Eternals 2 Preview Ikaris vs Thanos

[JudicatorPrime]

Eternals tends to be able to take more than they can dish.

That's the view that I have as well on account of their life forces being bolstered by cosmic energy and the fact that they're supposed to have something close to near complete control over their bodily molecules. They should be extremely hard to kill through conventional means, but with the exception of the Forgotten One, Thanos and a few other Level 4/5 energy manipulative masters, not necessarily offensive dynamos.

Frankly, I'd love to see even more of a diversity of how Eternals use their powers in unexpected ways. I mean total control over your own molecules should lend them to shapeshifting, the ability to phase through solid objects briefly, or even control their own DNA and activate or deactivate various genes in the chain. It's not one of their disciplines, but it would be crazy if an Eternal came along who specialized in some of the more esoteric and largely unknown aspects of Eternal attributes.

[Daedra]

Did Ikaris get a boost up at some point? The only time that he could go toe to toe with someone like Thanos was when he had the Prime Eternal powers/mantle. Otherwise, Ikaris wasn't really all that powerful, Earthborn or not.

Also, did they change how Cosmic Energy works with the Earthborn Eternals? Yes, cosmic energy made them more powerful than other earlier generations of Eternals, but Eternals had a rather limited store of cosmic energy that they could tap. They didn't absorb and convert ambient cosmic energy as rapidly and efficiently as other beings like Galactus' Heralds, or even someone like Adam Warlock. They were always at risk of using up their personal store of cosmic energy faster than they could replenish it. It's one of the reasons why the Deviants were able to remain legitimate threats to them, even though the Deviants didn't have cosmic energy based life forces and powers. Sure, there were some Eternals that had a much deeper energy reservoir than others, but very few were at Kronos, Azura, Zuras, A'lars, or Thanos level in that respect. Ikaris wasn't at their level, either, last time I read any story featuring him. Has that changed?

can you provide an issue for this statement about cosmic energy ?
and eternals were never set on exterminating deviants to the point of extinction, they usually fight deviants until said deviants decide it's not worth it and desist

[juan678]

More preview

[juan678]

[Sutekh]

Eternal powerlevels are kinda shakey depending on the decade. Sersi for instance was crazy strong in the 90s when she was on the Avengers. But Ikaris and most of eternals got nerf'd when writers shifted from Sersi being the best matter manipulator to being the only Eternal that uses it. Ikaris in the last two Eternals runs has basically just been a flying brick that isn't quite as strong as the really strong bricks. He is probably equal to or greater than Ben Grimm strength wise. He is still really hard to hurt, as shown in All new Invaders when he fought Namor, OG humam torch, and cap 1v3. He has psychic powers and teleportation(which might have been upgraded to time travel going from the preview). Eternals tends to be able to take more than they can dish.

Ikaris IIRC was, apart from Zuras, the only 'level 5' energy projector, making him one of the two toughest Eternals at that particular discipline (throwing zaps). (Although when Thena became Prime Eternal, she also bumped up to level 5.) He was never the strongest (that was Gilgamesh/the Forgotten One) or the fastest (that was Makkari), although he was above-average at both, and Sersi was always the best at transmutation (the only level 5), with the others being limited to changing their clothes or altering their faces to look like someone else (with Sprite being the only one that seemed capable of full on shapeshifting).

I have no idea where he fell in the psionic disciplines like telepathy and illusion-casting (which was another thing Sersi excelled at). He didn't seem to do much of that.

But he was definitely always one of the top two 'zappers' and an above-average strong/fast/tough guy.

[PhoenixThanos]

I'm just trying to figure out in what reality does Ikaris even think he remotely has a chance against Thanos that he would even try to fight him? It's not that Thanos is the extreme end power wise. It's that Ikaris as I remember him wasn't really all that powerful. He may be formidable by Eternal standards, but as Marvel heavy hitters go, he's not in the same class as Silver Surfer, Thor, the original Drax the Destroyer, Nova, Sentry, America Chavez, Hyperion (any version of Hyperion), Gladiator, Binary/Captain Marvel, Beta Ray Bill, Miracleman, Thunderstrike, Jane Thor, Her, Hulk, and on and on. Ikaris is a super lightweight compared to the rest of the field and he knows it from his fight with the Cosmic-Powered Hulk. I was thinking maybe he got a power up of some kind which might have emboldened him to take on the Mad Titan. I was also thinking that fight lasted about two panels longer than it needed to.

If you look at Ikaris' history through his past appearances he has gone toe to toe with the HULK, Thor and the Silver Surfer.
So why is it so hard to believe that he can go to to toe with Thanos ?.

[juan678]

[juan678]

[mung]

bold of them to put out like half the chapter in previews

[Flash Gordon]

I can't wait for this ish.

[Shadowcat]

I have never been more ready for anything in my life.

[MadFacedKid]

Black Bolt vs Thanos was better 🙃

[Intothevoid]

Thanos jobbing lulz.

[Daedra]

Black Bolt vs Thanos was better ��

It was kinda lame and underwelming from what little I can remember