With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kiby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!
The speedster of the Eternals, Makkari’s comic book history actually predates any of his peers. A series of retcons allowed a Golden Age character named Mercury, who first appeared in 1940’s Red Raven Comics #1, to be reworked into Makkari. The character was introduced into the modern day in Eternals #5 where he joined fellow Eternal Sersi in a NYC battle against the Deviants, the bitter foes of the Eternals. Makkari played an integral role in Neil Gaiman’s 2006 run in which all of the Eternals fell victim to the machinations of Sprite and had forgotten who they were. Living in the city as Mark Curry, Makkari was visited by Ikaris who was the first of the group to regain his memories. Eventually regaining his memories and powers, Makkari was duped by Sprite into opening a path to the Dreaming Celestial, one of the great Space Gods whose act of defiance left him trapped beneath San Francisco for centuries. Unconscious, Makkari began to commune with the Dreaming Celestial, a job traditionally filled by Ajak, and eventually working as the prophetic mouthpiece of the entity.
Actress Lauren Ridloff will bring the speedster to life in Eternals, though with some significant changes to the comic book characters. Unlike the comics, Makkari will be presented as a female in the film (joining Ajak as gender-swapped members of the team); additionally, Ridloff is deaf and will be portraying the character as such. While it remains to be seen, it’s been speculated that Makkari will, as in the comics, communicate with the Celestials at some point, either sharing or taking the job from Salma Hayek’s Ajak.
