EON

EON

Real Name: Unknown

First Appearance: Captain Marvel (Vol. 1) #28, September 1973

Powers: Eon was a sentient, quasi-physical entity, roughly 20 feet in height, that resembled a tree with certain humanoid features and possessed great power and considerable knowl­edge of the cosmos. Almost as old as the universe itself, Eon was among the first sentient entities formed in the wake of the Big Bang and has ex­isted for 8 billion years. Eon claimed to be the offspring of Eternity, which is the entity that embodies all life forces in the universe, the Celestial Axis, which is the pattern of organic energy threading itself through the known universe, and Time itself, which appears to be another aspect of the entity called Eternity.

Eon dwelled in a pocket dimension adjacent to Earth's universe, from which it could observe this universe. However, Eon could materialize anywhere in the uni­verse it chooses. Eon appeared to be a sort of cosmic custodian that monitors life in the universe. Beings with an abundance of power particularly attracted Eon 's at­tention. Eon is believed to be respon­sible for certain phenomena on Earth, a planet that lies along the Ce­lestial Axis. Eon apparently had something to do with certain other di­mensions in which beings of godlike powers dwell. In most of these di­mensions, the Celestial Axis mani­fests itself as a physical object. In the dimension of Asgard, for example, the Celestial Axis becomes Yggdrasil the World Tree.

Eon's principal function was to nur­ture the evolution of the sentient life forms of the universe and to maintain conditions conducive to life within the universe. Eon regarded Earth and its human denizens as having partic­ular importance to the history of the universe. Eon regarded the present time as a crucial one in Earth's his­tory due to the emergence over re­cent decades of growing numbers of superhuman beings. Eon believed that a superhuman race is quickly evolving on Earth that would bring a "golden age" to the entire universe.  

One of Eon's major functions was the appointment of a protector of life in the universe. Since its creation, Eon anticipated major threats to life and chose champions to de­fend the universe against these threats. It is not known how fre­quently Eon appointed these protec­tors, if there is a virtually unbroken progression of them, or if they are only selected when the need arises. Eon appointed numerous such guardians, selecting them from vari­ous sentient races, including one from the Elan. All but one of these champions wore devices called Quantum-Bands, wristbands that Eon created that enable the champions to manip­ulate energy at will and serve as a symbol of his or her station as Protector of the Universe. Eon also be­stowed other powers upon the guardians it has chosen. The first Protector of the Universe that Eon appointed was Glakandar, about 5 billion years ago.

Eon selected Captain Mar-Veil of Kree as a Protector of the Universe. Mar Veil, who distin­guished himself both in the Kree mili­tary and as a defender of Earth was appointed protector to combat the menace of Thanos, one of the Eter­nals of Titan, who sought to destroy the universe. Mar-Veil led the Earth's staunchest champions against Thanos, who ultimately was de­feated by them. Eon granted Mar-Vell the heightened consciousness called "cosmic awareness" to aid him in his crusade against Thanos. Mar-Veil was the only one of the champions chosen by Eon who did not wear the Quantum-Bands, which had fallen into the possession of the costumed Marvel Boy duplicate calling himself the Crusader.

Following Mar-Vell's death from cancer, Eon selected Wendell Elvis Vaughn, also known as the costumed champion Quasar, as the next Protector of the Universe. Quasar had already acquired the wristbands following the Crusader’s death. Eon told Quasar that he was to defend both the universe and Eon itself from an unidentified menace to them both that originates on Earth. To better protect Eon, Quasar brought Eon back to Earth, and concealed it in an office in Four Freedoms Plaza in Manhattan. Eon remained there for a time, advising Quasar in his mis­sion against the unidentified men­ace.

DEATH

 

DEATH

Real Name: Death

First Appearance: Captain Marvel (Vol. 1) #27, June 1973

Powers: The personification of Death can manifest itself on the physical plane at certain times to certain individuals as a sentient, quasi-tangible humanoid entity of either gender. Like Eternity, Lord Chaos, and Master Order, Death is an abstract being embodying a concept, whose true nature and origin is unknown. Death and the being called Eternity are said to comprise the mystical essence of the universe: Eternity embodies the principle of life, and Death embodies the principle of mortality.

Death and Eternity can both manifest themselves as sentient beings, and have spoken of themselves as siblings. They have appeared in humanoid form, although presumably they could appear in any guise they chose. Eternity generally appears in the form of a male, while Death usually manifests itself in female form. This may simply be the form Death chooses to seduce males into doing its will. When Death presented itself once to the vampire lord Dracula as a rival rather than as a seducer, it took male form. While Death can take the guise of a living human, it more often appears to living beings as a hooded, robed skeleton.

The personification of Death sometimes seems to possess fathomable motives. Death seems to seek new conquests, and manipulates mortals with or without their knowledge in order to gain them. Death once attempted to destroy Dracula through human pawns because Dracula was depriving it of conquests by creating vampires who were neither truly alive nor truly dead Death failed on that occasion, but Dracula eventually fell victim to permanent destruction. Although Death ordinarily seems content to maintain a balance in the universe between its power and Eternity's, Death will seize opportunities that arise to achieve dominance over Eternity. Death once appeared to the mad Titan Thanos in the form of a woman with whom he fell so much in love that he was willing to destroy the universe in order to please her. Death also apparently works in partnership with Galactus, the destroyer of worlds. Death has on occasion taken the role of gamesman, having once played a tournament of champions with the Elder called the Grandmaster.

Death's ultimate goals are unknown. There may be a master plan guiding its movements or nothing more than random chance. Virtually all living creatures in the known universe must eventually surrender themselves to Death. Even the Eternals and Asgardians age, although they do so very slowly, and will someday die. The Olympian gods do not age, but can be killed by a sufficiently powerful force. The Elders of the Universe, reputed to be the oldest living beings in the universe, can also be killed by a sufficiently powerful force. Galactus, the only known entity said to predate the Big Bang itself, believes his death inevitable.

The relationship between Death and the so-called gods of the dead of the various pantheons is also very hazy. Death gods like Hela and demons like Mephisto seem to receive certain undefined powers from Death and even rule over extradimensional realms seemingly inhabited by the souls of deceased mortals. But whether they are Death's pawns or allies cannot be determined.

Death remains one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. At one point, Death was "killed" by the extradimensional being known as the Beyonder, who later "recreated" it. The implications of this on Death's nature are still a mystery. Later, Death appeared to the Phoenix Force, claiming it to be the product of power of all life yet unborn, and thus somewhat an agent of Death and abstract entity the likes of Eternity and Death. Death helped to convince the Force to leave its then-current avatar, Rachel Summers.

PHOENIX FORCE

 

PHOENIX FORCE

Real Name: Phoenix Force

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #101, October 1976

Powers: The Phoenix Force is a celestial elemental representing several universal constants. It is a symbol of rebirth, and acts as a conduit for all life essence in the universe. Whenever a living creature is born, its initial lifeforce is drawn from the Phoenix Force. When a creature dies, their lifeforce passes back into the Phoenix Force. Therefore, the Phoenix Force is constantly changing, as energy continually flows into and out of it as life and death occur. The Phoenix Force also represents change, and evolution in individual species. It acts throughout the universe to ensure evolution in some ways, but the extent of its desire or ability to act has not been codified. A Manifestation of the Phoenix occurs when it chooses a host to wield its power, often to ensure a particular evolutionary step is reached, or prevent evolution from being held back by outside forces. The Phoenix Force usually appears as an enormous hawk-like bird composed of cosmic flame, both by itself and during communion with a host. As an abstract being, the Phoenix Force's powers are virtually limitless. It can manipulate atoms and molecules in matter, generate any form of energy in virtually any conceivable amount, exist in hyperspace and any environment without harm, create space warps, drain energy from sources as great as a nova, and transform to pure energy at will.

Its first appearance in modern times was not a true Manifestation of the Phoenix. In actuality, it was the Phoenix Force acting selfishly, outside its "mission", desiring to experience mortality first hand instead of merely having communion with a human host. In this instance, the Phoenix created a body for itself that was an exact duplicate of Jean Grey's, but was unprepared for the sensations it experienced and became amnesiac, lost in the memories and personality it copied from Jean Grey, believing itself to be her. The full power of the Phoenix could not long be contained in mortal form, and so "Jean's" natural telepathic and telekinetic abilities were augmented to cosmic levels. "Jean" recognized that this power was too much for her, and tried to psychically dampen her own abilities to a manageable level after Phoenix saved the M'Kraan Crystal. However, Mastermind's influence on her mind loosened these barriers, allowing the Phoenix's full power to be released in the form of the Dark Phoenix. The real Jean Grey had a natural connection to the Phoenix Force as a result of her mutation, which is why the Phoenix was drawn to her in the first place. Years after being restored, Jean learned how to harness the power of the Phoenix herself, increasing her psionic powers beyond what they had been before and manifesting a Phoenix raptor as her power signature, although she still wasn't truly at pre-M'Kraan Phoenix levels. Finally, Jean experienced a genuine Manifestation of the Phoenix before her death, bringing her up to cosmic levels on her own for the first time, in order to prevent John Sublime's threat to natural evolution.

The Phoenix Force will augment the abilities of any mutant or superhuman it bonds with. Whether as a result of its connection with Jean Grey or some other reason, though, it also seems to bestow telepathic and telekinetic abilities on its hosts, even if they didn't have those abilities in the past.

IN-BETWEENER

 

THE IN-BETWEENER

Real Name: In-Betweener

First Appearance: Warlock (Vol. 1) #9, October 1975

Powers: The In-Betweener is an abstract creation of the conceptual beings Master Order and Lord Chaos, intended to represent a synthesis of all the dualistic concepts of the universe (life and death, reality and illusion, good and evil, logic and emotion, existence and nothingness, god and man). As an abstract being, he possesses an understanding of time & space beyond human comprehension.

While possessing both unlimited abilities across the range of psionic powers and sufficient power to alter reality on a cosmic scale, the In-Betweener is not all knowing or infallible. Indeed, within the parameters of the In-Betweener's existence are both power and weakness, knowledge and ignorance. He is also immune to the effects of the Infinity Gems.

YOUNG GODS

 

YOUNG GODS

Roster: Bright Sword (Carter Dyam), Caduceus (Mark Cadmon), Calculus (Jahaharel Patel), Daydreamer (Catherine Moranis), Genii (Jason Kimball), Harvest (Chi Lo), Highnote (Raoul Hernandez), Mindsinger (Gregor Buhkarov), Moonstalker (Kiana), Sea Witch (Bridget O'Hare), Splice (Chandra Ku), and Varua (Mira)

First Appearance: The Mighty Thor (Vol. 1) #202-203, August-September 1972 (Genii and Bright Sword); The Mighty Thor (Vol. 1) #300, October 1980 (remaining members)

Powers: The Young Gods are a dozen Earth humans chosen by Gaea, mother spirit of Earth, and the various pantheons of gods over the last 1,000 years to prepare for the Fourth Host of the Celestials. Most were held in suspended animation until the coming of the Host, when they were presented to the Celestials as an example of humanity's greatest potential. They were accepted, had their superhuman powers fully unlocked, and taken under the guidance of the Celestials' servants for training.

Varua was born in 15th century Polynesia. She has developed psychic abilities including levitation, clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, and teleportation. She has a spiritual intuition which expands her senses so that she can be aware of coming events or situations of particular significance. Her teleportation abilities are strong enough to carry herself and others across intergalactic space. She also has the ability to form the Uni-Mind, much like high-ranking Eternals do. Varua produces a blue flame of energy that makes her the receptive center of the Uni-Mind, after which other members of the Young Gods can make contact with her and they all will merge into the floating Uni-Mind construct, where their thoughts and viewpoints merge into a cohesive whole.

Bright Sword was a modern-era Israeli soldier. He was given superhuman strength, endurance, reaction time, and resistance to physical impact. Bright Sword wears a suit of metallic armor that further protects him from injury, and can project a short lance of energy from his gauntlet which can be used as a plasma sword in combat.

Caduceus is an American physician from the early decades of 20th century Chicago. He is primarily a healer, capable of producing bio-energy that cleanses diseases and viruses, repairs physical injuries, and can even properly undo psychic damage done to the mind and expel outside mental influences. His power can also be used as a "booster" effect to temporarily increase the vitality and physical prowess of others, or reverse the effect to leech strength from people to physically weaken them or render them unconscious.

Genii is a modern-day American. His power allows him to animate and manipulate unliving materials. This can act for practical purposes as telekinesis or molecular manipulations. He can levitate matter and cause it to move on its own accord, and can reshape raw materials into different shapes that he visualizes. Genii could, for instance, animate a pile of sand and mud into a statue of a horse, then compel the statue to run and move just like a real animal. Genii accomplishes his effects by projecting his own life energy partially into the matter he is manipulating -- this limits the amount of matter he can animate at a time and could possibly cause a psychic backlash if something he is manipulating is destroyed.

Sea Witch was a 12th century Irish barmaid. She was given amphibious abilities, allowing her to breathe underwater, swim at great speeds, survive the greater ocean pressures, and see more into the green spectrum of light to modify her vision for underwater activity. She could also manipulate water in solid, liquid, or gaseous forms. Sea Witch could generate waves, waterspouts, directional currents, whirlpools, and any other aquatic phenomena she could imagine. Presumably, her powers could also be used to dehydrate objects, coalesce liquid water out of vapor in the atmosphere, among other tricks.

Highnote was a 19th century Spaniard. He developed sonic abilities, allowing him to produce a wide range of sub- and super-sonic frequencies by modulating his vocal chords. He could produce deafening wails, concentrated blasts of sound which carried physical impact or could shatter or disintegrate objects at a molecular level, or even employ highly controlled sonic waves to lift and manipulate objects from a distance. Somehow, Highnote was capable of teleportation as well, producing sonic waves which transported him and his teammates across the galaxy.

Daydreamer is a 19th century Canadian farm woman. She is able to manipulate minds in different ways, such as controlling the actions of other people or projecting psychic visions into their consciousness. These visions can share information she or others have with her target, warp their minds to drive them mad or render them comatose, alter their perceptions of reality, or even reconstruct their entire life history with a false set of memories and identity. Daydreamer once used her powers to make the Gwen Stacy clone believe she was a woman named Joyce Delaney. There was no such woman, even though Daydreamer believed there to be, which means the "Joyce Delaney" identity the clone developed was a complete fabrication, probably developed from subconscious impressions both the clone and Daydreamer had over what the woman should be. She also had certain precognitive and psychic communication powers.

Mindsinger was from 18th century Russia. He is a polymorphic shape-shifter with the power of trans-substantiation, enabling him to alter his body into different physical constructions. Mindsinger can stretch portions of his body like taffy to increase his reach or shift his mass to one side in order to avoid harm. He can also absorb physical assaults to some degree, morphing with the impact to dampen its effectiveness. He can dramatically reshape his body into nonhuman objects, vehicles, or shapes, or form his hands into pincer claws, bludgeons, etc. He also has limited telepathic abilities.

Harvest is from modern-era Japan. She is able to telepathically communicate with and manipulate plant-life. She can sense changes to her natural environment, both recent and presently-occurring. Harvest can animate trees, bushes, grass, and other forms of vegetation, causing them to move and act according to her direction, or grow at a highly accelerated rate.

Calculus was chosen from 1940's India by a Hindu goddess. He was given a range of psychic powers much like Varua, including telepathy, levitation, illusion-casting, precognition, and self-teleportation. His intelligence has been enhanced as well and, as a naturally talented mathematician with precognitive powers, Calculus can measure future probabilities to predict the likelihood of different future events, then work to manipulate present day events properly in order to ensure different futures. He also serves as a strategist for the Young Gods, monitoring situations and telepathically projecting suggestions and analyses to his teammates.

Splice is from an 18th century Zulu tribe in Africa. Similar to Genii, she was able to manipulate matter, using bolts of transmogrifying energy fired from her eyes. Splice could rearrange molecules and transmute elements, converting raw materials into any object or device she could imagine, apparently permanently unless she chose to reverse the process. She was seen using her eye-beams to reconstruct vegetation and soil into highly complex technology. Splice could also animate uniform surfaces, such as causing giant hands to reach out of an otherwise smooth wall to grapple with her opponents.

Moonstalker is from an 11th century Inuit tribe. She is a speedster, possessing a metabolism adapted for running at probably a few hundred mph, and augmented perceptual abilities and reflexes that allow her to recognize threats or obstacles and react fast enough to avoid them. She can also blend in with her surroundings thanks to a camouflage power that renders her virtually invisible against any background.

CELESTIALS

 

CELESTIALS

Roster: Dreaming Celestial, Gammenon the Gatherer, Arishem the Judge, Nezarr the Calculator, Ashema the Listener, Jemiah the Analyzer, Eson the Searcher, One Above All, Exitar the Exterminator, Oneg the Prober, Ziran the Tester, Tefral the Surveyor, Hargen the Measurer, and several unnamed others

First Appearance: Eternals (Vol. 1) #2, August 1976

History & Powers: The Celestials are a race of extraterrestrial beings of humanoid form who possess untold cosmic power. Standing two thousand feet tall in full body armor, no being knows their planet of origin or what they look like without the armor. It has been theorized that the Celestials actually exist in hyperspace and that their armor is actually a channel which allows them to interact on various planes of existence. What is known about the Celestials is that they travel through space and manipulate the genetics of species on various worlds. They came to Earth over 1,000,000 years ago and performed genetic experiments on Earth’s highest lifeform: The nascent human beings. In order to test the adaptability of the human gene, the Celestials created two subspecies of the human race: The Eternals, who possess long lifespans and vast physical and cosmic energy-manipulation powers; and the Deviants, who possess an instability in their genetic code. The Celestials’ sole legacy to the mainstream human race was the implantation of a dormant DNA complex that would one day permit the emergence of superhuman abilities (mutants and altered human mutates). After performing their experiments, they left Earth. 

 

The Second Host of the Celestials arrived on Earth over 25,000 years ago to inspect the results of their first visit. They were sighted over the continent of Lemuria, the center of activity for the Deviants who had made human beings their slaves. The Deviants attacked the Celestials, who retaliated by unleashing a vastly powerful nuclear weapon that affected the earth’s plate tectonics. Repercussions of the explosion resulted in the continents of Lemuria and Atlantis sinking below the ocean and the division of Pangea. This event was referred to as the Great Cataclysm.
 
The Third Celestial Host arrived on Earth over 1,000 years ago. Their landing sight was arranged by the Eternals working in conjunction with the Incas of Peru. Upon their arrival, they were confronted by a contingency of Earth’s mythological gods from extra-dimensional realms. The gods were afraid that the Celestials had returned to judge humanity’s worthiness to survive. If the Celestials ruled against humanity, Earth would be destroyed. Among the gods were Odin of the Asgardian gods, Zeus of the Olympian gods, and Vishnu of the Hindu gods. The gods challenged the Celestials’ right to interfere in human affairs. The Celestials had threatened to permanently seal the gods’ dimensional portals to Earth if they interfered in Celestial matters again. Though the gods were forced to forego their involvement in the destiny of humanity, Odin planned an assault on the Celestials on their next visit.  

 

The Fourth Celestial Host came to Earth over 50 years ago to finally judge humanity now that the dormant DNA complex had finally emerged in humanity. Odin had created an invincible suit of armor called the Destroyer to battle the Celestials if humanity was judged against. The suit was operable so long as another being’s life force animated it. Odin joined forces with the Eternals, who joined together to create the Uni-Mind. Odin gathered all Asgardians, including himself, to animate the Destroyer. The Destroyer grew to the size of a Celestial and did battle with them. The Celestials obliterated the Destroyer with a single energy blast, dispersing the life forces that animated it. The Uni-Mind tried in vain as Arishem the Judge broke it apart with a wave of his hand, injuring all Eternals but killing only one. Earth’s mythological goddesses had found 12 human beings who represented the pinnacle of human genetic perfection. They showed them to the Elder Earth goddess Gaea, who presented these 12 humans to the Celestials as proof of humanity’s evolution. The Celestials ruled in favor of Earth and departed with the 12 humans who were called the “Young Gods”. The Asgardians were resurrected thanks to the Olympian god Zeus. 

 

20 years ago, the Celestials came to Earth to study the young mutant named Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four. Franklin possesses the mutant ability to manipulate and alter reality with his mind and created an entire pocket universe to save his family and the Avengers during a battle with the villain Onslaught. This feat placed him above the Celestials in power levels. The Celestials sent Ashema the Listener to Earth to show Franklin what he had created and force him to destroy either Earth or the universe he created. Franklin destroyed neither and returned the Fantastic Four and the Avengers to Earth. Ashema sacrificed her mind for the preservation of Franklin’s universe, which will exist within her mind forever. This allows the Celestials to get a first hand look into the structure and workings of humanity. Ashema remained in a catatonic state until revived.

No one knows the full extent of the Celestials’ power. They once withstood a full frontal attack from the collective might of the Asgardians and the Eternals. They are not indestructible, however. They once killed one of their brethren for breach of conduct. They have also been shown to resurrect the dead. The Celestials have erased themselves from the memories of most human beings in each of their visits. Only the Eternals, Deviants, the extra-dimensional gods, and a handful of humans remember the Celestials and the nature of each Celestial visitation.