Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead for Eternals.
Directed by Chloé Zhao, Eternals follows the eponymous team as they protect Earth and its human inhabitants against the Deviants, the Eternals’ antagonistic counterparts.
Eternals includes a lot of twists and turns in its plot that ultimately lead to a showdown with a Celestial and the defiance of another, Arishem, who commanded them to keep an eye on Earth, but not interfere in any of its history. Focused primarily on Sersi (Gemma Chan) and her many realizations and relationships with her fellow Eternals — namely, Ikaris (Richard Madden), the physically strongest of the bunch and Sersi’s former lover — the story introduces the ancient beings and their journey to the MCU.
While trailers clued fans in on what to generally expect from Eternals, they didn’t do justice to the characters, the main plot, or to the the surprising elements within the story. With that in mind, here are the 12 biggest spoilers from Eternals.
The Emergence Is The Birth Of A New Celestial Tiamut
Previous speculation suggested the Emergence was the cause of Thanos snapping his finger and killing off half of Earth's population, which is why the Deviants were back. However, the truth is the Emergence is an ancient practice and directly involves the Eternals' arrival to Earth. Every planet has a Celestial growing in its core, and the Emergence happens when the population is large enough so it can gain enough energy to, well, emerge from the Earth, destroying it in the process. This happens on every planet with a Celestial cell, with Arishem needing the growing human population for energy.
Arishem Resets The Eternals' Memories After Every Emergence
The Eternals have spent centuries on Earth, waiting for Arishem to return after they’d defeated all of the Deviants. However, after Ajak chooses Sersi as her successor, Arishem reveals to her that they were created to kill the Deviants and help bring forth the Emergence. Following the birth of each Celestial, the Eternals leave every planet right before they are destroyed completely and their memories erased and stored before they go on their next mission. What’s more, their home planet of Olympia doesn’t actually exist. It’s unclear how many planets have been destroyed and their energies used to create new worlds, but the reveal of the Eternals’ involvement devastates Sersi. Thena also becomes volatile because her mind is ing the Eternals’ past life.
Eternals Were Sent To Kill Deviants Because They'd Evolved
The Deviants were originally sent to Earth by Arishem to help eradicate the predators that existed before — dinosaurs included — so as to pave the way for human life to exist and evolve. Unlike the Eternals, however, the Deviants also evolved, becoming predatory themselves. Arishem couldn’t have them preying on humans, so the cosmic being created the Eternals to fight and kill the Deviants in a bid to give humans a fighting chance. In Eternals’ present day, the Deviants return, killing the Eternals as revenge and absorbing their powers, evolving even more than before.
Gilgamesh Dies Saving Thena
In Babylon, Ajak told the team to leave and live their lives following the eradication of the Deviants. Gilgamesh chooses to go with Thena, who occasionally turned violent because her mind slipped into ing her erased memories from their past lives. To protect Thena during a Deviant attack, Gilgamesh jumps between her and the creature, fighting it off for a bit before it goes in for the kill, absorbing Gilgamesh’s powers. Thena is inconsolable after.
Ikaris Betrays Eternals & Wants The Emergence To Happen
One of the biggest twists in the film is Ikaris’ betrayal of the Eternals — namely, of Sersi. He went along with the idea to reunite the team in a bid to fight the Deviants, but Ikaris revealed he wanted the Emergence to happen because he loyally served Arishem and so couldn’t let the other Eternals try to destroy Tiamut to save the planet. It went against all of his protocols. He fights them (alongside Sprite, who abandons the rest to be with Ikaris) and goes so far as nearly killing them to protect Tiamut and allow the Emergence to happen as it originally planned.
Ikaris Leads Ajak To Her Death By The Deviants
Six days before the main events of the film, Ajak arrives at Ikaris’ home in South Dakota to tell him that the Emergence is finally happening. However, Ajak showed some regret about the event, having grown fond of Earth and its people. Concerned that she might go against her programming, Ikaris takes her to see the Deviants that came up from the ice as the planet warmed, throwing Ajak off the cliff and right into the middle of the creatures’ circle.
The Eternals In A Uni-mind To Kill Tiamut
To overpower the rise of Tiamut, Phastos creates something that will unite all of their minds together, channeling all of their energy so that Sersi can use her powers to transform his body to ice. Without all of their minds linked, it might have proven impossible to defeat Tiamut as he was rising from the earth.
Arishem Will Return To Judge Earth
Because the Deviants were such a primary focus of marketing, the Celestials being the true villains of Eternals came as a bit of a surprise. After Sersi and the other Eternals ed in a uni-mind with Tiamut, freezing him to death and preventing his emergence to destroy Earth, Arishem appeared to the remaining Eternals. He vowed to let the people of Earth go for now, but that the Eternals’ memories will prove if they are worthy to live when he returns for judgement. While he is never referred to as such, the Celestial’s full title is Arishem the Judge in the comics, and he is indeed tasked with making a decision about whether a civilization should live or die.
Ikaris Dies After Flying Into The Sun
After the Eternals’ uni-mind connection is broken, Ikaris tearfully apologizes to Sersi for what he’s done. Much like the myth that Sprite created in Athens about Ikaris’ wings burning off because he flies too close to the sun, the Eternal Ikaris does the same. Seemingly unable to face his family following his actions, he flies directly into the sun. Because Eternals established they can die, Ikaris presumably burned up by the star.
Sprite Becomes Human At The End
While Sprite also betrayed the Eternals, ing Ikaris to ensure the Emergence happened, she was also incredibly lonely and felt out of all the things the others got to do because they blended in with humans. At the end of Eternals, Sersi offers to make Sprite human with the remaining energy she had from the uni-mind. Sprite agreed because she wanted a chance to live, even if that meant growing older and dying one day.
Thanos’ Brother Eros Appears To Help The Eternals
In Eternals’ mid-credits scene, Thena, Makkari, and Druig are hanging around on their ship after setting course to find other Eternals living on other planets. Thena says it’s “been weeks” since they last saw the Eternals who remained on Earth. Naturally, they’re worried about what might have happened to them in their absence. Shortly thereafter, a troll named Pip and Eros, Thanos’ brother, appear. Eros tells Thena, Makkari, and Druig that their friends are in big trouble and that he and Pip know where to find them.
Dane Whitman Is In Possession Of The Ebony Blade
Dane Whitman’s past and family history was teased throughout Eternals, with Sersi even gifting him with a medieval ring bearing his family crest. At the end of the film, Dane tells Sersi that he has some family secrets and that their history is complicated. However, he never gets a chance to tell her what the secrets are. In Eternals’ post-credits scene, Dane opens a box containing the Ebony Blade, Dane’s famous weapon as the Black Knight, a moniker he has yet to take up in the MCU. The words on the inside of the box translate to “death is my reward.” When he goes to grab it, a voice offscreen asks him if he’s sure he’s ready for the sword before the screen goes black.
