Eternals and Their Powers Explained

The Eternals are a fictional race of humanoids appearing in the Marvel Comics. They are described as a by-product of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. The original progenitors of this process, the Celestials, had intended the Eternals to be the defenders of Earth, which eventually led to a war against their destructive counterparts, the Deviants. The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby, and made their debut in The Eternals #1 published on July 1976.

The Eternals are set to make their first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in a movie of the same name set to release on November 5th, 2021. The Eternals will be about an Eternal named Sersi who has the powers of flight, strength, immortality, and molecular manipulation. The movie will be the twenty-sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the third film of Phase Four. It is directed and co-written by Chloé Zhao. Production of the movie began in 2018, and the following stars were roped to play the characters in the titular group:

CAST MEMBER	CHARACTER PLAYED
Gemma Chan	Sersi
Richard Madden	Ikaris
Kumail Nanjiani	Kingo
Lia McHugh	Sprite
Brian Tyree Henry	Phastos
Lauren Ridloff	Makkari
Barry Keoghan	Druig
Don Lee	Gilgamesh
Kit Harington as	Dane Whitman/Black Knight
Salma Hayek	Ajak
Angelina Jolie	Thena

 POWERS ABILITIES OF THE ETERNALS

Due to the cosmic energy that is present in an Eternal's body and the strong mental hold they have over their physiological features, the Eternals of Earth are virtually immortal. They are also immune to almost any poison and disease, in addition to being able to rapidly regenerate any damage as long as they are able to retain their mental control over their bodies. The eternals are also capable of absorbing oxygen directly from water, and are therefore impossible to drown. Outside of these, all Eternals also possess the following abilities as the result of channeling the cosmic energy present in them:

1. Superhuman strength. The limits of their strength can be increased as a result of years of focusing some of their energy towards that purpose.
2. Superhuman speed, reflexes, agility, stamina and durability.
3. Projecting concussive blasts, heat, and/or blinding flashes of energy from their eyes and hands
4. Flight and the ability to levitate others 
5. Reading/controlling minds
6. The ability to generate illusions
7. Teleporting through vast distances,although most Eternals prefer not to use this ability as it also greatly depletes their store of cosmic energy
8. Transmuting (changing the chemical composition of objects to alter both their shape and composition.) (The extent of this ability varies from one Eternal to another.)
9. Force-Field.

Also, groups of Eternals (minimum of three at a time) can initiate a transformation into a gestalt-like being called the Uni-Mind, a vastly powerful psionic entity that contains the totality of the powers and abilities of all the beings that comprise it.

This article is contributed by Pranav.