The Eternals Characters I Want to See on Disney+

Eternals Annual #1
“The Time Killers”
Written, drawn and edited by: Jack Kirby
Letters and inks: Michael Royer
Colors: Glynis Wein
Released: July 26, 1977

Jack Kirby's original “Eternals” series is a sprawling epic with a massive cast. Movie-goers are about to meet a number of them (or characters based on them anyway), but I'd like to highlight a team that didn't get enough time in the comics and two-thirds of which likely won't appear in the film opening this week.

We will see Thena, who is being brought to the screen by Angelina Jolie. I wasn't familiar with the character – or a lot of Eternals beyond Ikaris, Sersi and Makkari – prior to pulling her figure from a box of Heroclix.

But that changed earlier this year when I dug into Kirby's series via the free Hoopla library app. Not only did I reread one issue that was a favorite from my youth, I got a lesson in who the Eternals were and why they did what they did (before various and sundry reboots).

Thena is the daughter of the Prime Eternal Zuras and was romantically entangled with a Deviant (the Eternals' mortal enemies) named Kro. Like other Eternals, she has powerful matter manipulation abilities, but she's more of a diplomat in the earlier stories than the warrior woman seen in later takes.

Accompanying Kro to the Deviant undersea homeland of Lemuria, Thena happens upon a pair of Deviants known as Karkas and Reject. Two extremes of the unstable Deviant genetic structure, Karkas is a massive mutate with the heart of a philosopher, while Reject is reviled for his hideous form, which is actually handsome by human standards. (Some would say he looks like me, and by “some” I mean me, and I've never actually said that.) He's become a vicious warrior in the gladiatorial arena where the Deviants pit their cast-offs against one another.

Thena takes the outcasts back to the Eternal city of Olympia with her, where, naturally, she, Karkas and Reject form an epic crimefighting team.

At least that's what I hope would have happened if Kirby's series had continued beyond issue 19. But the “pilot episode” we get in the first Eternals Annual was enough to convince me this trio could have carried their own book (or Disney+ series).

Thena takes the two square pegs to an unnamed city to investigate mysterious appearances – like a Neanderthal menacing pedestrians – that Zuras blames on a Deviant called Zakka, the Tool-Maker. Hey, they can't all be winners.

Not him.                        Him.

Zakka is using a projector-like tool to pluck dangerous figures from the timestream and unleash them on the modern world. Thena uses her powers to make Karkas look like a normal-but-massive human and give Reject a green sweater and sport coat.

Soon they're facing off against Jack the Ripper and Attila the Hun while Thena … stands nearby and offers commentary and critiques.

The time-displaced troublemakers can only remain in the present for a limited period, which allows them to be dealt with tidily, blinking away just before Karkas and Reject deal with them in manners that might have upset the Comics Code Authority.

Zakka decides to up his game by bringing forth history's most dangerous Deviant mutate – Tutinax the Mountain-Mover! (It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it beats Zakka the Tool-Maker.) A bit perturbed at being yoinked through time and space, Tutinax kills Zakka before rampaging through the city.

Reject acknowledges he's unlikely to defeat Tutinax, but hey, what's an outcast gladiator to do when a deadly foe is in front of him? Rush headlong into battle of course. Karkas is less enthused but more concerned about stopping the big Toot (that's even worse than the Tool-Maker) from hurting innocent people.

They fight him for a bit until Tutinax lifts a building off its foundation. As Thena urges caution, the villain blinks back to his own time and they walk off into the sunset. Thena thinks this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, while Karkas and Reject are mostly annoyed. She used them to keep the villain occupied until his expiration date came and went.

I think it was the first issue of a great adventure series with the polar opposite Karkas and Reject being led and forced to adapt to polite society by the aristocratic Thena as they pursue Deviants and other evil-doers around the world. Updated stories would have Thena kicking more butt directly. She's not hiding off to one side while the men do the hard work here – she's clearly in charge, but it is odd that the most powerful character lets the others do all the heavy lifting. Maybe Kirby's version felt combat was beneath her and she was giving these guys a chance to use their skills for good.

As for the art, I mean, it's Jack Kirby. I didn't always appreciate his style, but I get it now. This is classic, distinctive art that others have imitated but still stands out decades later.