Marvel fans everywhere know an love a very wide variety of characters including Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and so many more. But there are a lot of other great characters in the Marvel Universe who are a bit less known than those big names and the Eternals are just a few of them.
Before they step into the spotlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year, the Eternals are the subject of their very own new comic series. “Eternals #1” reintroduces us to the group of immortal superheroes and explains just what they’re all about.
Without going too much into the lore of the Eternals right off the bat, we are introduced to Ikaris as he awakens once again in The Exclusion. The issue also introduces us to Eternals politics. Namely, the “exclusion” of those who have committed great sins.
One of those excluded is the one known as Sprite. Following the orders of the Eternal Prime, Ikaris frees Sprite from her exclusion and has to deal with her ridiculous hijinx. It makes for an interesting pair as we learn more and more about just what these Eternals do.
After a brief altercation with a much more well known superhero, the pair of Eternals get down to their real business and we are introduced (or reintroduced) to the concept of Deviants. But the Deviants are the real threat here. Something much bigger is play and the release of Sprite is suspicious to say the least. The Eternals might have just stumbled into some really big problems.
While Marvel has had a great deal of success with some very strange characters (see: the talking raccoon and tree who are tasked with guarding an entire galaxy), the Eternals are going to be a hard one for the general public to open up to. They have god-like powers, cannot die and try to rid the world of a monstrous race of creatures. They’re definitely a bit out there.
With that being said, this first issue is a great starting point for those who are open to some of Marvel’s stranger characters. The narration from “The Machine” provides a lot of context and explanation as to how these characters operate. They even explain Deviants by comparing them to Mogwai from the movie Gremlins. If you can’t relate to that, you probably aren’t reading comics anyway.
Still, there is a lot to understand about the social and political structure of the Eternals that this issue doesn’t fully explain. It’s very easy to understand the story of this particular issue, but going forward it seems likely there will need to be much more explanation. There will also likely be far more characters introduced as this particular issue only features a handful.
This issue also sets up a very interesting story going forward. While interest in the Eternals is certainly not nearly as high as some of the other aforementioned Marvel heroes, the story seems like something that will pique the interest of Marvel fans. Without spoiling the ending, there is another major character in play in this story whose presence will certainly demand some attention.
