with no physical form. We know that they encase themselves in suits of armor created from some unknown material. (Or, as explained in Earth X, armor created by Vibranium, which they also place on the planets they seed life on.)
But perhaps the most important thing that Earth X explains to us is how they reproduce. You see, in the Earth X world, when a Celestial reproduces they place a "fetus", for lack of a better term, inside the core of a suitable planet. The infant Celestial marinates within the planet for thousands and thousands of years until it is finally ready to be born. Great for the Celestials. Bad for the planet, as the Celestial's birth destroys the planet. This is the cause of Earth being on the verge of collapse when we join our heroes in Earth X. An infant Celestial on the verge of birth living within the planet.
3. Celestials, Mutants, and Galactus
Something else that has a massive amount of importance in Earth X is where Mutants came from, and this is where things get REALLY interesting. What we learn is that when the Celestials place an infant inside a planet, they then place a "seed" inside the native inhabitants, or the inhabitants that they created, on the planet. This seed is the first steps of what we know as the X-Gene. However, it is too early to be recognized as the X-Gene. In fact, it isn't even detectable. So humanity has been running around for thousands of years with this "seed" that would eventually evolve into the X-Gene, and had no idea.
Why is this important? Because this "seed" is what allowed all of the non-Mutant powered humans to gain their powers. But because humanity had not yet reached a level of evolution to be born with their powers on a massive scale, they had to be activated by some type of outside event. Something like, say, a radioactive spider bite, perhaps? Or maybe a lethal dose of Gamma Radiation? How about that fancy new Super Soldier Serum the government tested out during World War 2? Thats right. Any of these things was enough to jump start the gene unknowingly hiding inside all humans. Anyone could have become a powered human, they just needed the right push in the right direction, at arguably the right time to make it happen!
So why would the Celestials place these "seeds of power" inside humanity? Its simple. They did this to create a defense mechanism against any outside threats to the planet that is housing their infant. And its worked to great effect when you think about it. Earth's Mightiest Heroes alone have fended off countless threats from beyond Earth. Hell, even the X-Men stopped a Cosmic Entity from destroying the planet when they dealt with the Phoenix Force. And one need look no further than the Fantastic Four fending off Galactus himself from consuming the planet. And speaking of Galactus, did I mention that its explained in Earth X that Galactus only feeds on planets that give off a certain energy? This is the case in 616 also, except in Earth X its explained that the energy these planets give off are planets with infant Celestials inside. This means that Galactus' entire purpose is to keep the Celestials population under control.
So think about that. The Celestials' defense mechanism has worked so well on Earth that it was able to defend the planet from a cosmic being whose entire purpose is to consume that planet. Pretty impressive.
4. What Does All Of This Have To Do With The MCU?
For anyone that has hung in to the end with me, congratulations because its payoff time! As we all know, the X-Men and Fantastic Four are back at Marvel Studios. This opens up worlds of possibilities, but also tons of questions. How will they introduce the Fantastic Four? How can they introduce Mutants to the MCU? When will Galactus make his big appearance? I certainly can't offer any answers to these things, but I CAN provide a possibility. One possibility in an entire sea of possibilities. One possibility that I just happened to think of recently that COULD wrap all of this together nicely for the MCU moving forward.
We know The Eternals are in a unique position to blow the lid off of the cosmic MCU, as well as explaining certain things that we may not have even heard about yet. Its also interesting that The Eternals will undoubtedly be released before we hear anything about Mutants. What I've laid out above is a world that could be fully explained by The Eternals movie, and maybe a sequel. Want to see Galactus as a big bad for a couple phases? This sets that up more than perfectly. The Coming of Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Galactus' need to consume Earth. The heroes' struggle to repel him. This is a big story that could be told over the course of an entire phase if need be, or told through solo Fantastic Four films. Either way, The Eternals would have been the films to introduce us to all of this. If for nothing more than to set the stage for when he shows up to battle Earth. Even if the Earth-bound characters involved never even talk to The Eternals. We, the viewers, would know and already understand what is going on.
To wrap it all up, The Eternals are in a very special situation. A situation that could be used to great effect. A situation that could introduce us to all of the new and exciting things coming to the MCU that we may not have time to explain in other films. The Eternals can serve as a cosmic history book of information that only helps to provide us with much needed details to supplement the wider MCU. And lets face it, all of this Earth X stuff kind of falls perfectly in to place with the MCU as far as providing explanations for things like Celestials, Galactus, and Mutants that we all want to see on-screen. It provides the perfect reason for Galactus to show up on Earth's doorstep while also giving us an explanation for Mutants. And perhaps the best part of all of this is that we never have to get too heavy into the Earth X story itself, as that takes place 30 years in the future, so we never need to worry about an MCU film with the infant Celestial being birthed, or the entire planet turning into Mutants.
Will The Eternals be used to this effect? That has yet to be seen. But I can say that Marvel has quite a challenge on their hands. They need to find a way to make the General Audience and Comic Fans alike be interested in The Eternals. A group that is already extremely obscure. The best way to do this is to make The Eternals a "can't miss" film that provides vital information about the MCU.
Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, and please leave some comments below with your thoughts!
~CDB
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