Sersi
Sersi is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Eternals, a race of superhumans. She was also a member of the Avengers and God Squad. Sersi first appeared in the 1976–1978 comic book series The Eternals.
Gemma Chan portrays Sersi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals.
Publication history
Sersi first appeared in Jack Kirby's The Eternals #3 as Sersy. Although The Eternals was published by Marvel Comics, it was not treated as part of the Marvel Universe, but rather as a stand-alone series.In the 1980s, she made guest appearances in the series The Avengers and Captain America.
Later, Marvel Comics continuity was retconned so that Sersi was the Greek mythological enchantress Circe, as introduced in Strange Tales #109 by Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein, and Kirby. A different version of Circe had also previously appeared in the Atlas Comics publication Venus #9.
In 1990, Sersi joined the Avengers team, after her fellow Eternal Gilgamesh left the team following an injury. Sersi left the team in 1994.
After Malibu Comics was acquired by Marvel, Sersi and the Black Knight were incorporated into the short-lived Ultraverse imprint along with other Marvel characters.
During the 2006 relaunch of the Eternals, the character was redesigned by Neil Gaiman.
Sersi and the other Eternals returned in Jason Aaron's Avengers. They were then all killed in a story arc involving the Dark Celestials in issue #4.
Fictional character biography
Origins and early history
Sersi is a fourth-generation member of the Eternals, an evolutionary offshoot of the human race. She is the daughter of the Eternals Helios and Perse and was probably born in Olympia, Greece, sometime after the Great Cataclysm that destroyed the continents of Atlantis and Lemuria during an extended ice age known as the Hyborean Age. At a young age, Sersi differed from her fellow Eternals in her desire to live among humans. Sersi first met Captain America, who had travelled back in time, during her time in ancient Mesopotamia. Although Sersi still had the appearance of a child at this time, she was already thousands of years old.A few thousand years later, Sersi was based in ancient Greece, where she met the poet Homer, who would later write one of the earliest works in Western literature, The Odyssey. Sersi was based upon the mythological figure Circe, who lived on Aeaea, an island in the Aegean Sea, and turned Odysseus' men into pigs.
Under the name of Circe, Sersi also imprisoned the imps in Pandora's box in ancient times.
Unlike the majority of her fellow Eternals who stay in hidden cities, Sersi revels in her humanity. Except for the Forgotten One, she has lived amongst humans more than any other Eternal. This includes various places of historical importance like Nero's Rome and Camelot, the court of King Arthur, where she helped Merlin the magician defeat an impostor who had usurped his position. Sersi also fought alongside Thor in the Viking Siege of Paris, although he was not aware of this. She has been a dancer, actress, stage magician, hedonist and adventurer.
The Marvel Age
In The Eternals #3-5, published in 1976, Sersi battled Deviants in New York City, after which anthropologist Dr. Samuel Holden introduced her to the world at large at New York's City College, along with other Eternals. Sersi became fascinated with the soft-spoken Doctor and began a relationship with him. Sersi turned out to be a staunch ally to the Eternals in their struggles with the Deviants.Sersi met and became an ally of Thor. She then participated in a battle between the Olympian gods and Eternals. Despite her loyalty to the Eternals, Sersi valued her independence, and she often refused to come to the Eternals' gatherings. During one such instance, Domo of the Eternals sent the Delphan Brothers to bring her to Olympia so that all the Eternals could form the Uni-Mind to debate their future. However, Sersi had decided not to attend, as she would continue doing what she wanted regardless of the outcome. Unbeknown to the Delphan Brothers, the Wasp and Starfox of the Avengers, much to Sersi's delight, had crashed the party. They came to Olympia as well, where it was revealed that Starfox was the son of A'lars, who was also the Mentor of Titan, brother to Zuras. When the majority of Eternals decided to leave Earth for space, Sersi chose to remain.
At least 13 years later, the Avenger Captain America needed someone with illusion-casting or shape-changing abilities for help with a case he was working on. He found Sersi's address on the Avengers' database and decided to ask her for help. Sersi was happy to aid "Cap" but required a favor from him in return a dinner invitation.
Sersi battled Ghaur alongside the Eternals, Thor, and the West Coast Avengers. Sersi also aided the Avengers in their struggle against the Deviants and the Elder God Set. When her fellow Eternal, the Forgotten One, was injured while serving as an Avenger, the Avengers came to Sersi for help. She travelled into the Negative Zone with the Avengers to find the Eternals, where she was seemingly killed by Blastaar, but returned to life.
Earth's mightiest
Captain America, the chairman of the Avengers, decided to ask Sersi to join the Avengers due to her previous assistance, which she accepted. In her first mission with the team, she helped them defeat Nebula.Sersi was a powerful addition to the Avengers roster, although her flirtation still managed to embarrass Captain America. Sersi served with the team for quite a long time. Then, during an attack on the Earth by the Brethren, Sersi was captured and formed a Uni-Mind with the Brethren leader, Thane Ector. Such a union, between two different species, is forbidden by the Eternals, as it may lead to the breakdown of the Eternals' mental disciplines. Sersi fought Sybil Dorn and became an ally to Thane Ector.
Some months after this, Sersi became more aggressive; she was one of the Avengers involved in the attempted murder of the Kree Leader, the Supreme Intelligence, during the Avengers involvement in the Kree-Shi'ar War.
Black Knight's love and Proctor's evil
During this time, Sersi began a relationship with fellow Avenger Dane Whitman, the Black Knight. The Avengers began a fight against a villain called Proctor, who was reuniting Avengers from different realities, forming a team called The Gatherers.Sersi's aggression caused tensions between her and her teammates. A romantic triangle formed between Sersi, the Black Knight, and the newest Avenger, Crystal. These tensions came to a climax when the Avengers traveled to the planet Polemachus. When the villainous priest Anskar murdered a young girl called Astra, Sersi killed him in retribution.
When the Avengers returned to Earth, Sersi fled to Warrior Falls in Wakanda, trying to escape her guilt and fear. The Black Knight found her and convinced her to return to Avengers Headquarters. Sersi said that she feared she was going insane. Upon her return to Avengers Headquarters, Sersi suddenly attacked her fellow Avengers. She was stopped only by the intervention of the Vision. The real Vision was being held prisoner in Proctor's Andean mountain base.
By this time, Sersi's fellow Eternals had become aware of her unstable nature. Three of them came to return her to Olympia. The Eternals feared Sersi was suffering from the Mahd W'yry disease, a breakdown of the mind due to the Eternals' extended lives. Sersi rejected their fears as archaic and refused to accompany them back to Olympia. The Avengers didn't want to let the Eternals take one of their members against her will. They also learned that if Sersi was found to be suffering from the Mahd W'yry, the Eternals planned to 'cleanse' her by molecular disintegration, which would kill her. Sprite, who had learned of Sersi's relations with the Black Knight, proposed that the Knight be made her Gann Josin. Before the matter could be further discussed, Ikaris used his powers as the Prime Eternal to create the link between Sersi and The Black Knight. The Eternals then departed. The Black Knight was not happy with the result, for he had decided that he loved Crystal and not Sersi.
The Avengers had little time to discuss the situation because they needed to assault Proctor's Andean citadel. Then they fought against the Kree suicide squad, In the Genoshan conflict, Sersi fought Exodus. The Avengers also ventured into Deviant Lemuria in a battle against the mad priest Ghaur, an old enemy of Sersi.
The relations between the teammates continued to worsen, and Sersi remained in her unstable state. The Avengers called on former member Hank Pym to discover the cause of her mental problems. At one point, Sersi confided in the Avengers' butler Jarvis that she had been having dreams about a strange man dressed in black, who was assaulting young men she had befriended. Jarvis probed her further, and Sersi used her powers to pull the image of Proctor from her mind. Neither Jarvis nor Sersi had ever seen Proctor and didn't recognize him. Around this time, two police officers questioned Sersi personally. Later, they were found dredged from a river and turned into stone. Sersi was framed for these murders.
The Avengers believed her capable of the crimes, and Sersi was surprised by this accusation. When the police attempted to arrest her, Sersi destroyed the Avengers Mansion and fled to the Brooklyn Bridge. In her maddened state, she used the Gann Josin link to call the Black Knight to her side, and the two of them prepared to fight the other Avengers. When Sersi threatened Crystal, the Black Knight reacted and temporarily broke the Gann Josin bond. Shocked by this, Sersi destroyed the Brooklyn Bridge.
Confused by her state of mind, Sersi was finally approached by Proctor, who revealed the full extent of his plan. Capturing her, Proctor returned to his base of operations in New York and revealed that he was behind her madness and seizures, and was responsible for the murders of the young men and police officers. With her full memory returned, Sersi broke free from Proctor's control long enough to stumble upon the villain's trophy room. There laid Ute, a defeated Watcher as well as innumerable Sersis of other worlds that Proctor had already killed. With Sersi confused, the Gatherer Rik was able to contain her once again. The Avengers were rescued by the Eternals Thena and Sprite. Based on the description Jarvis gave them of the man in Sersi's dream, the Avengers concluded that Proctor was responsible for the crimes. They also were approached by Ute in astral form, who warned them that Proctor should be defeated to prevent all of reality from collapsing. Dane Whitman discovered by computer analysis that Proctor was a version of himself from a different reality. Proctor meanwhile began his final gambit: using the life energies of Sersi and Ute to collapse the various realities into one another.
The Avengers, joined by Thena and Sprite, rushed to the scene, only to be confronted by the Gatherers. While his fellow Avengers fought the various Gatherers, the Black Knight approached Proctor himself, only to be defeated by his Ebony Blade. Sersi and the Watcher looked on from the vortex that contained them as Proctor began to 'gather' the Black Knight's essence into himself, preparing to merge with him. Quicksilver, Crystal's estranged husband, stopped him. Approaching Proctor, a freed Sersi used the villain's Ebony Blade to kill him. After this, Ute used his powers to undo the damage that had been done to the Avengers Mansion, the Brooklyn Bridge, and various other locations, as well as opening a dimensional rift to another reality. Sersi, fearing that the manipulations of Proctor were irreversible, decided to enter this door between worlds, so that she may be able to live free of his madness. With his own mind clear the Black Knight decided to join Sersi in her exile. He felt responsible for the suffering Sersi had endured, and he knew that he couldn't remain in the Avengers if it meant interfering with Quicksilver's attempts to reconcile with Crystal. The two Avengers entered the dimensional rift, traveling to another universe.