I put this out as a request, one that I don't have time to perform myself at this time:

Could we PLEASE update this Page to reflect the recent miniseries' massive ret-cons to the Eternals' hsitory?

For example, the (newly-retconned) fact that most of the Eternals are actually millions of years old, and that they were manipulated by Sprite into having false memories?? I mean, the info on this page, aside from the picture, is practically as old as the first OHOTMU.

When I get more time, I'll be back to contribute -in the meantime, one source for the ret-conned info is another page on "The Eternals" in Wikipedia proper (which I participated in writing).

Thanks in advance for anybody who can help out!!Thanos777 01:37, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

What exactly do you think the retcon is? I'll admit, I'm mostly familiar with the Eternals as a group from Jack Kirby's Eternals comic in the 1970s, but everything in Gaiman's miniseries seems perfectly in-line with that. What the mini-series did do was explain where they've been since ~Onslaught, as they seem to have dropped off the face of the map at about that time. Sprite's illusion-made-real is proveably of quite recent vintage, because in his recreating of reality he ages in 'real time' (whatever that means in the Marvel universe), and he's pretty young when he's found out, so its been like a year or two of Marvel time since he rewrote reality. --Squirrelloid 02:10, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

There was a retcon in that they now have some sort of...body factory below Olympia, where they'd be reborn in if their bodies were dispersed too much for them to heal. And there are supposedly 100 Eternals on Earth (though it doesn't mention whether those are the 100 left over after the rest went into space in Avengers...was it 248? Or if there have ALWAYS just been 100. Also fails to explain where Zuras came from, since he was supposedly dead since Thor #300, an issue which saw the Eternals mourn him...but none seemed surprised when he returned).

--GrnMarvl14 02:58, May 22, 2010 (UTC)

What exactly do you think the retcon is?

Very very briefly: the whole altered timeline (over a million years instead of the original 20,000); the fact that they are now bound to Earth and/or the Solar System; far fewer Eternals needed to make the Uni-Mind, and it doesn't have to be Zuras initiating it; They can no longer attack any of the Celestials; changes to the various Eternals' powers, such as Makkari's speed; and as mentioned, the sudden, unexplained 'reappearance' of Zuras. And that's just off the top of my head. Personally, I don't see why you think that the Gaiman effort *isn't* a ret-con.Thanos777 02:59, May 24, 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I've tried to find evidence that things were different based on the Kirby originals, I've failed. All references to issues are Eternals Vol. 1.

'Instead of the original 20,000 years'? Um... to quote Eternals #1: "It all began with the coming of the gods to Earth when it was populated only by the beasts of the field!" Now, clearly that means the Eternals came sometime before Man evolved - what precisely that means depends on what you mean by 'man', but its at *least* 200,000, and probably 1+mya. The next page tells us they chose to evolve apes, which puts us back pre-hominids, which is sometime before 5mya. So most certainly not a retcon of the *original* material. The original material requires millions of years. See also: Eternals #3: "The celestials were here before man."

Eternals #1 also mentions the gods hid their secrets from the Eternals with mindblocks - presumably the mindblocks prevented them from remembering about the antarctic fortress. Thus they may truly have believed Zuras was dead, and thus mourned him.

Eternals #2 further says Eternals can't die, so Zuras being dead clearly was an impossibility. And again in Eternals 3 we're told Eternals can't die. As to being surprised at his return - Gaiman's miniseries results in the Eternals remembering who they are completely, so they would thus remember (1) the antarctic base and (2) Zuras couldn't possibly have died.

the Eternals in the original series reference a home in the 'Polar Mountains', which, since there are no mountains in the Arctic, must mean Antarctica - so maybe they remembered the base classically, just not the resurrection chambers.

Eternals #2 quotes a deviant on the title page spread: "Fools, they've been here before! --And in their wake they've always left destruction!" While not spelled out, this is where Gaiman is probably tying the deviants = food for the gods theme. He's expanding on what Jack left open to interpretation.

Eternals 2 - "I've made it known that our atoms are reassembled" - clearly the Eternals were aware they could be reconstituted from atoms. Eternals #18 - Ikarus is reassembled from atoms. Even the resurrection chambers being a mystery to them is looking less plausible. What's looking implausible is Thor 300.

Not sure which Eternals you think got power changes. Sersy (sic) in Eternals 4 does transmutation, so that's not new. Makkari is shown using Superspeed in Eternals 5 (1st appearance).

In the original series no Eternal ever tries to attack one of the Celestials, so i can neither confirm nor deny Gaiman's theory based on the original material. That said, none of them ever wants to disobey a Celestial either...

Nothing about the original formation of the unimind (Eternals #12) requires that Zuras be the one to initiate it. He happens to be the one to initiate it, but that doesn't make his participation a requirement. Nor does it specify a minimum number. Eternals #14 makes it clear that his command of the Uni-Mind is a matter of *tradition*, no implication of necessity.

Actual retcon - Eternals 2 claims the deviants once challenged the gods and lost - this doesn't perfectly match Gaiman's version, although as an outside allegorical description of what happened its a perfectly reasonable perspective for an Eternal to have.

Actual retcon - Arishem of the Fourth Host is supposed to stand and judge the world for *50 years*. Obviously, this isn't Gaiman's retcon - it was retconned long before Gaiman ever got to write it. Indeed, Gaiman is the first writer since Kirby to even mention the 4th host happening in recent history.

So, not seeing what's supposed to have been retconned based on the original Eternals stories. --Squirrelloid 04:21, May 24, 2010 (UTC)