Characters / MCU: Eternals

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Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.

The Eternals

Appearances: Eternals | Marvel Zombies

"We're Eternals, from a planet called Olympia. We came here seven thousand years ago on the Domo, our starship, to protect humans from the Deviants."

— Sersi, Eternals

A race of near-immortal beings created by the Celestials who have inhabited Earth for thousands of years.

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In General

• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the comics, the Eternals were one of the results of the Celestials' genetic experiments on ancient human predecessors, the others being the Deviants and X-gene mutants. Here, they are a direct creation of the Celestials and are completely unrelated to humans, instead being artificially constructed Human Aliens.
• Adaptational Diversity: Several of them got Race Lifts, Makkari is now deaf (the original Eternals were all able-bodied), and Phastos has a husband. Also, several were men in their original stories but were changed to being female characters instead.
• Adaptational Wimp: All of them are downgraded from their comic book counterparts. At the very least, Flight is a common power, all Eternals have superhuman strength and will naturally regenerate from all but the most extreme forms of damage. The movie counterparts are missing a lot of the common abilities with Ikaris retaining the most.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause: While permitted and encouraged to protect and guide humanity to ensure their advancement, they were discouraged from giving them advanced technology before they were ready for it, and outright forbidden from interfering with inter-human conflict, as war itself encourages advancement.
• Aliens of London: They mostly speak with their actors' varied natural accents.
• Ambiguously Related: Several of the Eternals are stated to be the inspiration for figures from Classical Mythology, such as Sersi (Circe), Ikaris (Icarus), and Thena (Athena). How they relate to the actual Olympian gods appearing in Thor: Love and Thunder, especially Thena given Minerva appears on Omnipotence City is unclear. In the comics, the Eternals and Olympians actually have a working alliance wherein Olympia (which is an actual place in the comics) represents Olympus on Earth because of their similarities.
• Ancient Astronauts: The film opens with the Eternals arriving on Earth in the distant past via their spaceship, Domo. Over time, they have guided humanity's development.
• Artificial Human: Their initial narrative seems to point to them being The Chosen Many to leave planet Olympia and help the people of Earth at the holy order of their god Arishem. The Eternals are actually artificial beings crafted in an enormous space factory. Word of God says that because of their synthetic nature, they weren't targeted by the Snap.
• Been There, Shaped History: They have been influencing humanity's early history, aiding the flourishing of the first cities.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each Eternal dresses in a different color, both in their supersuits and civilian attire. The team as a whole shares gold as a unifying color with their powers displaying as gold effects.
  • Ajak: Dark blue and gold.
  • Ikaris: Blue.
  • Sersi: Green.
  • Phastos: Light purple with silver accents.
  • Makkari: Red with black accents.
  • Druig: Black with red trim.
  • Thena: White.
  • Gilgamesh: Brown with green accents.
  • Kingo: Deep purple.
  • Sprite: Teal with white accents.
• Composite Character
  • The Eternals' role as protectors of planets while Celestial Seeds grow within them is very similar to the role of the Watcher species from the Earth X universe.
  • The Eternals as a whole have some similarities to the Squadron Sinister's Hyperion, being superpowered artificial constructs given fake memories created to serve the will of a cosmic deity.
• Five-Token Band: They're immortal aliens, but phenotypically a diverse bunch: Ikaris, Druig, Thena, and Sprite look white, Ajak looks West Asian/Latina, Phastos and Makkari look African and African/Latina respectively, Kingo looks South Asian, and Gilgamesh and Sersi look East Asian. They're also a Gender-Equal Ensemble comprised of five women and five men; in addition, Makkari is deaf, and Thena is their equivalent of mentally ill.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: The Eternals consist of five women (Sersi, Ajak, Makkari, Thena, and Sprite), and five men (Ikaris, Phastos, Druig, Gilgamesh, and Kingo).
• Genocide Survivor: Chloé Zhao stated that because of their artificial nature, none of them were killed by the Snap in Infinity War which turned half of the universe's population to dust.
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: In explaining their origins, Arishem explains that his belief that the Deviant's ability to evolve was why they went rogue and deliberately left that quality out when making the Eternals. Regardless, the Eternals are shown capable of change both psychologically and physically. Most of the Eternals decided to betray their purpose and willfully stop Tiamet's emergence when they learned the truth, Druig went against their Alien Non-Interference Clause when watching humanity kill each other became too much for him and Sersi eventually learned how to transmute living tissue, an ability she did not have for the majority of her time on Earth.
• Human Aliens: Unlike the comic where Eternals are an ancient human subspecies that got uplifted, the Eternals here are aliens and look entirely human.
• Inconspicuous Immortal: Most of the Eternals took up comparatively ordinary lives among humans after the Deviants were wiped out; those of them who hew closest to this trope include Sersi, who is working as a museum curator, and Phastos, who has settled down into a roughly middle-class life and gotten married. This descent into obscurity has worked so well that in modern times, the Eternals aren't even known of... until the Deviants come back, stronger than ever before.
• Meaningful Name: The Eternals crew all have names that are corrupted variations of important figures in mythology (usually with one letter away or a letter swap) and often have a trait associated with their namesake.
• Mythical Motifs: They're immortal heroes, some of whom are patterned after mythological figures. For example, Thena is a graceful and pragmatic fighter like Classical Mythology's Athena. In-universe, it is explained that they were the inspiration for some of humanity's most enduring myths; for example, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story Sprite tells ancient Mesopotamians starring her friend Gilgamesh. A deleted scene even has Sprite grumble about how nobody ever gets Thena's likeness right when looking at a statue of the Greek goddess Athena.
• Omniglot: The Eternals have spent 7000 years on Earth and had to learn the humans' languages to communicate with them, and at no point do they display any difficulty understanding anyone's native language. Druig and Sprite are able to speak Babylonian to their audience in Babylonia, Karun speaks to the team in Hindi when thanking them, Sprite speaks Spanish to a man in Druig's village, and everyone speaks modern English in the present.
• Physical God: Much like the Asgardians, the Eternals are a race of immortal Superior Species that were the direct inspiration for a number of gods and cultural heroes in humanity's history. They have eternal life and youth, are incredibly strong, heal quickly from injuries that would kill a human and their origins — having been created by even greater primordial entities, established a presence on Earth, and are at war with a mindless race of monsters they share an origin with — have a lot in common with most mythology.
• Race Lift: Several of them are of different ethnicities compared to their comic counterparts and the mythological figures they inspired.
• Remember the New Guy?: In-universe, they've been on Earth since ancient times, as indicated by their arrival in Mesopotamia in 5000 BCE. Their first MCU appearance? Phase 4, over a decade since the franchise's debut. In a particularly glaring case, Gilgamesh mentions that they helped Asgard repel the Frost Giant invasion back in 965 and that he learned his beer brewing recipe from Odin himself, while Kingo states Thor used to follow him around when he was little. You would think Odin would mention them when he was telling the story of the Battle of Tønsberg to his children.
• Rings of Activation: Their powers are accompanied by a light display of golden rings across their bodies.
• Single-Power Superheroes: In the comics, the Eternals can mostly do the same things as each other, though individuals may specialize (for example, most Eternals can transform matter to some degree, but none are as good as Sersi). In the MCU however, their powers are unique and they each only have one. The only exception is Ikaris, who has both flight and Eye Beams.
• Superhero Speciation: As seen in the opening sequence, their various powers give them different roles in protecting and shepherding humanity.
  • Ajak is the leader and healer.
  • Ikaris, Kingo, Gilgamesh, Makkari, and Thena are the direct "offense" characters, whose powers are most useful in combating Deviants. Ikaris is a Flying Brick with Eye Beams, which makes him effective everywhere; Kingo is a ranged fighter; Makkari is a speedster useful in melee and support (since she can grab people before they take a hit); Thena and Gilgamesh are a Male Might, Female Finesse combat duo. In the final act, with Gilgamesh dead and Kingo out, Thena and Makkari are the ones who physically stall Ikaris.
  • Sersi's powers of transmutation are useful in support situations, but she herself is largely a noncombatant who prefers interacting with humanity to build settlements and grow crops.
  • Phastos is The Smart Guy who helps humanity develop technology. However, he can also make weapons against the Deviants, fellow Eternals, and Celestials.
  • Sprite's and Druig's powers are most useful for crowd control and for interacting with humans, since Sprite can create illusions and Druig can alter the minds of humanity to create situations favorable for them.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: They have been mandated by the Celestials to not interfere in human conflicts unless the Deviants are involved. As a result, the Eternals have not helped out against Thanos or numerous other conflicts, although they did aid the Asgardians in Tønsberg.
• Super-Toughness: Despite none of their powersets (except for possibly Ikaris and/or Gilgamesh) including any sort of explicit or implied level of Nigh-Invulnerability, several of them are shown taking hits that would leave a normal human severely crippled at the very least and almost immediately getting back up with no injuries beyond very minor scratches and bruises.
• Takes One to Kill One: Possibly. Despite several of them taking hits that would leave a normal human severely crippled, the only time any of them are shown sustaining any notable injuries is when they take direct hits from either each other or Deviants.
• Time Abyss: The Eternals first arrived on Earth 7,000 years ago and haven't aged a day since their arrival. They're actually a lot older, as they've been working for Arishem for millions of years.

Sersi

Sersi

"Every time innocent lives have been sacrificed for the greater good, it turns out to be a mistake."

Known Aliases: "Sylvia"

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Gemma Chan

Voiced By: Ayumi Tsunematsu (Japanese dub), Bruna Matta (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"You have loved these people since the day we arrived. So, there is no one better to lead us now than you."

— Thena

Sersi is the Eternal with the strongest affinity for humanity. She is as happy working as a museum curator and teacher as she is saving humans from the threat of the Deviants. She has the ability to manipulate matter, changing the makeup of any non-sentient material she touches. She’s also been in love with Ikaris for centuries and helps him to recruit the Eternals for one last mission.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Particularly in her relationship with Dane Whitman. In the comics, Sersi essentially forced Dane into a mental link to save herself, which he wasn't happy with since he had feelings for fellow teammate Crystal at the time. Here, Sersi and Dane have a genuine and loving relationship without any manipulation.
• Adaptational Personality Change: She really doesn't have much in common with the comic version. Sersi in the comics is Fun Personified, Really Gets Around, fierce, and sharp-tongued. Sersi in the film is a monogamous, Nice Girl who prefers a more quiet life.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • In the comics, Sersi's powers can affect living beings, but the MCU version cannot. Unless powered by a Celestial.
  • In the comics, Sersi's abilities can be used remotely (at least at a short distance) and relatively instantaneously. MCU Sersi requires direct, prolonged physical contact to use her powers.
• Audience Surrogate: She has the least fantastical life in the modern era when compared to most of the other Eternals. She lives in London as a schoolteacher of a rather dull subject dating a regular Joe as opposed to the fantastical lives of Druig, Kingo, or Makkari, she doesn't have any major hang-ups from her immortal life like Phastos, Thena, or Sprite do, and isn't as overwhelmingly powerful as Ikaris.
• Bad Liar: Before revealing to Dane that she's an Eternal, her lies become increasingly, comically thin as she tries to pretend that she is totally normal. When he brings up that Sprite talked about someone Sersi broke up with a century ago who could apparently fly, Sersi hastily claims that he's a pilot, without trying to cover for her apparent age.
• Battle Couple: She and Ikaris fell in love while protecting Earth from the Deviants.
• Casting Gag: This is not the first time Gemma Chan plays an extraterrestrial who gets involved with an emergence of an ancient primordial being from the Earth's core.
• Composite Character: Sersi is based on her classic version in the comics (a green-clad superhuman who can alter matter), but also based on the Eternal Suyin King, a Chinese Eternal working as a teacher.
• Creating Life: Downplayed, but early on Sersi transmutes a bus into a cloud of flower petals, showing she can transmute inorganic matter into organic matter, her main restriction being her inability to transmute sentient matter. However, her powers develop throughout the film allowing her to overcome this restriction, and she at one point transmutes a boulder into a flock of birds. She later transmutes Sprite from a synthetic construct into an actual human.
• Eternal Love: Pun unintended. Sersi and Ikaris have had a romance since the existence of Babylonia, and they remained together for thousands of years. The only reason she moved on was because Ikaris left her without warning and, after so many years of his absence, she had to move on.
• Friend to All Children: When the Eternals arrive on Earth in 5000 BC, Sersi's first act is to transmutate a boy's rudimentary dagger as a friendly gesture. Later, she gets her hair styled and painted by a little girl. In Ancient Babylon, she's shown happily participating in a ceremonial dance with a group of girls. In the present, Sersi gives school lectures in London's Natural History Museum, and her students are comfortable enough to playfully tease her over her relationship with Dane.
• Kill the God: Not initially the plan, the Eternals had just wanted to put Tiamut to sleep. But when that plan failed because of Ikaris's intervention, Sersi decided to opt for petrifying Tiamut.
• The Leader: She steps up and takes a commanding role as the Eternals leader during their conflict in the modern-day. The others are surprised by this, seeing Ikaris or Ajak as more likely leaders, but when push comes to shove, Sersi makes the decisions that save the day.
  • When Sersi doubts her own fitness to lead, Thena advises that Ajak chose her to assume leadership because she too loved humanity enough to defy the Celestials' design for Earth.
  • Another important factor in Ajak's choice, however, might have been her belief that Ikaris's love for Sersi - great enough that he left her rather than lie to her or burden her with his knowledge of the Celestials' plan - would also prevent him from stopping her interference with the emergence. If so, she was right.
• Meaningful Name: Sersi sounds similar to Circe, an enchantress known for transforming people into pigs, reflecting on Sersi's transmutation ability.
• Nice Girl: Sersi is a very sweet and gentle person who has an affinity for humanity and wants to protect humans from any danger, especially the Deviants. When Sprite pulls a Face–Heel Turn and nearly kills her by stabbing her In the Back, Sersi easily forgives her and even makes her human when realizing how Sprite was distressed at being stuck as a kid. She even gives her a loving hug goodbye when eventually leaving, wishing her the best in her new human life.
• Phoneaholic Teenager: While Sersi is definitely not a teenager, she is nonetheless fascinated with modern-day cell phones and social media. Early in the film, she's seen taking pictures on Instagram and testing out different filters on them, while later on, she uses Snapchat to make Ikaris look much older on her phone camera. Later, when Sprite is also getting hooked on social media, Sersi remarks how she warned her that it was "addictive".
• Race Lift: She was originally depicted as a Greek/European woman in the comics, while this version of the character is portrayed by an actress of Chinese descent.
• Statuesque Stunner: She is played by Gemma Chan who is 173 cm tall. In close-up shots, she appears to be as tall as both of her love interests, which makes sense because Ikaris is played by 175 cm Richard Madden and Dean is played by 171 cm Kit Harington.
• Took a Level in Badass: Initially, Sersi can't transform sentient matter, but in the battle in the Amazon she desperately fought back against a Deviant and turned it into a tree. Unfortunately, this became a How Do I Shot Web? situation for her as she didn't know how she did it.
• Transmutation: Sersi's powers as an Eternal is to manipulate any non-sentient matter, including transmuting it to other forms. With a touch, she can create freshwater from the soil, turn a tree into ice, and a crashing bus into a cloud of flower petals.
• Would Hurt a Child: Technically speaking. Kills the newborn Celestial Tiamut rather than risk destroying Earth or risk Druig failing to put it to sleep again.
• You Are in Command Now: Ajak chooses Sersi as her replacement as Prime Eternal after Ikaris betrays her and has her killed.

Ikaris

Ikaris

"I wouldn't mind leaving this world. I only wish that when we do, I would be able to remember you. I'm in love with you, Sersi."

Known Aliases: "Isaac"

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Richard Madden

Voiced By: Shinji Kawada (Japanese dub), Michel Di Fiori (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"I promise I won’t let my feelings for Sersi distract me from my mission. Humans are far from being able to protect themselves from the Deviants. We still have much to do."

Ikaris is the tactical leader and most powerful of the Eternals and takes pride in keeping the other Eternals safe. Moral, kind and charismatic, he boasts the power of incredible strength, flight and the ability to project beams of intense cosmic energy from his eyes. When the monstrous Deviants return after centuries, Ikaris leads the charge to unite the scattered Eternals to stop the new threat.

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• The Ace: Far more powerful than any other Eternal on Earth, especially the ones whose powers overlap some of his abilities like Kingo and Gilgamesh.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Ikaris is traditionally blonde. Here, he has brown hair with a light streak on the left side of his forehead.
• Adaptational Personality Change: One of the more heroic and altruistic Eternals in the comics. In the movie he opposes Ajak's plan to save humanity, has her killed, and intends on bringing Arishem's plan to fruition.
• Adaptational Villainy: He's so loyal to the Celestials that he doesn't question the true nature of his mission, arranging the death of Ajak and planning to kill anyone else who has second thoughts. Nonetheless, he is shown being visibly upset that it has to come to that.
• Alternate Self: Has a zombified variant on Earth-89521.
• Anti-Villain: Loyal to Arishem to a fault, but only because he never allowed himself to grow any kind of attachment to Earth. Ikaris tries to prolong the fight against the Deviants to ensure that the Emergence takes place, even if it means that all life on Earth dies in the process.
• Awful Truth: Ajak told him the truth about the Eternals, and it slowly destroyed him.
• Battle Couple: He and Sersi fell in love while protecting Earth from the Deviants.
• Beware the Superman: The most powerful Eternal and also the one most intent on the destruction of Earth.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The Heavy for Arishem and the Celestials, although Kro, the Deviant he unintentionally gave sapience to, quickly becomes a secondary threat seeking revenge for his fallen brethren.
• Big Bad Friend: Ikaris is one of the titular Eternals, and Sersi's former lover. He's also the one truly responsible for murdering Ajak, is fully aware of Arishem's intentions for Earth, and acts as The Heavy for the Celestial in the climax by defending Tiamut's emergence.
• Blue Is Heroic: The color of Ikaris's outfit is primarily blue and he is the noble soldier of the Eternals. Downplayed when he turns against the others to fulfill Arishem's plans.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Ikaris is dedicated to the mission of the Celestials. If this means sacrificing humanity for the sake of birthing a new Celestial, he'll do anything he can to complete this mission.
• Casting Gag: Richard Madden played Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, which also starred Kit Harington (Dane Whitman) as Jon Snow, Robb's beloved half-brother. The only scene where they physically meet is dripping with subtext due to this.
• Celebrity Paradox: The tenth episode of the second season of Luke Cage (2016) confirms that Game of Thrones exists in the MCU. Ikaris' actor, Richard Madden, plays Robb Stark in the show.
• Composite Character
  • As the inspiration of the Greek myth of Icarus, Ikaris takes the place of Marvel's Icaris, who is the human son of the Eternal in the comics.
  • Ikaris has a strong resemblance to Hyperion due to retaining most of his comic powerset: his solid blue suit with golden highlights is similar to Hyperion's solid red suit with golden highlights, both solar-associated Greek names, both make considerable use of their laser-vision powers, and they are far more powerful than most of their Eternal peers. This association is strengthened when Phastos's son called Ikaris "Superman" and Hyperion is one of Marvel's most notable Superman pastiches.
  • As a Superman-esque Eternal construct and a villainous servant created by a cosmic deity, he has a strong similarity to the Squadron Sinister's Hyperion created by the Grandmaster.
  • His steadfast extreme devotion to the Celestials is more in line with comics Ajak ans betrayal of the Eternals is more akin to Comics Druig and at one point Phastos
• Death Seeker: It's implied that he's been one on some level or another for a very long time ever since Ajak originally told him the Awful Truth about the Eternals, and only his duty to/faith in Arishem has been keeping him going - and he hopes that he'll wake up on the next planet without his memories. Ultimately, it's at the root of his suicide.
• Deuteragonist: Ikaris receives just as much focus as Sersi as he struggles between his love for her and his loyalty to the Celestials.
• The Dragon: Arishem's most faithful follower among the Eternals. In an interesting variation, the Celestial doesn't even realize Ikaris is this to him, as he believes Sersi is loyally preparing for the Emergence.
• Driven to Suicide: Like his namesake, he ends up flying too close to the sun, but Ikaris does it after realizing all of the terrible things he's done.
• Easily Forgiven: Ajak isn't even upset when she realizes that Ikaris is about to kill her to make sure the Emergence happens. If anything, she sees it more as her failure in that she put him on this path by telling the Awful Truth of the Eternals' true purpose on Earth.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" may be too harsh a word for him, given he seems to be operating more on a basis of Blue-and-Orange Morality and Above Good and Evil, but it is his love for Sersi that causes him to stay his hand in the climax and join the others in the Uni-Mind to silence Tiamat.
  • After killing Ajak, he gently sets her body down then loudly screams in anguish, fires his Eye Beams and quietly cries over what he's done.
• Eternal Love: Pun unintended. He and Sersi declare their love for each other while in ancient Babylon and stay together for 5,000 years before he abruptly left her during the 19th century. This is because he just couldn't take keeping the Awful Truth from her any longer.
• Eye Beams: He can shoot gold beams of cosmic energy from his eyes.
• Flight: He's capable of flying at hypersonic speeds and he uses this ability to keep up with and fight winged Deviants.
• Flying Brick: Ikaris has superhuman strength, flight, and the ability to project gold beams of cosmic energy from his eyes.
• Flying Firepower: Ikaris is the only one of the Eternals capable of flying and can fire energy beams from his eyes.
• The Heavy: Arishem might be responsible for the main conflict of the film, but Ikaris is the one who enforces his will.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: He's initially a benevolent protector of humans, alongside the other Eternals. At some point after leaving Babylon, Ajak reveals to him their true purpose of preparing Earth for destruction. Ikaris wholeheartedly accepts this role, even murdering Ajak when she decides to betray Arishem. While fighting the other Eternals to ensure Tiamut's rise, however, he finds he can't bring himself to kill Sersi, and joins with the Uni-Mind to kill the Celestial.
• The Hero: Subverted. He looks and acts the part, with everyone turning to him even after Ajak nominated Sersi as her successor. In fact, he's The Heavy and an Anti-Villain.
• Hero Killer: He's partially responsible for Ajak's death. He pushed her off a cliff to be killed by Kro and have her powers absorbed.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: Telling Druig he should have killed him five centuries ago heavily implies that he always disliked him and was just putting up with him all this time.
• Icarus Allusion: He inspired the Icarus myth in the first place; the popular story was made up by Sprite in Greece. But when he dies by flying too close to the sun, it was a deliberate suicide rather than an accident caused by hubris.
• Implacable Man: Impale him, restrain him, trap him with super-advanced cosmic technology or beat him down at super-speed... whatever you try, it will not work, because Ikaris just will not stop. In the end, the key to stopping him is the fact that he can't bring himself to hurt Sersi.
• I Should Have Done This Years Ago: When he tries to kill Druig to prevent the Uni-Mind from stopping The Emergence, he cruelly tells him that he should have killed him five centuries ago.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: His long history with the other Eternals and role in killing Ajak makes him a far more personal antagonist compared to Arishem (who remains a distant, uninvolved threat unaware of his creations' betrayal) and Kro (who is otherwise relegated to Thena's opponent in the climax).
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He abandoned Sersi without explanation centuries ago, ultimately revealed to be because he could never keep the truth about the Eternals' purpose a secret from her for the centuries more it would take for Tiamut's birth, which would then force her into an agonizing choice over it.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: The reason he abandoned Sersi was that he knew the Eternals' real mission was to bring about the end of Earth, and he could not keep lying about it to Sersi, whom he knew loved humanity deeply.
• Knight Templar: He will complete the mission of the Celestials, no matter the cost. Even if this means killing Ajak, his mentor, or the Eternals. (Although he does say that he'd prefer not to.) The only person he couldn't bring himself to kill is Sersei.
• Laser Cutter: This is why his eyebeams are superior to Kingo's rather unimpressive pulse blasts, if Ikaris can keep his beams on a target long enough it'll burn through Deviant flesh.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's stronger than all of the other Eternals except Gilgamesh, faster than any of them too sans Makkari, and nothing short of the sun can put him down for good.
• Meaningful Name: Ikaris is one of the few Eternals to have the connection to their mythical counterpart mentioned, as it's stated that Sprite made the story of Icarus to mirror Ikaris. This later gets a second meaning when he flies into the sun.
• The Missus and the Ex: The "ex". Ikaris and Sersi were married for more than a thousand years, but he abandoned her, and she started dating Dane in the present day. After Ikaris helps dispatch a Deviant in London, Dane quickly realizes that Ikaris is Sersi's ex.
  Dane: I'm guessing this is the pilot.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Him feeding Ajak to a yet-to-be-evolved Kro gave Kro enough power and sentience to be able to kill and feed on Gilgamesh.
• Primary-Color Champion: He wears a Celestial Armor that's colored blue with gold accents. Downplayed when he turns against his fellow Eternals and sides with Arishem to bring forth the Emergence.
• Stepford Smiler: Through the film and, apparently, for the last couple of thousand years or so. This is because Ajak told him the Awful Truth about the Eternals, which it's implied he would really have appreciated not knowing, given how he implies that he just wants to get the job done and wake up on another world without his memories.
• Superman Substitute: Lampshaded in the scene where Phastos's son excitedly compares him to Superman, since he has Eye Beams, is a Flying Brick, and is a Primary-Color Champion. The conclusion of the film also echoes darker depictions of Superman in which he acts as an antagonist, such as the live-action Justice League adaptations, complete with a scene in which a team of heroes he was once allied with tries to stop him from attacking them.
  Ikaris: ...I don't wear a cape.
• Superpower Lottery: Most Eternals, in addition to being resilient and unaging, only have one unique power. Ikaris has three: flight, eye beams, and super strength, making him the most physically-powerful member of the group.
• Super-Speed: He's incredibly fast and his speed is second only to Makkari. He can fly into space in less than ten seconds and fly to the sun to his death in nearly the same amount of time.
• Super-Strength: He's incredibly strong, with Gilgamesh being the only Eternal who surpasses him in terms of raw strength. He split a table in two just by lightly slamming his fist on it, he can throw Deviants around and send them flying with his hits, and he can effortlessly toss around his fellow Eternals.
• Super-Toughness: Ikaris' durability is fully superhuman, able to take multiple blows from Makkari attacking him at full-speed and later the combined efforts of the other Eternals to beat him with little damage.
• Token Flier: Along with his eye beams, Ikaris is the only member of the team capable of flying, making him a formidable opponent.
• Tragic Villain: He's spent over two thousand years cracking under the weight of the Awful Truth, caught between his loyalty to the Celestials - and, implicitly, a desire to die and forget - and his love for Sersi. The former causes him to engineer Ajak's death and attempt to distract the Eternals before the Emergence, then kill them when they try to intervene. The latter inspires his Heel–Face Turn, as he can't bear to kill Sersi, but the conflict leads to his suicide.
• Undying Loyalty: Ikaris is faithfully loyal to the Celestials. When Ajak decides to turn against them, Ikaris murders her due to his faith in Arishem. Fittingly, the moment he does betray him he immediately kills himself.
• Villain Protagonist: One of the two central characters of Eternals, and The Heavy for the Celestials.
• Willfully Weak: In the build-up to the climax, he casually grabs one of Thena's blades, thus revealing that he'd been holding back across the millennia.
• World's Strongest Man: Undisputedly the most powerful out of all the Eternals, having the most powers and not being that far behind their strongest and fastest members. During the final battle, their combined might isn't enough to stop him for good and his love for Sersi is what makes him stop fighting them and make a Heel–Face Turn.

Ajak

Ajak

"This planet and these people have changed me."

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Salma Hayek

Voiced By: Keiko Toda (Japanese dub), Alessandra Araújo (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"I want you to go out there, and live a life for yourselves. Not as soldiers, not with the purpose you were given. Find your own purpose. And one day, when we see each other again, I want you to tell me what you found."

Ajak is the spiritual leader of the Eternals. Her wisdom has helped guide the team since they arrived here from their home planet to help defend humanity from the Deviants and to help humans advance to the modern civilization that they live in today. Ajak can not only heal humans and Eternals alike, but she is able to communicate with the Celestials as well.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Comic-Ajak wouldn't have given up their position as speaker to the Celestials if the world depended on it, and was dogmatically loyal to the Celestials in general. Movie-Ajak is implied to have chosen Sersi as her successor long before her untimely death and had long since realized her love for humanity had outgrown her loyalty to Arishem.
• Blue Is Heroic: Ajak is the wise leader of the Eternals who wears a blue outfit.
• Composite Character: Takes the name and association with Latin America ^note due to the casting of Mexican-Lebanese Salma Hayek from the comics' Ajak, and the role of "initial" Prime Eternal from Zuras.
  • Her Motherly personality is more akin to Cybelle, Wife of Zuras and Mother of Thena.
  • Salma Hayeks Lebanese heritage would make her close to the Forgotton Ones who are Eternals Descended from Mesopotamia (Iraq) and have names inspired by the cultures Pantheon.
• The Dragon: The only Eternal aware of Arishem's true plans for them, although Ikaris tries to take the role when she decides to stand against the Celestial.
• Gender Flip: Ajak is a man in the comics —until the more recent 2021 series— but is portrayed as a woman in the MCU.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: Her outfit prominently features gold along with royal blue, fitting with her role as the Prime Eternal and leader.
• Hat of Authority: Her uniform is the only one that includes a hat to mark her status as the Prime Eternal and leader of the team.
• Healing Hands: Her power as an Eternal is to heal others with cosmic energy, coming literally from her hands. Seeing Kro use this skill on himself is what makes the others fear that something went wrong with Ajak.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: She chooses to turn against her purpose after millennia of rumination, but is killed before she can act on it… Still, she passes her role of Prime Eternal on to Sersi, who can stop the Emergence in her stead.
• The Hermit: Spent the last few centuries in an isolated homestead in South Dakota.
• Humans Are Special: After a couple of thousand years on Earth, Ajak begins to see the humans like this, believing them to be capable of greatness. In 2023, the Avengers rallying to reverse Thanos's Snap cemented this for her.
• The Leader: The Prime Eternal, leader of the team, and one who communicates with Arishem.
• Meaningful Name: Ajak sounds close to Ajax, a name associated with two Greek heroes. Her decision to defy Arishem brings to mind the Lesser's act of defiance against Poseidon, which led to his death.
• My Greatest Failure: When she realizes Ikaris is about to kill her to preserve The Emergence, she hugs him and mourns about leading him down a dark path now.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Telling Ikaris the Awful Truth was what ultimately broke him, something she recognizes.
• Non-Action Guy: Of all the Eternals, she most rarely engages in direct combat. Against a Mahd Wy'ry-crazed Thena, she is entirely defensive and "fights" by tanking Thena's strikes to protect the other Eternals and healing herself afterward. When Ikaris betrays her in Alaska and throws her to Kro's pack, she is all but helpless, needing to pick up an oil worker's gun to actually fight back with very little success, before being killed mere seconds later.
• Posthumous Character: She is actually dead by the time the film begins with Sersi in the present day, having been killed by Kro after Ikaris's betrayal.
• Primary-Color Champion: Ajak is the leader of the Eternals with blue and yellow/gold coloration in her outfit.
• Race Lift: Comics Ajak is from Polaria (Siberia) and has passed themselves off as Greek and Native Mexican. Here Ajak is portrayed by Mexican American Salma Hayek who is ethnically Half Lebanese half Spanish.
• Secret-Keeper: She's originally the only one who knew about the true purpose of the Eternals. She ends up revealing it to two people, directly and indirectly (three, if you count Kro after he absorbs her memories). In one of those cases, it ends very badly.
• Team Mom: The leader of the Eternals and a warm, maternal presence. Sprite recounts her last visit to Ajak's homestead, where Ajak sensed Sprite was lonely and sent her to live with Sersi. She comments on how Ajak was always trying to take care of them. Fittingly, her actress Salma Hayek is the oldest woman in the main cast.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: She dies pretty early on in the film. Everything we see of her after her death is either a flashback or an illusion.

Phastos

Phastos

"I have a family now. They give me faith again. And I see the good in humanity in them every single day."

Known Aliases: "Phil Stoss"

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Brian Tyree Henry

Voiced By: Kosuke Goto (Japanese dub), Zeca Rodrigues (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"Technology is a part of their evolutionary process, Druig. It's not exactly something that I can stop."

Phastos is blessed with the power of invention. He is able to create whatever he can imagine provided that he has enough raw materials at his disposal. Over the centuries, Phastos has helped nudge humanity forward technologically while always keeping his brilliance hidden in the shadows.

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• Action Dad: He is the Genius Bruiser of the Eternals and the father of Jack.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Phastos has a wife in the comics, but here he has a husband, thus making him one of the first major LGBT+ characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly for the movies. ^note He is the first MCU movie major character to have their LGBT+ status outright confirmed onscreen.
• Brains Versus Brawn: What his fight with Ikaris boils down to. Ikaris is far too powerful for even the other Eternals specializing in combat, but Phastos takes him down by crafting restraints that bind him and bleed off his cosmic energy.
• Gadgeteer Genius: His talent as an Eternal is being a brilliant inventor, constructing weapons and technology with cosmic energy.
• Genius Bruiser: Although his talents are mainly focused on engineering he is certainly no slouch in a fight even managing to restrain Ikaris for a while in the final battle.
• Giver of Lame Names: Phastos proposes the Eternals connect with each other and pool their powers through the Uni-Mind, a name the other Eternals scoff at. They end up using the term.
• Happily Married: In the present day, he's happily married to Ben and they have a young son. Their family unit is a sign that he's moved past his disappointment with humanity.
• Magical Gesture: His technopath abilities are visually shown by his hands doing a series of gestures, and the technology assembling by following them.
• Meaningful Name: Phastos sounds close to Phaistos, the second-largest city in Minoan Crete, which was one of the earliest cultures of Europe and got its start around the Bronze Age. This reflects his power to create technological advancements. It also is related to Hephaestus, the Greek god of the forge.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Phastos was utterly horrified when humanity used the technical advances he helped them with to later create the scientific basis of nuclear fission, which was later used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Ajak correctly points out that none of it was his fault, that in the end humanity created it on their own by their own choice. Despite this, he is heartbroken that the race whose lives he tried to make better used his teachings to later develop atomic weapons.
• Papa Wolf: He is a loving and protective father to his son Jack.
• Purple Is Powerful: Phastos's suit is primarily purple, and he is the Genius Bruiser of the Eternals.
• Race Lift: Zig-Zagged. Comics Phastos is sometimes drawn as a bald Dark Skinned Greek Man or straight up African man. Here his actor is Black American.
• Rings of Death: His signature weapon is an array of small floating rings that he can telekinetically manipulate into all kinds of weapons, ranging from hand-mounted blasters, drones, platforms, and restraints.
• Straight Gay: Phastos is married to an architect, raises a kid with him, and otherwise is portrayed with very few stereotypically gay traits.
• Technopath: Has the ability to manipulate technology with cosmic energy, using it to build inventions and weapons. In battle, he can telekinetically manipulate his inventions to create an entire arsenal of different weapons on the fly.
• Twofer Token Minority: Phastos and his husband Ben both count. Neither is straight, and Phastos is a black Eternal while his husband Ben is Arab (he encourages Phastos to save the world with a quote from his mother that begins "Habibi...").
• Underestimating Badassery: Phastos is part of the "Thinker" subgroup of the Eternals- those that were sent to guide and support Humanity, but not engage in combat like Ikaris, Gilgamesh, Kingo, Thena, and Makkari. However, in the climactic battle, after Ikaris soundly bests both Thena and Makkari in single combat, Phastos is the one to bring him down by creating restraints that not only ground him, but bleed off his power so he can't use his powerful eyebeams - and even though Ikaris ultimately breaks free, he keeps him down for a while.

Makkari

Makkari

"At last, my boredom is ending."

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Lauren Ridloff

Appearances: Eternals

"I can sense vibrations. Even the tiniest movement. Including your voices when you speak."

Makkari is the fastest woman in the universe. She uses her cosmically powered super-speed to scout planets for the Eternals, and as the only deaf Eternal, the sonic boom that accompanies her cosmic running does not affect her.

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• Battle Couple: She and Druig fell in love while protecting Earth from the Deviants.
• Bookworm: The team finds her in their old ship, speedreading several books. Kingo tells her she should really look into the Kindle given her many stacks of books, which she apparently doesn't know about due to staying inside the Domo for so long.
• Composite Character: Her super speed, name and red colouring is taken from Comics Makkari. Whilst her actress' Black Mexican American heritage and muteness makes her extemely similar to the Eternal Titanis who is of African descent amd has only spoken one word. Her Deafness also mirrors the time Gilgamesh was blind.
• Disability Immunity: Her deafness also accounts for Required Secondary Powers, as it makes her immune to the sonic boom caused by her powers that hurts those who can hear it.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: She's portrayed as deaf, like her actress. In the comics published prior to the film, Makkari can hear just fine.
• Disability Superpower: Early in the film, a couple of guys try to rip Makkari off and quietly tell each other their plan as she's seemingly not paying attention. She then reveals that, while she's deaf, she's able to sense even the tiniest vibrations, including the sounds voices make when verbally spoken. This allows her to know what people are saying all around her, even when she's not actually looking at them.
• Fragile Speedster: Makkari is able to beat foes with her super-speed and catch them off-guard, though she's less able to take a hit. She pummels Ikaris for a while, but he eventually orients himself and is able to best her quickly.
• Gender Flip: She was a man in the comics —until the more recent 2021 series— but this version is a woman.
• Handicapped Badass: Her deafness doesn't stop her from saving lives alongside the others and being just as useful.
• The Hermit: Has spent an indeterminate amount of time prior to the film just holed up in the Domo reading books and enjoying her artifact collections. Kingo jokingly refers to her as "Miss Havisham", and is surprised she's been so holed up that she doesn't even know what an iPad or online streaming is.
• In a Single Bound: As seen in the film, her super speed allows her to make incredible jumps.
• Kung-Fu Sonic Boom: Weaponises this in a manner distinct from a simple Shockwave Clap. She has weaponized the supersonic shockwaves her Super-Speed causes to pummel opponents with incredible sonic booms, simply by running really fast at an opponent and coming to a sudden stop right before contact to knock them back.
• Meaningful Name: Makkari sounds close to Mercury, the Roman messenger god known for speed, as well as presiding over merchants and thieves. She's the team speedster that, while perfectly willing to trade, is also not above stealing what she wants.
• Primary-Color Champion: Her Celestial Armor is primarily red with gold accents.
• Race Lift: The character was originally depicted as a fair-skinned Greek man in the comics, while this version is portrayed by a woman of black and Mexican descent. Though the actress resembles the female Eternal Titanis even to the point of being almost speechless.
• Red Is Heroic: Makkari's suit is primarily red and she has a selfless personality.
• Red Ones Go Faster: Makkari's Celestial Armor is primarily red and she's the fastest member of the Eternals.
• Ship Tease: With Druig. They're both very affectionate with each other and, when they're reunited in the present, they spend a lot of time holding onto each other. When it looks like Ikaris has killed him, a horrified Makkari screams (her only verbal sound in the whole movie). She then proceeds to utterly kick Ikaris's ass in a way nobody else could manage. When Druig turns up alive, she's visibly relieved and immediately runs up (at regular, non-super speed) and hugs him, resulting in their Headbutt of Love as they smile at each other.
• The Speechless: Justified, as she's deaf and understandably mute as she can't verbally communicate like everyone else can. She uses sign language to speak instead.
• Sticky Fingers: Makkari has been collecting artifacts since ancient times, and a scene in Babylon suggests that, while she does occasionally trade fairly, she's also not above outright stealing stuff.
• Superhero Trophy Shelf: She's turned the Domo into one by the time the other Eternals see her again. The lab is filled with artifacts from millennia of collecting.
• Super-Speed: Her power as an Eternal is moving at superhuman speeds — using it to save a child, read a book at super speed, and leap incredible distances during the course of the movie. She can also weaponize her speed by creating a sonic boom that blows away a target, grabbing and dragging an enemy across the terrain, and pummeling an enemy from different directions to keep them off-guard.
• Trash of the Titans: She's turned the lab of the Domo into a dumping ground for all the many, many objects she's collected over the centuries, with various piles of her collections blanketing the entire ship. The objects range from priceless artifacts, like the Excalibur and ancient tablets, to more mundane things like a package of Twinkies and chips.
• Walk on Water: Her super speed allows her to run on water. When told to find the point of the Emergence, she zooms over land and water until locating the spot in the Indian Ocean.

Druig

Druig

"I've watched humans destroy each other when I could stop it all in a heartbeat. Do you know what that does to someone after centuries?"

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Barry Keoghan

Voiced By: Kōki Uchiyama (Japanese dub), Ítalo Luiz (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"Are we really helping these people build a better world? We're just like the soldiers down there: pawns to their leaders, blinded by loyalty."

Druig can use cosmic energy to control the minds of men. He has become withdrawn from the other Eternals because he disagrees with how they’ve interacted with mankind over the centuries. Aloof and powerful, at times it’s hard to determine whether he’s friend or foe.

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• Adaptational Heroism: Druig's comic counterpart is traditionally a pragmatic and manipulative villain and Torture Technician. Here, he's an Aloof Ally who, while flawed, cares for humanity. When the Final Battle happens, he chooses to stick with Sersi and the other Eternals to save Earth.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: He lacks the overt cruelty of his comics counterpart; his mind control of humans is borne out of empathy for them and a desire to end their conflicts. He never has the selfish desire to use them for his own ends and gain.
• Aloof Ally: Unlike his fellow Eternals, Druig is aloof and a loner. The only person he really enjoys spending time with is Makkari. But, despite this, once he's convinced of the other Eternals' plan, Druig sticks with it to the end.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Druig is capable of Mass Hypnosis and, at one point, claims he can put the entire world population under mind control. Of the Eternals, he is the one who most wants to interfere with humanity’s conflicts in order to protect them; having used his power in the past to halt a genocide, and, after seeing the endless destruction humans have inflicted on themselves, he just wants to see them stop hurting each other. In the present, he's devastated upon learning that the true mission of the Eternals is to destroy Earth and other populated planets and has a Heroic BSoD from this Awful Truth.
• Battle Couple: He and Makkari fell in love while protecting Earth from the Deviants.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He wears a black and red outfit, has an ability more often given to villains than heroes, and has a less than ideal personality. In other stories, including the source material, Druig would've been Obviously Evil, but here he's ultimately a good man who does the right thing, wants to protect humanity, and does care for the others.
• Deadpan Snarker: Is this to the other Eternals, which is a large reason why they don't get along so well. When Sprite laments about being stuck as a child to a stabbed Sersi, he abruptly cuts her off by knocking her out with a rock. He then gives a sarcastic remark about her Motive Rant...
  Druig: Well, that was very moving...
• Disney Death: He gets taken out first by Ikaris in the final battle; thrown and violently lasered into the ground, with Ikaris openly proclaiming him as dead. However, he actually survived the attack and returns in the nick of time to knock out Sprite after she stabs and tries to kill Sersi.
• The Evils of Free Will: Played with. He uses his powers to stop Spanish and Aztec soldiers from fighting each other, emphasizing how much he cares about humans and doesn't want them to destroy each other. However, he's given up on this philosophy by the present day, as he realizes that using Mind Control on people takes away their humanity.
• The Gadfly: He seems to have an impish streak. He mind-controls Karun to make him throw his camera at the wall, which annoys Kingo. Later, he goes near Jack and then walks past smiling, just to get a rise out of Phastos.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Druig wears a black leather jacket when he's not wearing his Celestial Armor, and he's one of the more aloof Eternals.
• The Hermit: In the present day, Druig has isolated himself and a small group of people that follow his bidding out in the Amazon. He invokes this trope due to having little faith in humanity to take care of themselves and preferring to be alone.
• Heroic Neutral: He is perfectly content with living in his small, isolated village in the Amazon, protecting them from the outside world (and themselves), and he initially wants nothing to do with the other Eternals or the rest of humanity. However, after Kro and his Deviants attack the village and Gilgamesh is killed, Druig finally decides to join them to stop the Emergence.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When the Eternals finally meet him, he is nothing but scathing, condescending, and hostile to them; having lost all faith in both humanity and his fellow Eternals. However, it's clear from the outset that his anger is justified and stems from a deep love of humanity. Druig was the most frustrated with the Eternals' non-interference with human conflict out of a desire to stop the needless wars and violence and foster peace. The reason he left was because he was sick of watching innocent people die, knowing he could have saved them. Also, while keeping the villagers under his mind-control isn't okay, he kept them in a peaceful and well-organized environment, also protecting them for over 20 generations.
• Mass Hypnosis: Druig is able to mind control numerous humans at once and uses his ability to stop them from hurting each other. He says that he once considered putting all of humanity under mind control but decided against it as it felt wrong to do.
• Meaningful Name: Druig's name sounds close to druid, Celtic priests who are often peaceful and one with nature. He uses his mind control powers on humans to stop them from fighting each other, and he has a small cult-like town in the middle of a rainforest by the time the present catches up to him.
• Mind Control: He is able to control the minds of others with cosmic energy, making his and their eyes glow gold. He uses this mainly to pacify humans, but once his village in the Amazon is attacked by Deviants, he controls his entire village to take up arms and join the fight, firing at the Deviants in unison. Connected to the Uni-Mind, he can even put a Celestial to sleep.
• No Social Skills: Druig isn't exactly the most talkative of the Eternals, and speaks in a snarky, hostile manner whenever he does.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Subverted. He dresses in a black robe-like gown with red highlights, has a "bad guy" power of mind control, was billed by promotional materials as having seemingly ambiguous morality, and is an adaptation of a villain who played this color scheme completely straight. However, while unfriendly to his fellow Eternals, Druig turns out to be a hero who cares for humanity.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After the team kills the final Deviant in Tenochtitlán, Druig watches Spanish colonizers slaughter the Aztecs and says how he can easily stop it all with his powers. After the others tell him he cannot use his powers to interfere, he essentially quits the team and dramatically walks out of the building followed by the humans he has mind-controlled.
• Ship Tease: With Makkari. She's probably the only Eternal he actually enjoys spending time with and shows genuine affection for. He has a playful, positive relationship with her and he even outright calls her "my beautiful Makkari". Upon reuniting in the present, he quickly begins flirting with her (which she reciprocates), teasingly asking if she's missed him and staying close to her.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's almost always sarcastic and aloof with others and prefers isolation. However, he has an open and warm relationship with Makkari, whom he has a clear soft spot for. He also shows a kind side with Sersi, who shares his deep empathy regarding humanity.
• Super-Toughness: He's able to survive being thrown from several feet away by Ikaris while getting hit by an energy beam.
• Took a Level in Badass: He starts the movie as one of the non-combatant/support Eternals, mostly using his powers to keep people out of harms way. By the time the group reforms, he's able to acrobatically move through melee with a Deviant to retrieve a firearm and fires multiple shots into the creature's head and neck at point blank range while riding on its back.

Thena

Thena

"I'll remember. I'll remember. I'll remember..."

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Angelina Jolie

Voiced By: Rika Fukami (Japanese dub), Silvia Suzy (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

Druig: Revenge won't bring peace for you, Thena.
Thena: But killing it might.

Thena, a fierce warrior more comfortable in battle than any other place, has the ability to use cosmic energy to form any handheld weapon she can think of. Often surly and aloof, she forges an unlikely friendship with Gilgamesh that spans centuries.

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• Bash Siblings: Thena often fights side-by-side with Gilgamesh, with the two having a deep connection due to him caring for her while she suffers from the Mahd Wy'ry.
• Blood Knight: Is most in her element while in the midst of battle, and is often wearing a serene but intense smile as she fights. Also is quite excited at the prospect of fighting a highly powerful foe, like Ikaris.
  Ikaris: You never had to fight me.
  Thena: But I always wanted to.
• Broken Ace: Thena is the most skilled in combat, outclassing Gilgamesh and can fight Ikaris to a draw, but the Mahd Wy'ry makes her relive the thousands of years of destruction and causes her to give up fighting for fear of hurting the other Eternals. Gilgamesh's death only exacerbates this. She starts breaking out of this once she learns the truth of their mission.
• Came Back Wrong: An interesting example involving Mahd Wy'ry. Before coming to Earth, the Eternals have carried out their Celestial-given mission on countless life-bearing planets and have their memories wiped in between, essentially causing them to begin a new life. Thena's memories were not fully erased before coming to Earth, causing her brain to become overloaded with several millennia's worth of memories. The overall effect is to frequently lose herself in a mindless attack on any nearby living things, including her fellow Eternals.
• Composite Character: In the comics it was Sersi that suffered from Mahd Wy'ry. Here Thena has the condition.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Her ramblings about everyone being doomed is ultimately her remembering her past duties as an Eternal and witnessing the destruction of various planets. Once the others find out about their true purpose, they apologize for passing off her ramblings as nonsense.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The source of her Mahd Wy'ry affliction is revealed to be a fault in her memories, or rather, their erasure. When under an episode of Mahd Wy'ry, she suddenly remembers all the memories of her previous cycles on other planets, and thus the terrible truth behind their existence and the many civilizations she has helped the Celestials farm and destroy. Thus, she starts attacking her fellow Eternals in an attempt to stop them from carrying on the cycle. Once it's over, she doesn't remember any of her actions.
• Good Wears White: Thena has a compassionate heart and she wears primarily white clothing.
• It's Personal: After his involvement in Gilgamesh's death, Thena makes it her mission to kill Kro. She succeeds.
• I Surrender, Suckers: During the climax, Kro tries to take advantage of Thena's Mahd Wy'ry by impersonating Gilgamesh to get close to her, to which Thena briefly lets her guard down. As Kro starts absorbing her cosmic energy like he did to Ajak and Gilgamesh, Thena, remembering Gilgamesh's final words, quickly breaks herself free and cuts Kro into pieces before the Deviant even has a chance to react.
• Lady of War: A very refined and elegant warrior, with great fashion sense and a graceful combat style.
• Light Is Good: Thena's suit is primarily white and she has the heart of a hero.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: The Female Finesse to Gilgamesh's Male Might. Thena is an acrobatic Multi-Melee Master who fights with efficient, well-placed strokes; Gilgamesh prefers to use his fists.
• Meaningful Name: Thena is another example that's brought up in the movie, referring to Athena, the Greek goddess of war, relating to Thena's ability to summon weapons, especially ones drawing from Greek history. Athena is also the goddess of dignified, strategic war (in contrast to the more violent Ares), fitting Thena's Lady of War demeanor.
• Multi-Melee Master: Uses Spontaneous Weapon Creation to generate a variety of handheld weapons, from knives to halberds to swords, and is a master of fighting with them all.
• My Skull Runneth Over: The last attempt to wipe her memory didn't work leaving her struggling with the accumulated memories of countless previous lives.
• The Ophelia: For much of the film her mind is fracturing due to Mahd Wy'ry, making her prone to ominous tangents and attacking everyone. Prior to the film she had been left in Gilgamesh's care. Adding to this fragile effect is that she looks like a beautiful woman and wears a white dress until she suits up.
• Platonic Life-Partners: She has a platonic yet close friendship with Gilgamesh over the millennia. In the past, they were Bash Siblings and she was the Finesse to his Force, and in the present, they live together in the Australian bush, with Gilgamesh helping Thena manage her Mahd Wy'ry.
• Prophet Eyes: Her eyes white out during episodes of Mahd Wy'ry, which turns out to be her remembering the slaughters of other worlds the Eternals were involved in.
• Self-Imposed Exile: In the present day, she lives in isolation with Gilgamesh in Australia, at his suggestion, to manage her Mahd Wy'ry condition and prevent herself from hurting others.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: She can create any handheld weapon from cosmic energy. This ranges from swords, shields, and polearms.

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

"Maybe you're trying too hard. Sometimes, you just have to listen."

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Don Lee

Voiced By: Tetsu Inada (Japanese dub), Charles Dalla (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"I asked Gilgamesh once why he chose to protect me. He said, 'When you love something, you protect it. It is the most natural thing in the world.'''

— Thena

Gilgamesh is the strongest and kindest member of the team. He becomes Thena’s de-facto partner when the events of the past exile them from the rest of the team. Capable of projecting a powerful exoskeleton of cosmic energy, Gilgamesh is a fierce warrior who has become legendary for his fights with Deviants throughout history.

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• Adaptational Wimp: Compared to his fellow Eternals, Gilgamesh suffers from this the most. Aside from losing the Eternal-standard power, such as superspeed, regeneration, flight, energy blasts, matter manipulation, telepathy, illusion casting, and telekinesis, he was the most powerful member of his fellow Eternals in the comics; Thor, Hulk, and Hercules are his only fellow Avengers who could hope to match him in strength, durability, and stamina, and the only Eternals who could overpower him under normal circumstances would be Thanos, Hyperion, and Zuras.
• Bash Siblings: Because of Thena's suffering of the Mahd Wy'ry, Gilgamesh often fights side-by-side with her, which caused the two of them to gain a deep connection with one another. When Gilgamesh perishes after his fight with Kro, Thena is absolutely devastated.
• Big Fun: Implied by the gathering in Australia.
• Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: The bruiser of the team and the one who dies in combat. Ajak dies before the start of the film.
• Boxing Battler: Gilgamesh uses cosmic-energy powered fists to fight up close, and confirmed by his actor, Don Lee, to have a style based on boxing.
• The Caretaker: Gilgamesh takes care of Thena after she goes insane due to accumulating too many memories, with the two of them living isolated from the rest of the world.
• Chef of Iron: He can beat a Deviant’s ass and make a kickass blueberry pie, as seen in the scene where the Eternals visit his hut.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: After getting drained of his cosmic powers by Kro, a dying Gilgamesh passes away in Thena's arms, with his last words being a plea for her to always remember who she is.
• The Hermit: Prior to the film he and Thena had been living in isolation in Australia for a few centuries.
• Heroic Sacrifice: During the battle at Druig's compound, rather than let a Mahd Wy'ry-crippled Thena come to harm from Kro, Gilgamesh rushes to ward him off. Unfortunately, this was exactly what Kro wanted, and the Deviant plants its tentacles into Gilgamesh and drains the latter of his power and life.
• "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Is reintroduced in the present day wearing one of these aprons, much to the dismay of Kingo who had just been trying to build up Gilgamesh's image as a feared warrior for the documentary.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: The force to Thena's finesse. He prefers to use his fists, while she is an acrobatic woman who fights with a variety of weapons.
• Meaningful Name: Gilgamesh's connection is brought up during a story Sprite creates for the Babylonians, reciting the tale of his battle with a bull-like Deviant which became the myth of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Alluding to the mythical Gilgamesh's Super-Strength, the Eternal Gilgamesh is a physically strong warrior who can further armor himself with his powers. Interestingly, he and Sprite are the only Eternals whose names haven't been corrupted over the millennia.
• Ironic Name: Despite being perceived to have an amiable personality, he shares a name with an ancient king who is best known for being an unbelievable Jerkass before Character Development kicked in.
• Nice Guy: One of the nicest of the Eternals. Despite his status as the team's muscle, he is a jovial, friendly, caring guy.
• Platonic Life-Partners: He has a platonic yet very close friendship with Thena over the millennia. In the past, they were Bash Siblings and he was the Force to her Finesse. In the present, he took on the daunting responsibility of caring for Thena while she dealt with her Mahd Wy'ry, living with her in the Australian bush.
• Power Fist: His main power and fighting style as an Eternal is to conjure armor and gauntlets of cosmic energy, fighting up close and personal with Deviants, or sparring with Thena.
• Race Lift: He was depicted as a fair-skinned Iraqi man in the comics, while this version is portrayed by a Korean actor.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kingo hypes him up as one of their best warriors, only for him to open up the door wearing a Kiss the Chef apron and serving them pie. Sprite later conjures up a pink adult-sized baby outfit for him to wear as a joke, though he takes the prank in stride.
• Self-Imposed Exile: In the present day, he lives in isolation with Thena in Australia to help manage her Mahd Wy'ry condition, and to keep her from hurting others.
• Shockwave Stomp: He can channel his cosmic energy armor into his legs to do enhanced stomps, throwing up earth and rocks into the air.
• Super-Strength: Described as the strongest of the Eternals, and the most physical of them, preferring to punch enemies.
• Supreme Chef: He makes a full course meal for the Eternals when they visit his hut, even wearing a Kiss The Chef apron. He tells Kingo that he and Thena eat like this every day.

Kingo

Kingo

"I'm part of a great Bollywood dynasty."

Species: Eternal

Portrayed By: Kumail Nanjiani

Voiced By: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese dub), Ivan Parente (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"You do not turn against your family."

Kingo is the Eternal with the power to project cosmic energy projectiles with his hands. Over the centuries, he has become enamored with the idea of fame. In the present day, he's a famous Bollywood star who must leave his life of wealth and celebrity to help the team repel the new Deviant threat.

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• Adaptational Relationship Change: Comics Kingo had a sword forged by Phastos and the two are good friends. The MCU versions barely interact in the films and it is Sersi that forges a sword that Sprite later uses.
• Accomplice by Inaction: Despite not getting involved in the climax, Arishem took him along with the other Eternals for disobeying his orders. Although Arishem might still see him as guilty because he refused to get involved despite supporting the Emergence due to being compromised by his emotions.
• Asian Airhead: Technically he's an Artificial Lifeform and thus not truly Asian, but he does come across as airheaded.
• Benevolent Boss: Seems to be liked by his employees, and Karun is absolutely loyal to him, even when he decides against fighting for humanity. When the others come to recruit him, one of his main concerns is that the livelihoods of everyone working on his film depends on him.
• Berserk Button: Messing with his loyal valet Karun, as Druig found out when he briefly mind-controlled the man into smashing his own camera. You do not mind control other people's valets.
• Celebrity Masquerade: Unlike his fellow Eternals' penchant for staying under the radar, Kingo has chosen to embrace fame and become a big name as a Bollywood star — or more specifically, a Bollywood dynasty, pretending to be five different Identical generations of leading men.
• Celebrity Paradox:
  • As seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Star Wars exists in the MCU. Kingo's actor, Kumail Nanjiani, appears in Obi-Wan Kenobi as Haja Estree.
  • Hot Tub Time Machine also exists in the MCU as confirmed in Avengers: Endgame. Nanjiani played Brad in the sequel.
• Conflicting Loyalty: He genuinely believes letting the Emergence continue is the right thing to do, for the sake of indirectly allowing the birth of many more future civilizations through the newborn Celestial, and is thus unwilling to help Sersi and the others. However, he is still loyal to them as his dearest friends, and is unwilling to join Ikaris if it means hurting the other Eternals to ensure Tiamut is born. Unable to reconcile his feelings, he leaves with his valet before the final battle.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even though he supports the Emergence, he was distraught when he learns that Ikaris had Ajak killed for trying to prevent it.
• Fair-Weather Friend: A more cynical interpretation of his actions, even though he gives sound reasoning for them, is that he's incapable of standing by his friends when the going gets tough. He does abandon Sprite because it's less effort than to stick by her and move around, even though he establishes a cover for himself when he sets up an acting career in India.
• Fiction 500: He's been a top Bollywood star for multiple generations. This means he finances movies out of pocket and also owns a private jet.
• Hand Blast: His specific power as an Eternal is to fire cosmic energy from his hands. As seen in the film, he even makes finger guns when doing so.
• Hidden Depths: Comes across as the most airheaded Eternal. He isn't. He is the only one who sees that Sprite is suffering and in love with Ikaris. He's also the one to bring up that killing Tiamut would be preventing billions of new lives from coming into existence.
• Kamehame Hadoken: He can charge up his Hand Blasts to fire a larger orb of cosmic energy, complete with cupping both hands.
• Meaningful Name: Kingo is a letter away from Kingu, a god in Babylonian mythology who was the son of Tiamat whom he became a consort for. Kingo's one of the few Eternals who openly vouched for the Emergence of the similarly named Tiamut, to the point where he doesn't show up for the final battle and, as a result, is the only Eternal not to link up to the Unimind and turn Tiamut to stone.
• My Grandson, Myself: He has pretended to be an acting dynasty by himself, passing himself off as the son of the previous actor.
• The Nicknamer: Kingo calls Ikaris "Boss" and Gilgamesh "Gil", and at one point, he calls Makkari "Miss Havisham".
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kumail Nanjiani stated that Kingo's role as a Handsome Muscular Bollywood actor is inspired by Hrithik Roshan.
• Opt Out: After Ikaris's betrayal is revealed and the Eternals are split, Kingo is unable to reconcile his belief that the Emergence should continue, with his unwillingness to hurt his friends to ensure it does. He decides to abstain entirely and leaves the Domo with Karun before the third act begins.
• Purple Is Powerful: Kingo's suit is primarily purple and he can fire devastating energy blasts from his hands.
• Race Lift: He's always been Ambiguously Brown in the comics, Despite his Iraqi inspired name (see meaningful name above) but his backstory closely associates him with Japan, where he became a master samurai and then (much, much later) a movie star known for acting in Jidaigeki films. This version of the character, portrayed by a Pakistani actor, instead became a Bollywood star.
• Running Gag: Posters for his movies can be spotted all across the MCU, usually in the background.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After learning of Ikaris's betrayal and Sersi's decision to continue with trying to kill Tiamut, Kingo promptly leaves his fellow Eternals, not wanting to go against Ikaris, nor to hurt his friends either.
• Shipping Torpedo: Comments loudly that he does not like the idea of Makkari and Druig's flirtation.
  Kingo: I hate it.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: He is the main comic relief character of the Eternals, and he decides to stay out of the third act entirely after he finds he is unwilling to side against his friends, only returning weeks after the action is over.
• The Team Benefactor: He bankrolls the team's globe-trotting since, as a Bollywood megastar, he has his own private jet.

Sprite

Sprite

"The reason humans are at the top of the food chain is because you believe in structures and principles that don't actually exist."

Species: Eternal (formerly), Human

Portrayed By: Lia McHugh

Voiced By: Mutsumi Kaneko (Japanese dub), Gigi Patta (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Eternals

"You know why I hated living with humans? Because they reminded me of things I didn't even know I wanted. Because of them, now I want to know what it feels like to grow up. To fall in love. To have a family. And to know in the end I've lived."

Sprite has the ability to cast lifelike illusions. Her friendship with Sersi hides a world-weary sadness because she’s been treated like a child by humanity for millennia. But Sprite is much stronger and cleverer than she appears, which will come in handy as while they battle with the Deviants.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: She has feelings for Ikaris but her youthful appearance and his relationship with Sersi mean nothing can ever come of it. Kingo is apparently the only one who noticed her feelings as the others act surprised when he reveals it after she sides with Ikaris.
• Become a Real Boy: At the end of the film, Sersi offers Sprite the chance to become a normal human, meaning she will finally grow up and live a normal life. However, she's warned how this means she'll also age and die one day. A tearful Sprite happily accepts.
• Blessed with Suck: Like the other Eternals, she's immortal and ageless. Unfortunately, however, her default design is that of a barely-teenage girl; meaning she's essentially robbed of the more adult privileges the rest of her compatriots get to enjoy, limiting her life experiences. These include things like drinking (since she looks too young for it to be legally allowed) or having romantic relationships because she's physically underage. Not only that, but her lack of aging is more obvious than the others, meaning she's forced to live a more nomadic lifestyle than the others and can't enjoy wherever she moves to because she has to leave after a few years. She can fake being older with her illusion-casting, but this is a poor solution since her illusions "glitch" when physically touched, giving herself away.
• Boyish Short Hair: Sprite wears her hair in a short style that when combined with her more masculine clothing choices makes her easy to mistake for a boy at first glance.
• Deadpan Snarker: Specializes in this. When she is turned into a human near the end of the film, one of the first things she does is good-naturedly complain about having to go to school now.
• The Dragon: To Ikaris, being the only other Eternal to side with him in ensuring Tiamat's emergence.
• Easily Forgiven: Following the battle, Sersi and the others easily forgive Sprite for her betrayal (including stabbing Sersi and almost killing her) due to understanding her pent-up resentment at being forced to remain a kid for millennia. This results in Sersi offering to make her human so she can be happy.
• Emotional Maturity Is Physical Maturity: Sprite may be thousands of years old, but she still has her moments of acting like a young teenager. This is carried over in her transformation into a normal human.
• Face–Heel Turn: Follows Ikaris following his betrayal because she's in love with him and also sick of being envious of humans.
• Foil: To Sersi. Sersi lives like a normal person and enjoys a full life. Sprite remains a child, is treated like a child and is never allowed to live a real life. The fact that Sersi has the love of Ikaris (which Sprite wants) doesn't help matters.
• Gender Flip: Sprite is traditionally a boy in the comics —until the more recent 2021 series— but this version is depicted as a girl.
• Green and Mean: Sprite's outfit is primarily green in color and she helps Ikaris in fighting against the other Eternals due to her resentment of humans. Subverted in the end when she realizes her errors.
• Green-Eyed Monster: One of the biggest reasons she turns traitor is because she's envious of humans. Their ability to grow up, fall in love, have families, and die after living a full life is something she wants as she'll always remain a child who can never have such things. For bonus points, she even has green eyes, courtesy of her actress.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Sprite is female but her style is androgynous enough that she could be mistaken as a young boy.
• Master of Illusion: She is able to cast very convincing illusions — ranging from dazzling onlookers by bringing her fantastical stories to life, to mirages of real objects to confuse her viewer, or making herself and her fellow Eternals invisible.
• Meaningful Name: Sprite's name refers to a kind of fairy known as a sprite. Sprites are known to be enchanting tricksters, which matches Sprite's powerset nicely. Not to mention the connection made by Kingo, comparing her to Tinkerbell. Interestingly, she and Gilgamesh are the only Eternals to not have their names corrupted over time, though Sprite's name was applied to an entire species rather than a person.
• No Social Skills: Sprite is abrasive and acts like a young teen. After she is turned into an ordinary human and is annoyed that she has to go to school, Kingo says that it'll be good for her to learn social skills while at school and make friends.
• Not Growing Up Sucks: Sprite resents being immortal while physically a teenager because she can't have the adult life everyone else has, which especially hurts after living for 7,000+ years without romance or a chance to have her own family. This makes it especially difficult because, as time passes by, people notice how a 13-year-old isn't growing up after a few years, forcing her to live a more nomadic lifestyle than everyone else. (Given the other Eternals are physically adults, they don't need to reinvent their personas for decades due to people taking a longer time to notice their lack of aging.) Not to mention that while she looks 13 or so, her mental age is another story: she's just as mature as any of the adult-looking Eternals, and has even fallen in love with Ikaris.
• Older Than They Look: While this applies to all the Eternals, Sprite is particularly notable as she looks like a kid despite being several thousand years old. This even inspires her Face–Heel Turn, as the fact she's stuck as a teen makes her resentful.
• Phoneaholic Teenager: When turning human and finally starting a normal human life as a teenager, she's shown getting hooked on social media and spending much time on her phone exploring the Internet. Sersi teases her about how she told her that cell phones and the Internet was "addicting".
• The Resenter: Deeply resented her friend and roommate Sersi for being able to live a normal adult life and for having Ikaris's love.
• Shipper on Deck: She encourages Sersi to move in with Dane and to be honest with him about being an Eternal. Though this would have an added bonus of keeping her away from Ikaris.
• The Storyteller: In ancient times, she used her illusions to tell amazing (if embellished) stories and tales of the Eternals' feats to ancient humanity, and it was she who originally wrote and inspired many legends, including the tale of Icarus and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Kingo admits it was her stories and illusions that inspired his own love for acting and cinema, to mend their waning friendship.
• Talk to the Fist: Following her Face–Heel Turn, she laments about not having a normal life due to her physical child appearance and wanting the chance to start over. During her rant, Druig takes a rock to the back of her head and knocks her out, cutting her off.
• Token Mini-Moe: The other Eternals can all pass for human adults. Sprite is the only one stuck as a kid, which she resents.
• Trans Nature: An eternally youthful space alien that wants to grow into a human woman.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: She's become jaded after spending millennia in the form of a young adolescent as it's prevented her from fully experiencing life (such as romance and starting a family) like her fellow Eternals got to enjoy. She even tearfully questions why she's the only Eternal created as a child.

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Druig: Do you think, when we find the other Eternals out there, that they'll accept the truth, as we did?
Makkari: Yes, because the truth will set you free.