Marvel’s plans for its Phases 5 and 6 have been revealed, and with Eternals 2 not included in them (for now), what’s going to happen with the Celestials in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? With the Infinity Saga over, Thanos defeated, and the original Avengers team no longer active, the MCU is moving forward with new characters, events, and concepts, and Phase 4 already introduced a new superhero team in Chloé Zhao’s one of the most divisive MCU movies to date and its events continue to be ignored by the subsequent movies and TV shows.
The Eternals are a group of synthetic beings created by the Celestial Arishem the Judge, who sent them to Earth centuries ago to protect it from the Deviants, their evil counterparts. Once the Deviants were defeated, the Eternals stayed on Earth waiting for a sign to return “home” and helped humanity evolve, though they weren’t allowed to interfere in their conflicts. The team eventually parted ways and reunited many decades later after the death of their leader, Ajak (Salma Hayek), the return of the Deviants, and the fast approach of an apocalyptic event called “The Emergence”, which was the birth of a new Celestial, Tiamut, from the center of Earth. The surviving Eternals, now led by Sersi (Gemma Chan), successfully stopped Tiamut’s birth, but that wasn’t the end of their problems, especially with Arishem.
Eternals ended on a cliffhanger with the team divided into two – one group (Sersi, Phastos, Kingo) decided to stay on Earth and continue with their “human” lives, while the others (Thena, Makkari, Druig) left on the Domo. The first group was abducted by Arishem in order to judge their actions and decide if humans were worth saving, while the second group came across Eros/Starfox (Harry Styles), who told them he knows where to find the rest of the team. Now, even though the Celestials were part of the story of Eternals, their place and role in the MCU is still a mystery, so there are a bunch of questions about them waiting to be answered, but with Eternals 2 absent from the MCU’s Phase 5 and 6 (the latter, though, isn’t complete yet), what’s going to happen with the Celestials?
Will The Celestials Return In Other Phase 5 & 6 Movies?
The Celestials are the oldest race in the MCU, and they are entities with vast matter and energy manipulation abilities, who were present long before the dawn of creation, predating the Big Bang and the Six Singularities. Led by Arishem, the Celestials created planets, stars, and lifeforms and brought light into the universe, but in order to create more Celestials and push the boundaries of life, they started seeding planets with nascent Celestials, meaning that entire planets were destroyed so a new Celestial could be born. The Celestials were first mentioned and briefly seen in Ego (Kurt Russell), a Celestial, living planet with a humanoid extension of himself.
Given that Eternals is part of the cosmic side of the MCU, and with the future of Eternals 2 a mystery, the Celestials could appear or at least be mentioned again in Avengers: Secret Wars, the MCU has to answer some important questions about its multiverse first, as Eternals and everything about it has been mostly ignored in Phase 4.
How Do The Celestials Fit Into The Multiverse Saga?
The MCU’s Phase 4 has been developing the multiverse through the TV show the Celestials are aware of the TVA and its ruler. It’s believed that the Celestials are limited to one Universe, which gives Kang and the TVA the upper hand in The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, even if the Celestials are, in theory, more powerful than him. The Celestials, then, could the battle in Secret Wars to defend the universe they have created, but depending on what their true purpose and plans are, they could turn their back on it and instead Kang, making the conflict even more threatening and complex.
