Eternals Appreciation 2020

[Bruce Wayne]

Gillen kind of also has to massage and retcon the contradictions from the Gaiman stuff that he claims to be using and also the stuff about there new generations of Eternals on Titan. Doing Thanos this early on points to him going at the issue head on.

[juan678]

[juan678]

https://www.cbr.com/eternals-kieron-gillen-interview/

[juan678]

The last time we saw the Eternals was in the opening of Jason Aaron's Avengers run where they all “died” and realized their purpose for existence wasn't what they thought it was. So, how much freedom did you have to redefine these characters?

I had enormous freedom, but my entire concept is about how the Eternals do not change. Eternal doesn't mean living forever. It means unchanging. That's right there in the title. At the same time, I want to lean into the original Kirby concept even more. I want to focus in on those really interesting ideas.

One of Kirby's original ideas was, “The Celestials arrive. They made 100 Eternals and a hundred Deviants and then left.” That's the core creation myth, and I forget who originally wrote this line, but the Deviants are a species of one. They're all individuals. They're rapidly changing. They bred enormously, and there're millions of them.

So, one of my ideas for the Eternals is they've never bred. There's only ever been a hundred of them. In Marvel history, it’s been described as generations of Eternals. So, they get rebooted often, but they've always been. They've just been in stasis. There’s familial relationships, but they’re static family relationships. Thena is Zuras’ daughter, but there was never a procreative act which led to her. Each reset allows them to change bodies or looks, but fundamentally there's only ever been a hundred Eternals and that's why they're the opposite of the Deviants. The Eternals are set, and the Deviants change.
That's part of the tragic element to them. Even after they realize they have no purpose anymore they can't change. They're programmed to be the way they are. They have these set rules that we'll articulate on the first page. It’s a little Robocop prime-directive-y.

I've also looked as much as I can at the Eternals various Marvel appearances and tried to work out ways to make it all canon. I've said there's a hundred Eternals. I listed everyone I could find, which was about 50-60. Then I made the others, bringing it up to the 100. Basically all the stories we know happened. We just look at them slightly differently and try to put them in a single canvas.
Part of their history is that the Earth Eternals founded Titan. So how does that work? I have a myth cycle of the past events that changed the Eternals as a society, the reason why the Titan society founded, how it linked to a previous heresy, what it meant and so on. Actually, I’m going to stop, as this is deceptive about the book. I'm able to get lost talking about the Eternals is the scale of the thing. I know all these things, sure, but the story is focused on this very specific moment in time. It’s the full Tolkien. Yeah, I know what Morgoth was doing in the first age, but this is a story about Sauron, thousands of years later.

[juan678]

Earlier, you mentioned you've given the Eternals a specific set of rules.

Yeah, I've given them three Asimov style principles. One is protect Celestials. The second is protect the machine. And the third one is correct excess deviation. The machine of the second law is Earth, but that's open to interpretations. Some Eternals might take that as, “let's protect the humans.” Others might take that as “Let's rule the earth.” Because the best way to protect the machine is to kill everything else on Earth and then we can rule it. [Laughs]

So, that's one of the ways you get the politics involved with the Eternals. These people believe and want stuff and this is how they think things should be done. A character like Druig, who is a very sneaky Eternal, has a distinct point of view and can argue it. So we might be able to sympathize with him to a degree.


I've looked at the history of the Eternals and the early ones who did really awful things were locked in an Eternal prison. They've been considered too dangerous. Uranos is almost a Satan figure in Eternal history. He's someone who wanted to wipe out everyone on Earth.

So, this is a book where you can deep mine both the present and the past for stories?

Yes! The mythological connections of the Eternals is an area that has been covered so well by Thor and other similar books. I'm more interested in human history. They've been in the Marvel Universe for a million years, but they've also been on Earth for that long. So, there will be flashbacks to various periods in human history and pre-history. Those will be based upon what was happening in the world.

I've looked at the history of the Eternals and the early ones who did really awful things were locked in an Eternal prison. They've been considered too dangerous. Uranos is almost a Satan figure in Eternal history. He's someone who wanted to wipe out everyone on Earth.

So, this is a book where you can deep mine both the present and the past for stories?

Yes! The mythological connections of the Eternals is an area that has been covered so well by Thor and other similar books. I'm more interested in human history. They've been in the Marvel Universe for a million years, but they've also been on Earth for that long. So, there will be flashbacks to various periods in human history and pre-history. Those will be based upon what was happening in the world.

[juan678]

Who are some of the established characters you'll initially focus on?

One thing to be aware of is the Eternals aren't really a team. They're a society. So, I'm not in a rush to introduce every Eternal in the movie.

Ikaris is one of our key characters early on. He's probably the most recognizable Eternal of the cast, and he's this fascinating straight-talking person of action. Sprite is another key early character, who was last seen being murdered by Zuras because he tried to break the machine. We reveal of course that all Eternals come back, and he's been languishing in the Eternal prison, the Isolation, ever since. When the book begins, they've finally decided to let Sprite out. We follow them in issue #1.

Another important character is Sersi who is smart, rich, and has been an Avenger. So, she knows a lot of humans. There's a certain ennui to her that I like.We also have Kingo who is interesting because he's me trying to square an Eternal being who's becoming obsessed with one culture. In the comics, he's obsessed with Japan in a certain period, which is really weird in lots of ways. He also became a movie actor! I can't think that anybody who was a serious samurai would ever become a movie actor. So, he's a playful character, but he's also hyper-competent.

We'll also see Thena who is presently living with the Deviants, and Gilgamesh, the Forgotten One, who is the person who punishes Eternals. When they get out of line, he's the one who sorts them out. He's got other Forgotten with him, and they're basically vigilantes. They'll make an appearance in issue #5. I've mentioned Druig who is like a snake. And Zuras is basically the prime Eternal and the major mover of everything.


Since a lot of characters have died and come back a lot have chosen to change their bodies. So, there's a lot of gender and body switching. That's just something Eternals do. They've been around for a very, very long time. So, it's not like how it is for us.

We have all these characters in a story that's basically a murder mystery meets an end of the world plot. If they can't solve this mystery, the world will end.


Eternals is a book with a huge toy chest of characters and concepts and you're limited in page space. So, how do you make this book feel connected to the rest of the Marvel Universe? Is that something you want to do a lot of?

For the first 12 issues, we're telling our own story. Iron Man does turn up in issue #1. So there is an impact, but I wanted to make a really good pitch to why the Eternals matter. The best way to do that is to make a nice, clean, artistic statement of who the Eternals are and why you should care about them.

[Dthirds3]

So Gilgamesh is Batman ?

[ZuLuLu]

[B]Since a lot of characters have died and come back a lot have chosen to change their bodies. So, there's a lot of gender and body switching. That's just something Eternals do. They've been around for a very, very long time. So, it's not like how it is for us.

I know that this was done to keep in synergy with the MCU but I like the concept that the Eternals can do this, with death and resurrection becoming so commonplace in comics, I think it adds some uniqueness to them and explains why they look different from the mythical characters they are based on.

We have all these characters in a story that's basically a murder mystery meets an end of the world plot. If they can't solve this mystery, the world will end.

Since Zuras is basically the prime Eternal, I could see his murder causing upheaval among the Eternals.

[Shadowcat]

So Gilgamesh is Batman ?

Basically. The original tale of Gilgamesh, he was mistaken for Hercules, Samson, and other mythical historical figures.

[Dthirds3]

Basically. The original tale of Gilgamesh, he was mistaken for Hercules, Samson, and other mythical historical figures.

So if gilgamesh was the first hero, and gilgamesh is batman, is batman first hero of the marvel u.

Also I want to see a minie where's he's doing hero shanaganary but keeps geting mistaken as some else

[Killerbee911]

That was good interview, I tried to chop up into something more simpler and bite size

Pitch and Concept
-Eternals, they've never bred
-There’s familial relationships, but they’re static family relationships
-Thena is Zuras’ daughter, but there was never a procreative act which led to her
-There's only ever been a hundred of them
-I listed everyone I could find, which was about 50-60. Then I made the others, bringing it up to the 100
-They get rebooted often, but they've always been. They've just been in stasis
-Each reset allows them to change bodies or look
-Since a lot of characters have died and come back a lot have chosen to change their bodies. So, there's a lot of gender and body switching. That's just something Eternals do. They've been around for a very, very long time. So, it's not like how it is for us.

"The Celestials arrive. They made 100 Eternals and a hundred Deviants and then left.”
-The Eternals are set, and the Deviants change
-Deviants are a species of one. They're all individuals. They're rapidly changing. They bred enormously, and there're millions of them.
-Part of their history is that the Earth Eternals founded Titan. So how does that work? I have a myth cycle of the past events that changed the Eternals as a society, the reason why the Titan society founded, how it linked to a previous heresy, what it meant and so on

-Three Laws
One is protect Celestials. The second is protect the machine. And the third one is correct excess deviation.

-The machine of the second law is Earth, but that's open to interpretations. Some Eternals might take that as, “let's protect the humans.” Others might take that as “Let's rule the earth.” Because the best way to protect the machine is to kill everything else on Earth and then we can rule it

Characters
-One thing to be aware of is the Eternals aren't really a team. They're a society. So, I'm not in a rush to introduce every Eternal in the movie

- Zuras is basically the prime Eternal and the major mover of everything

-Uranos is almost a Satan figure in Eternal history. He's someone who wanted to wipe out everyone on Earth

-Ikaris is one of our key characters early on. He's probably the most recognizable Eternal of the cast

-Sprite is another key early character, who was last seen being murdered by Zuras because he tried to break the machine
-he's been languishing in the Eternal prison, the Isolation, ever since When the book begins, they've finally decided to let Sprite out

-Another important character is Sersi who is smart, rich, and has been an Avenger. So, she knows a lot of humans

-Kingo who is interesting because he's me trying to square an Eternal being who's becoming obsessed with one culture. In the comics, he's obsessed with Japan in a certain period, which is really weird in lots of ways. He also became a movie actor! I can't think that anybody who was a serious samurai would ever become a movie actor. So, he's a playful character, but he's also hyper-competent.

-Thena who is presently living with the Deviants

-Gilgamesh, the Forgotten One, who is the person who punishes Eternals. When they get out of line, he's the one who sorts them out. He's got other Forgotten with him, and they're basically vigilantes.

-I've mentioned Druig who is like a snake.
A character like Druig, who is a very sneaky Eternal, has a distinct point of view and can argue it

[Killerbee911]

The pitch is quite interesting the only thing I don't like is the no breeding, I think that extremely limited might have been better but I think that will get tweaked at some point. If they are able to have human children that might also solve the issue I have with it.

[Frontier]

Is Ikaris more recognizable than Sersi? Well, I guess as far as the Eternals ongoings, maybe.

[Factor]

Very interested in this. Seems like the perfect book for Gillen. Seems we'll thankfully get Journey into Mystery Gillen and not Generation Hope Gillen.

[Shadowcat]

The more of Ribic’s art I see, the more I’m absolutely sure he’s perfect for this book. I wonder who he’ll be rotating with.