First Appearance: Eternals (Vol. 1) #1, July 1976
The Deviants are an evolutionary offshoot
of humanity that was brought into being approximately
one million years ago through genetic experimentation
by the extraterrestrial Celestials. The Celestials altered
the structure of the DNA complexes of the proto-humans
whom they genetically transformed into the first Deviants
so that physical characteristics, beyond bilateral symmetry,
radically changed with each generation. Thus a Deviant child will greatly differ
in appearance from either of his or her parents. Experiments
conducted by the Celestials at the same time resulted
in the creation of the Eternals and humanity having the potential for benevolent mutations.
Unlike the Eternals, the Deviants are not virtually immortal
or indestructible. The sole known exception is the Warlord
Kro, who, despite being vulnerable to injury, has lived
for untold centuries, although he has concealed this fact
from his fellow Deviants. Many Deviants possess superhuman
abilities. The most common superhuman power among the
Deviants is superhuman strength.
The genetic instability of the Deviants is the most important
factor underlying the structure of their society. Although
the Deviants are ruled by a hereditary monarchy and governed
by a class of nobility, a great deal of power in Deviant
society is held by the priesthood. The priests attempt
to weed out those Deviants who are born with the most
extreme and grotesque genetic differences from the others
by consigning these Deviants to death in the flame pits
at "Purity Time." Through such measure, the
priests hope to keep variation with the Deviant race's
genetic makeup within certain limits.
Because there is no standard physical appearance for
Deviants, and because their race produces such grotesqueries,
Deviant culture lacks the concept of physical beauty. However, perhaps due to envy, almost all Deviants regard
humans and Eternals as physically repellent. Since Deviant
children do not resemble their parents, and indeed may
look physically repellent even to them, Deviant parents
take no joy in childbearing. Indeed, Deviants look upon
sexual activity merely as a necessary means of propagating
the race, and take no pleasure in it. The sexes are segregated
from each other in most public places in Deviant cities.
The Deviants were the first natives of Earth to develop
technology, and even thousands of years ago had already
become highly advanced in the study of genetics. It was
the Deviants who created the Subterreneans as their slaves,
and it has been speculated that it was the Deviants who
genetically transformed ordinary humans into the water-breathing
Atlantean race.
Originally the Deviants built their cities on the Earth's
surface. They used their advanced technology to conquer
the nations of humans, and eventually conquered the entire
known world except for the empire of Atlantis. The center
of the Deviants' empire was the island continent of Lemuria
in what is now the Pacific Ocean. The Deviants treated
the humans they conquered as slaves, and forced many of
them to serve in armies that the Deviants sent to conquer
other human nations. Finally, the Deviants sent a human
army from the Lemurian Isles to attack Atlantis itself.
To rout the invaders, Atlantis's King Kamuu opened the
magma pits which were the capital city's means of heating.
The Lemurian invaders were destroyed by the molten lava,
but Its release triggered seismological upheavals.
Meanwhile, the Celestials' second expedition to Earth
was sighted over Lemuria itself. The Deviants launched
an attack on the Celestials, who retaliated by using an
immensely powerful nuclear weapon on Lemuria. The weapon's
shock waves combined with the disturbances beneath Atlantis
to trigger the Great Cataclysm that devastated much of the
planet. Lemuria and Atlantis both sank, and most of the
Deviant population was destroyed.
The Deviants who survived did so by escaping to the small
number of underground cities they had previously established.
They built more subterranean cities, but eventually abandoned
most of them for their new subterranean capital city on
the sunken Lemurian continent, the so-called "City
of Toads."
Since the sinking of Lemuria, Earth's Deviant population
has been greatly reduced from what it was. Because of
the Deviants' distaste for childbearing, they have felt
no need to increase their numbers by a considerable degree,
and today there are only about two thousand Deviants in
the world, most of whom are sequestered underground. The
Deviants have had various contacts with humane over the
centuries, and their grotesque appearances may hive inspired
many tales of devils, demons, and monsters. Some of the
monsters of legend may actually be mutates bred by the
Deviants. Even today some Deviants have infiltrated human
society; a number have even become professional wrestlers.
In recant years, under the leadership of the Deviant
monarch Tode, the Deviants attacked New York City, but
were repulsed by Eternals. Hoping to learn the secret
of the Eternals' immortality, Tode led most of the Deviant
ruling class and a good number of their warriors in an
attack on the Eternals' principal city, Olympia. Tode
and his forces captured all the Eternals who were present,
who, however, broke free as a result of the intervention
of the second Iron Man. The Eternals captured the invading
Deviants, whose atoms the Eternals melded into a giant
stone-like block and cast into space.
With Tode and most of the ruling class thus eliminated,
Warlord Kro and Tode's son Ranar both attempted to claim
the throne. However, it was the priest-lord Ghaur who
instead became the true ruler of the Deviants, and he
remained so since.
