Marvel’s Judgment Day shows why the Eternals are pointless
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The Eternals may be extraordinarily powerful, but Marvel’s new defenders of Earth make absolutely no sense, and the Celestials are to blame.
This article contains SPOILERS for AX: Judgment Day #2
The eternal they have incredible power, but make very little sense in the Marvel universe, all thanks to their Celestial creators. The Eternals are even more powerful in the comics than they are in the MCU, and true to their name, they’re extremely hard to kill (and even the dead don’t care – they’re immediately resurrected thanks to the great Eternals machine buried in Earth) . But AX: Judgment Day #2 it suggests that the Celestials accidentally left a huge flaw in their creations, and it has everything to do with their Three Principles that guide all their actions.
In the current comics continuity, the Eternals are engaged in a bitter war with the X-Men on the island of Krakoa. Thanks to the new reboot X Men franchise, Earth’s mutant population can now rise from the dead with frightening ease; Cerebro’s abilities, five unique mutants, and Krakoa’s innate powers mean that no mutant can truly die (as long as the resurrection protocols and systems are in place). This information, once secret, is now publicly known to all of humanity. Now they despise mutants more than ever, and the Eternals vow to defeat them.
In AX: Judgment Day #2, written by Keiron Gillen with art by Valentino Schiti, the Eternals declare that the X-Men represent “excess deviance”, thus activating their third guiding principle. But his other two principles are not so consistent. When the Avengers led by Iron Man plan to destroy a Celestial with the help of the Eternals, the Eternals remind them of their three principles: Correct the excess deviation, protect the machineand – perhaps most important of all – Protect the celestials. “You should know that if you start this plan,” warns Phastos “We to own act to stop it. Our principles will bind us.” Phastos is correct; the Eternals will not be able to resist their programming… but that programming is seriously flawed.
The main Eternals seem to activate in a rather arbitrary way. Correcting excess deviation, for example, is not a reflex, Druig decides just before the The day of judgment crossover event (and he has to convince others to go along with his plan). Principles make even less sense when it comes to protecting Celestials – shouldn’t the first principle only be activated? thought of betraying the Progenitor, let alone discussing the plan to begin with? Try as they might, Marvel can’t force the Eternals to be free-willed beings and mindless automatons at the same time.
In recent issues, the Eternals have acted more human than ever, expressing their reservations and even rebelling against each other (Ikaris, for example, attacks other Eternals to avoid war with the X-Men) . Even so, the Three Principles guide each Eternal and prevent them from allying themselves 100% with humanity or the mutant species. The eternal they may look and feel human, but their Three Principles prove otherwise (even if they themselves make little sense at this point).
