Eternity is an abstract entity which embodies the Marvel Universe itself along with his "sister" counterpart, Infinity, with whom Eternity is one.[15] Their authority on Earth-616 is only surpassed by the Living Tribunal.[16] Eternity is also the personification of time.[6][17]
History
Origin[]
Every universe in the Multiverse manifests itself as an anthropomorphic being called Eternity.[18][19] Eternity, as the embodiment of Earth-616, is a fraction of the larger Multiversal Eternity in the seventh incarnation of the Multiverse.[20][21] Eternity is sometimes described as the sum total of all life and all things that exist in the universe.[22]
At one point, Eternity spawned several "children", or concepts that became separate, independent entities. These include Empathy, Eulogy, Expediency, Entropy, Epiphany, Enmity, and Eon - although the last was eventually killed and replaced in turn by the concept Epoch.[23][24] Other children of Eternity include Now and Then,[25] and Explosion and Gravitation.[26] Galactus has also been described as both a brother and a descendant of Eternity.[17]
Eternity's Manifestations[]
Eternity typically only manifested when there was an imminent threat to the universe, such as the villain Dormammu or the Titan Thanos, who collected the Infinity Gems and later the Heart of the Universe. With these artifacts Thanos was, in fact, capable of surpassing Eternity and even imprisoned the cosmic entity, proving that even Eternity was not truly omnipotent.[27]
A notable exception was during the trial of Mr. Fantastic, when Eternity was summoned by the combined effort of Galactus and the Watcher. Eternity then allowed millions of alien onlookers to momentarily become one with the universe so that they could understand that Galactus was part of the natural order of the universe.[22] The Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange was the second human being on Earth to have contact with Eternity, the first being the Ancient One.[28]
Eternity and all of his counterparts across the Multiverse were guarded by their own personal Captain Universe.[29]
Eternity was the collective consciousness of all life and was, therefore, dependent on the many trillions of beings within it. It existed everywhere simultaneously. Eternity could take a humanoid form when it deigned to communicate to sorcerers and the like. Eternity once aided Doctor Strange against Dormammu,[30] and Strange then helped Eternity escape from Nightmare's clutches.[31] He was captured by Nightmare once again, which led to the destruction of Earth, but after the intervention of Strange and the Ancient One, Eternity recreated the Earth.[32] To have greater understanding of humanity, Eternity occasionally walked the Earth, using the name Adam Quadmon.[1]
Meeting with the Scientist Supreme[]
When Henry Pym grew beyond the macroverse into Overspace, he met Eternity, who thanked him for saving reality from Chthon. He gave the title "Scientist Supreme" to Pym because of his desire to take science to the point of studying magic. He sent Pym back to Earth, telling him that he was the founder of the Avengers to come and promised a new age of heroes was coming, although this may have been a ruse by Loki.[33]
The End of Death[]
Thanos, in an effort to keep Deadpool away from his beloved Death, cursed him never to die. However, the embodiment of Death had also been kidnapped by Eternity, meaning nothing else in the universe could die either, causing untold chaos throughout the universe. When Deadpool, believing Thanos responsible, arrived on Thanos' ship to defeat him, Thanos rescinded his curse, turning Deadpool into the only mortal creature in the universe, then killed him.[34]
However, upon realizing that Death would only speak to Wade, Thanos resurrected him in order to save her.[34] When the pair managed to travel to Eternity's Realm and encounter him personally, Thanos attacked mercilessly, blaming Eternity for all of his life's ills. Wilson, realizing that this was what Death wanted all along, attacked Thanos and was possessed by the Uni-Power, giving Deadpool the powers of Captain Universe. Using those powers, Deadpool and Thanos fought on equal ground, but Deadpool's speech during the fight convinced Death of the validity of life's existence and caused Mistress Death to whisk Thanos away, for a later purpose and to return to her own, restoring mortality to the universe.[29]
Secret Wars[]
The Eternity of Earth-616, as well as its alternate reality counterparts, was eventually annihilated by the Beyonders.[13] When the phenomena known as incursions led to the destruction of everything, Doctor Doom seized the power of the Beyonders and reshaped the remnants of several different realities into Battleworld.[35]
Eighth Cosmos[]
After the destruction of Doom's Battleworld, the Multiverse was rebuilt in its eighth iteration by Mister Fantastic, with Prime Earth (Earth-616) as its center. As a consequence, the Multiversal Eternity and his Earth-616 counterpart were brought back to life.[36] Later, while the Multiversal Eternity was chained by the First Firmament in a plan to regain its control over reality,[37] the Eternity of Prime Earth was still able to manifest himself, seemingly unaffected by the Firmament.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]
Reckoning War[]
Eternity became poisoned by the universe-wide war instigated by the Reckoning. This war caused great disturbance throughout the cosmos, which was slowly killing Eternity. Both the Queen of Nervers and the Griever at the End of All Things came to his side and instructed the Silver Surfer to help stop the war to save Eternity and the universe with him.[3] The Silver Surfer and the other heroes managed to defeat the Reckoning and restore Galactus, saving the universe and curing Eternity of his affliction. Eternity, the Queen of Nevers and the Griever at the End of All Things appeared to both the Silver Surfer and congratulated them for helping end the first war.[46]Attributes
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Powers
Notes
Eternity's redesign and human form
- For G.O.D.S., Eternity received a redesign and a human form.
- For other redesigns, click here.
- In the Seventh Cosmos, Eternity and Death formed a polarity. (Also, because Galactus originated from the previous reality, he was sometimes considered the "third force," as he stood apart from them.)[49][50] However, a lot of this had changed since then, and Death received a new counterpart, Life.[51] The Eighth Cosmos restructured the cosmic order and Eternity's counterpart is just his sister Infinity.[52]
Trivia
- During the events of Avengers/JLA, Eternity met the cosmic being Kismet from the DC Universe, and the two fell in love. However, in the end they were forced to say goodbye to one another. Eternity was also romantically involved with the Queen of Nevers.[53]
- The original Eternity was eventually killed by the combined effort of his son Entropy and Captain Marvel resulting in the destruction of the universe. They later came to regret their actions and recreated the universe, with Entropy becoming the new Eternity and stating that this was their life-cycle.[54]
- The Eternity Mask was made using the material that composed Eternity.[11]
- Eternity's alias as "Adam Quadmon" might be a reference to the spiritual idea of Adam Kadmon.
- Eternity is ticklish.[29]
See Also
- 117 appearance(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 10 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 40 minor appearance(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 54 mention(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 9 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 8 invocation(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 96 image(s) of Eternity (Earth-616)
- 6 quotation(s) by or about Eternity (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Defenders #92
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1
- ↑ Ultimates (Vol. 3) #6 ; Galactus' recap
- ↑ Quasar #37
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Doctor Strange #180
- ↑ Thor Corps #3
- ↑ Damage Control (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Quasar #38
- ↑ Secret Wars II #7
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Marvel Comics #1000
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Captain Marvel (Vol. 5) #6
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 New Avengers (Vol. 3) #30
- ↑ Secret Wars #9
- ↑ Infinity War #6
- ↑ Warlock and the Infinity Watch #11
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ Ultimates (Vol. 3) #5 ; Blue Marvel private log (recap)
- ↑ Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #2 ; Galactus' recap
- ↑ Ultimates (Vol. 3) #7 's Ulti-Mails letters page
- ↑ Ultimates 2 #100
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Fantastic Four #262
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 5) #25
- ↑ Quasar #26–27
- ↑ Loki (Vol. 3) #2
- ↑ Starbrand & Nightmask #3
- ↑ Infinity Gauntlet #1–6
- ↑ Strange Tales #138
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Deadpool vs. Thanos #4
- ↑ Strange Tales #146
- ↑ Doctor Strange #182
- ↑ Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ Mighty Avengers #30–34
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Deadpool vs. Thanos #1
- ↑ Secret Wars #2
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 7) #13
- ↑ Ultimates 2 (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ Starbrand & Nightmask #3–6
- ↑ Ultimates (Vol. 3) #4
- ↑ Doctor Strange: Last Days of Magic #1
- ↑ Civil War II #8
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 8) #8
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 8) #10
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 4) #16
- ↑ Spider-Man/Deadpool #13
- ↑ Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #45
- ↑ Children of the Voyager #3–4
- ↑ Thanos Annual #1
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #6
- ↑ Silver Surfer Annual #2
- ↑ Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel #5
- ↑ Immortal Thor #11
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 7) #3
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 5) #2–6
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 4