The Eternals are easier to understand when their powers, relationships, and responsibilities are viewed as parts of one system rather than as a simple superhero roster. This guide compares the major Eternals, explains the Celestials and Deviants, outlines the team’s MCU connections, and shows where the film differs from the comics.
Overview
Marvel’s Eternals follows a group of ancient beings who have lived on Earth for thousands of years while secretly protecting humanity from the Deviants. Their long history gives the story an unusual structure: the characters are connected by a shared mission, but they disagree about what that mission means and whether it should continue.
The group’s powers are not interchangeable. Each Eternal has a defined ability that reflects their personality and place within the team. Sersi is a matter-transmuter who values human life and adapts to change. Ikaris is a powerful flyer and energy-projector whose loyalty to the original mission becomes increasingly rigid. Thena creates cosmic weapons and is one of the team’s most formidable fighters, while Phastos applies advanced intelligence and invention to practical problems.
At the center of the wider mythology are the Celestials, cosmic beings responsible for creating and directing the Eternals. The Deviants were designed as another part of that larger experiment, but their evolution makes them more than a conventional monster threat. Understanding this relationship is essential to understanding the Eternals ending, the team’s divided loyalties, and its potential connections to the wider MCU.
For a first introduction, the Eternals beginner’s guide provides a simpler starting point. This article is intended as a reference for returning viewers who want to compare characters and follow the lore in more detail.
How to compare the Eternals
A useful comparison should consider more than who would win a fight. The Eternals differ across at least four categories:
- Power function: What can the character do, and is the ability primarily offensive, defensive, technical, or supportive?
- Team role: Does the character lead, investigate, protect, build, heal, or provide emotional stability?
- Relationship to humanity: Has the character embraced human life, remained distant from it, or become conflicted about the cost of protecting it?
- Relationship to the mission: Does the character follow the Celestials’ instructions, question them, or reject them?
This approach prevents common misunderstandings. Druig’s mind control, for example, is different from Makkari’s speed, even though both can change the outcome of a battle. Likewise, Sersi’s matter manipulation is not simply a stronger version of Phastos’s technology. Their abilities solve different problems and reveal different attitudes toward the world around them.
It is also important to separate the Marvel Studios film from Eternals comics. The movie keeps broad ideas such as immortal cosmic beings, Celestial influence, and the Deviants, but it changes character histories, relationships, visual designs, and the group’s place in the Marvel universe. Comic readers should treat the film as an adaptation with shared foundations rather than a direct translation of every detail.
Feature-by-feature breakdown
Sersi: matter manipulation and human connection
Sersi can transform matter, which makes her power unusually versatile. In the film, that ability is presented alongside her empathy and close connection to human civilization. She is not defined only by combat strength; her importance comes from judgment, patience, and a willingness to see humanity as something worth protecting in its own right.
Sersi’s story is also central to the conflict over the Emergence. Her growing understanding of the Celestials forces her to compare obedience with moral responsibility. That makes “Sersi explained” less a question of raw power than of leadership under impossible pressure.
Ikaris: flight, energy projection, and loyalty
Ikaris can fly and project powerful energy from his eyes. He is among the Eternals’ strongest direct combatants, but his defining feature is his commitment to the mission assigned by Arishem. His relationship with Sersi creates the film’s most important personal conflict: love and shared history do not erase a fundamental disagreement about duty.
Ikaris is best compared with Sersi as an example of two responses to the same revelation. He sees the Celestials’ plan as an obligation to preserve, while she ultimately gives greater weight to the lives already present on Earth.
Thena: cosmic weapons and combat skill
Thena can create weapons from cosmic energy, including blades, spears, and other forms suited to the situation. Her skill makes her one of the team’s most effective fighters. However, her storyline also introduces the effects of memory and psychological strain through the condition known as Mahd Wy’ry.
Thena is not simply the team’s warrior. Her bond with Gilgamesh demonstrates how trust and care can help an Eternal remain grounded. When comparing the characters, Thena represents specialized combat mastery supported by a deeply personal relationship.
Gilgamesh: strength and protection
Gilgamesh is the team’s close-range powerhouse, using energy-formed fists to deliver exceptionally strong attacks. His most important function, however, is protection. He stays with Thena when others might view her condition as too dangerous, and his loyalty gives their partnership emotional weight.
Phastos: invention and technological imagination
Phastos can create and control advanced technology through cosmic energy. His ability is particularly useful because it turns abstract knowledge into tools, weapons, and systems. He represents the Eternals’ influence on human progress without reducing that influence to a single historical invention.
Phastos’s relationship with humanity changes after personal loss, but his family and community help him recover a sense of purpose. Compared with the more visibly powerful Eternals, he shows how planning and engineering can be as decisive as physical force.
Druig: influence over minds
Druig can control the minds of other beings. The power is extraordinarily effective, but it raises immediate ethical questions about consent and authority. His frustration comes from watching humans suffer while being forbidden to intervene in conflicts that do not involve Deviants.
Druig’s perspective makes him a useful counterpoint to both Ikaris and Sersi. He distrusts passive observation, yet his own solution can become another form of control. His story asks whether preventing violence is enough if the method removes personal freedom.
Makkari: super-speed and discovery
Makkari is super-fast, making her an exceptional scout, fighter, and messenger. The film also presents her as an archaeologist who has spent centuries gathering knowledge. Her speed is therefore connected to curiosity and exploration, not only action scenes.
Makkari’s friendship with Druig is one of the team’s clearest examples of mutual respect. Their relationship also shows that communication in the group is not limited to spoken dialogue; trust, timing, and shared history matter just as much.
Kingo: energy projectiles and performance
Kingo fires energy blasts from his hands and approaches immortal life through performance and public identity. His long-running human-facing career gives the character a distinct relationship with fame, family, and storytelling.
Kingo’s decision during the final confrontation demonstrates that personal loyalty and moral judgment can outweigh allegiance to either side. His valet, Karun, also provides a human perspective on the Eternals’ extraordinary history.
Ajak, Sprite, and the team’s emotional structure
Ajak serves as the group’s leader and communicates with Arishem. Her role is less about dominating combat and more about interpreting the Celestials’ purpose. Her changing view of the mission sets the film’s central events in motion.
Sprite can create convincing illusions and has the appearance of a child despite her age. That mismatch explains much of her frustration: she has witnessed thousands of years of history without being able to live as an adult. Her feelings for Ikaris and resentment toward her condition make her one of the film’s most conflicted characters.
Celestials and Deviants explained
The Celestials are ancient cosmic entities who shape worlds and oversee the emergence of new Celestials. Arishem is the most visible representative in the film, judging the Eternals’ actions and taking the surviving members for evaluation. The Emergence reveals that Earth’s development was connected to the birth of Tiamut, creating a direct conflict between cosmic design and the value of an existing planet.
The Deviants were created to eliminate predators that threatened developing intelligent life. Unlike the Eternals, they can evolve, and that evolution changes the nature of the threat. Kro becomes more intelligent and powerful as the story progresses, making the Deviants a reflection of the Eternals rather than a completely unrelated enemy.
MCU connections and comic differences
The film places the Eternals in the MCU’s history without making them responsible for every major human event. They have observed civilizations, influenced some aspects of development, and remained separate from public superhero life. Their absence from earlier MCU stories is best read as a consequence of their secrecy and mission rather than proof that they were present at every major conflict.
The movie’s version of the Eternals is also more directly tied to Earth’s history and interpersonal drama than many readers may expect from the cosmic label. In the comics, the group’s mythology includes different relationships, origins, and links to the broader Marvel setting. When comparing comics and film, focus on recurring concepts instead of assuming that a comic detail is automatically part of movie canon.
Best fit by scenario
If you want the most versatile power: Start with Sersi, whose ability can affect many forms of matter and whose decisions shape the story’s climax.
If you want the strongest combat specialists: Compare Ikaris, Thena, Gilgamesh, and Makkari. They represent different forms of battle strength: aerial power, weapon mastery, physical force, and speed.
If you are interested in ethical questions: Focus on Druig, Sersi, and Ikaris. Their disagreements frame the central debate over control, obedience, and responsibility.
If you prefer technology and world-building: Phastos and the Celestials provide the clearest route into the film’s science-fiction ideas.
If you are tracing the MCU connection: Watch the film’s final and post-credit scenes, then consult a current character-return tracker rather than treating every tease as a confirmed future appearance. The Eternals characters return tracker is designed for that distinction.
If you are planning a rewatch: Use the Eternals watch party guide and assign viewers a character or lore question to follow. Comparing reactions to Sersi’s decision, Ikaris’s loyalty, or the Celestials’ plan can make a second viewing more focused.
When to revisit this guide
This reference should be updated whenever Marvel confirms new canon involving the Eternals, Celestials, Deviants, or related cosmic characters. A future film, series, comic adaptation, or official character appearance could change how the team fits into the MCU timeline.
For the most reliable updates, separate confirmed appearances from rumors, theories, and fan interpretations. Revisit the guide when an official project gives a character a new status, clarifies the Celestials’ plans, expands the Deviants’ history, or establishes a new relationship to other MCU cosmic characters. Viewing information is a separate question, so use the site’s where to watch Eternals guide for current regional availability rather than relying on an old listing.
On your next rewatch, choose one comparison: power versus responsibility, human connection versus cosmic duty, or comic origin versus film adaptation. Tracking that single theme will reveal details that a plot-only recap can miss and will make it easier to assess any future Eternals news against the story already established.
