The Leader of Marvel’s Eternals Has Just Been Murdered

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Eternals #1 from Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić

While he might not have made the cut for the Eternals‘ MCU debut, it seemed as though the Prime Eternal Zuras was going to get plenty of time to be featured in Marvel Comics’ latest Eternals comic series. However, Zuras was murdered by the end of the first issue, found dead upon his throne in the Eternals’ Kingdom of Olympia. Normally, death is simply a mild inconvenience for the immortal beings, but the identity of Zuras’ murderer could perhaps complicate his resurrection. Will the Eternals discover that they’ve lost their leader for good in their new Marvel Comics series?

In a move of strategic synergy, Marvel Comics has recently released their new Eternals series from Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić, coming just ahead of the MCU Eternals film releasing later this year from director Chloé Zhao. As such, the series is no doubt meant to serve as a sort of primer for readers unfamiliar with the immortal beings, who were creations of the cosmic Celestials in the Marvel Universe, all coming from the mind of the amazing Jack Kirby. However, while Zuras has long been the leader and Prime Eternal in the comics, his role will be replaced by the Celestian Priest Ajak in the upcoming film.

At the beginning of the issue, Zuras commanded one of the most powerful Eternals Ikaris to release one of their most challenging and dangerous of their race, known as Sprite. While Ikaris spent some time getting her acclimated to the modern-day, they also fought a Deviant (whom the Eternals were created to battle) before arriving at the Eternal Kingdom of Olympia, finding the Prime Eternal murdered on his throne.

Again, death isn’t normally a big deal for the Eternals as they can easily be reborn, resurrecting themselves as they have for eons since the earliest days of man. However, Ikaris and Sprite track down the killer to the Eternal Kingdom of Titanos on one of Saturn’s moon. There they find Thanos, who essentially declares war on the Eternals, promising to end them all. Thanos sees the Eternals and their ability to cheat death as the greatest insult in the cosmos, calling them “affront against the universe” and that the only thing eternal will be death itself when he’s done.

Thanos knows that the Eternals can simply be brought back after they’ve been killed, so it seems unlikely that he would have murdered Zuras just for him to be resurrected. It’s quite likely that Thanos has found a way to prevent the Eternals from coming back, thus ending the immortality they’ve long enjoyed. If the Eternals are now facing permanent death, it’s going to shake their entire status quo and way of life. Likewise, the Mad Titan Thanos will have just become a major threat to their entire race of Eternals as the series from Marvel Comics continues, especially now that their leader may have just been lost for good.

About The Author

Kevin Erdmann
(2522 Articles Published)

Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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