Eternals Origins Explained: How The MCU Heroes’ Backstory Compares To The Comics

Eternals will bring the eponymous group of near-immortal Marvel heroes to the big screen, and it looks like their origin story is staying pretty close to the original comics. The film stars an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, and Angelina Jolie as Thena. Eternals is currently scheduled to release on November 5, 2021.

One of Marvel’s lesser-known superhero groups, the Eternals were created by Jack Kirby and debuted in 1976. In the comics, the Eternals were created from genetic experiments conducted on early humans by the Celestials – a primordial race of godlike beings who travel the cosmos. After visiting an ancient version of Earth, the celestials created two divergent humanoid species – the monstrous and violent Deviants, and the superpowered Eternals. Imbued with cosmic powers (and later near-immortality), the Eternals built hidden cities across the Earth and lived in secret amongst ordinary humans, watching over their sister race and protecting them from attacks by the Deviants.

From what’s been revealed so far about the MCU Eternals movie, most of that origin story seems to be intact. The trailer shows the Eternals living in and visiting human society across thousands of years, and the Deviants have been confirmed to be joining the MCU as the film’s villains. The big question is how much of the more ancillary aspects of the Eternals’ origin story will make it into the MCU. The comics span hundreds of thousands of years, with the Eternals being incorporated into many ancient stories from the Bible, Greek mythology, and more. Kirby’s story was epic in scope and fantastical in nature, and it may need to be trimmed down a bit to fit in the MCU.

Several Celestials have already been included in the MCU, such as a cameo from Eson in the Guardians of the Galaxy flashback scene explaining the Infinity Stones, and Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That means it’s likely that the Celestials will return in a much larger role in Eternals, especially given how many thousands of years the movie is going to span. Introducing the Celestials properly could set up a lot of major storylines for MCU Phase 4 and Phase 5. And, obviously, they’re essential to explaining the origin and nature of both the Eternals and the Deviants.

It will be curious to see what other parts of the Eternals’ backstory make it to the MCU, and which don’t. In the comics, the group has extensive interactions with the Atlanteans, the Olympians, and the mutants – three groups that have yet to properly appear in the MCU. Since the Celestials also introduce the mutant X-gene to humanity, and since Marvel is looking to bring the X-Men to the MCU somewhere down the line, Eternals could start the process of introducing mutants to the franchise. All will be revealed when Eternals releases on November 5.