Celestial (comics)
The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, they debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions.
They also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action films Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Eternals, and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Publication history
The Celestials debuted in The Eternals #1 and were created by writer and artist Jack Kirby. They reappeared as regular guest stars in three subsequent limited series sequels: The Eternals vol. 2 #1–12, Eternals vol. 3 #1–7, and Eternals vol. 4 #1–9.The characters have also been featured in other titles, including the "Celestial Saga" storyline in Thor Annual #7, Thor #283–300, Thor #387–389, Quasar #24, Fantastic Four #400, X-Factor #43–46 and #48–50. The first detailed account of the Celestials' origin was finally presented in The Ultimates 2 #6.
Fictional history
The origin of the Celestials was long unknown, with many species across the mainstream Marvel Universe having only unconfirmed legends about their beginnings—until the so-called Eternity War, when major revelations about the Celestials were revealed by the mysterious cosmic entity "Queen of Nevers".At the beginning of creation itself, countless billions of years ago, before the current Cosmic Order, creation was composed of a single and sentient universe, whose omnipotent intelligence was referred to as the First Firmament. For countless ages, the First Firmament was the sole being in creation, until its loneliness became unbearable. It decided to create the first life in Creation to give it companions as well as servants—an act that it would come to regret. These servants, cosmic beings of a lesser order of power, were of two kinds: black and multicolored humanoid servants. The black servants dutifully obeyed and worshiped their creator. They even created their own servants and sought to preserve the simple order their creator had made complete and unchanging for all time. The First Firmament named these loyal beings Aspirants and was very pleased by their goals and desire to maintain the status quo of its reign. However, the multicolored ones had completely different values and desires from the Aspirants. Considered "rebels" by the First Firmament, they wanted a dynamic, diverse and continually evolving Reality where beings lived, learned, reproduced, aged and died to slowly improve themselves through evolution. The rebels wanted this with the ultimate long-term goal of producing superior cosmic beings with the power to create universes of their own and for the universe to evolve with them as they advanced towards that state. These were the beings whom one day would be called by lesser life forms, "The Celestials".
The two opposing factions of the First Firmament's children could not peacefully co-exist and the ensuing war nearly destroyed the first universe. At some point during the war, the Aspirants created a now-lost hyper weapon called the Godkiller, a space-borne tall humanoid robot that dwarfed even the Celestials themselves. It was powered by a cosmic artifact later called the Heart of The Voldi and operated by genetically engineered pilots. During the war, the Godkiller destroyed countless billions of Celestials and brought them to the brink of extinction. At this point, for unknown reasons, a civil war broke out among the Aspirants that led to the Godkiller being stripped of critical parts for weapons. This division within the Aspirants gave the Celestials a chance to recover and make their last stand. In the final battle against the Aspirants, the Celestials detonated their ultimate weapons that tore the First Firmament apart and very nearly killed it. In a desperate act of self-preservation, the core essence of the First Firmament took the surviving Aspirants and fled outside Reality. In the wake of its near destruction, the major fragments of the First Universe that were torn off coalesced into a new cosmic being, one with multiple realities composing it. This was the birth of the Second Cosmos and the First Multiverse. After the birth of the first Multiverse, the "rebels" settled inside him, multiplied and began their vast plan to create and nurture transitory but evolving life on the newborn worlds within, a general outline of the basic plan the Celestials follow for shaping the evolution of life on a chosen planet after it develops primitive sentient life.
This initial visit is called a First Host of Celestials, after the chosen planet has been judged to possess the needed properties for an effective "seeding". The Celestials then return for follow-up visits or "Hosts", during which they monitor the subject planet's progress and make whatever modifications or interventions they deem appropriate. These Hosts have been documented on Earth, and have also been found on many other planets throughout the universe. Other major examples include the Skrull homeworld, hundreds of millions of years ago, and numerous Sh'iar worlds, such as Gladiator's homeworld.
First Host on Earth
Collecting a number of natives during the Stone Age, the Celestials begin genetic experimentation to determine the species' future development. They create two subspecies from the natives: Eternals, Deviants, and a majority "normal" strain that may or may not be modified in some manner that enhances its long-term development. For example, the Celestials first visited Earth nearly a million years ago and implanted a special genetic code into the early hominids. This implanted DNA structure has been revealed to be not only the source of the ability of select random humans to develop superpowers upon exposure to dangerous environmental catalysts, it also allowed for the development of benevolent mutations that caused the existence of inborn potential superpowers in mutants. In truth, the Celestials came to Earth to investigate the disappearance of a Celestial only to realize Earth might eventually create antibodies against the Horde infection via its powered inhabitants.Second Host
Approximately 21,000 years ago, the Celestials returned to Earth for the Second Host and found that the Deviants had created a vast empire across the world based on the continent of Lemuria, where they had conquered most of the primitive human tribes with their superior technology. They were also about to go to war with the original human inhabitants of the neighboring continent of Atlantis. The Celestials then destroyed Lemuria and sank it under the ocean, utterly shattering the Deviants' empire and indirectly sinking Atlantis-therefore destroying both continents and reshaping the Earth.Third and Fourth Host
Resenting the presence of the Celestials and their monitoring of Earth's progress, the Skyfather figures of Earth attempted to stop the Third Host, but were quickly outmatched. The Space Gods then stated they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing.The Skyfathers then developed a convoluted plan to stop the Fourth Host via the use of the Odinsword and Destroyer armour, but once again the Celestials prevented the offensive and melted the Destroyer armour into slag, scattering the Asgardians' life forces. The Earthmothers of Earth, however, had planned a peaceful solution and made an offering of twelve perfect humans, which was accepted, and the planet was spared judgment. The judgment process on another planet was witnessed by Odin's young son Thor, who observed Arishem the Judge sending an execution code to Exitar the Exterminator, a tall Celestial who carried out Arishem's "sentence". Exitar terraforms the planet in question into a garden paradise, with only the "evil" inhabitants having been destroyed. On one occasion, the hero Quasar observes a race completely failing the genetic test, with every living creature being destroyed with their planet.
The Fulcrum
The Celestials' actions conflicted with the policy of "non-interference" practiced by fellow cosmic entities the Watchers, with the two races becoming enemies. The Celestials and their "opposites", the locusts of the universe, cosmic insect-like beings that would eventually be called the Horde, are established as instruments of an entity referred to as The Fulcrum, their purpose to be "instruments of the planting/creation/teeming of the universe".[Knowhere] – The city inside a Celestial's head
One of the Celestials to first enter the Abyss left after the destruction of the 6th Cosmos, encountered the dark elder god Knull and picked him up to examine him. Enraged over the Celestials despoiling the Abyss through their creation of the 7th Cosmos, Knull manifested a blade of living abyss from his shadow and decapitated the Celestial, thereby causing the first death in the renewed Multiverse.A team of space adventurers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, find the head floating in an area of space known as "The Rip" and use it as a base. Dubbed "Knowhere", the head also acts as a common port of call for travelers from all points in the space-time continuum. The base is administered by its chief of security, Cosmo, a telepathic and telekinetic Soviet space dog originally lost in Earth orbit in the 1960s. Courtesy of the deceased Celestial's "Continuum Cortex", travelers with special "passport" bracelets can teleport to any point in the universe instantaneously.