‘Eternals’: The Celestials’ Threat Could Reveal the True Villains of Marvel’s New Movie

While some Marvel movies lean on the classic superhero setup of hero vs. villain, others have shown more complicated conflicts. Someone thought to be an ally turns out to hold more sinister plans, like Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home or Obadiah Stane in Iron Man. Marvel’s Eternals trailers indicate the Deviants as the main threat, but the Celestials could pose an even bigger problem.

The ‘Eternals’ trailers feature the Celestial Arishem the Judge prominently

In addition to introducing the main characters, like Salma Hayek’s Ajak and Richard Madden’s Ikaris, a massive red-figure appears throughout.

The red guy in the Eternals trailer is Arishem the Judge, a Celestial. In the comics, the Celestial Arishem judges which planets’ civilizations live and which ones die. He can enact his judgment essentially without reason since they are ‘beyond human understanding.’

However, the Marvel movies do not follow the comics one-for-one. Ajak states that the power surge from Thanos’ Snap erasing life and the Avengers subsequently returning it caused an ‘emergence.’

“The cost of the cosmic energy that was played with during The Snap and The Blip events that killed off — and then replaced — half of all life in the universe. It’s just as easy to believe that the uses of the Infinity Gauntlet have now made Earth a renewed target for the Celestials judgment,” Comicbook.com noted.

What would happen if Arishem judged Earth in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’

If the Eternals fail their mission to stop the Deviants and the Celestial Arishem judges Earth, what could befall the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

When Arishem deemed a population unfit to continue in the comics, he signaled another Celestial: Exitar the Executioner.

Exitar poses a nigh-unstoppable threat. If the Eternals want to save Earth and its inhabitants, they better before Arishem judges the planet.

“After all, the MCU Eternals seemingly exist for the purpose of keeping the Deviant threat down — so if it looks like they are failing in that function, their creators may deem Earth to be too much of an unstable and dangerous threat to the universe,” Comicbook.com said.

Will the Eternals find the Celestials or Deviants a bigger threat?

After initially stopping the Deviants on Earth, the Eternals essentially went dormant for millennia. They blended into Earth’s population, sat by as wars waged on, and Thanos eliminated half the universe.

They sat back all because no direct Deviant threat stood.

However, with the ‘emergence,’ Ikaris, Ajak, Sprite, and the others will need to clean up the Deviants before Arishem turns his judgment upon Earth.

While the Deviant Kro seems to serve as the initial villain, the biggest threat likely lies out among the cosmos.