Eternals' Deviants Create The MCU's X-Men

Marvel's Eternals could introduce the X-Men - as the Deviants' creations. The comics have always portrayed mutants as the next step in human evolution, potentially even humanity's evolutionary successor. But they're not actually a natural occurrence; the X-gene responsible for genetic mutation was actually implanted within the human race millennia ago by the Celestials, who sought to unlock humanity's genetic potential.

The Celestials will play a central role in Chloe Zhao's Eternals. During set visits for Eternals, Marvel confirmed these will be "true Jack Kirby Celestials," beings who possess the power to rewrite the genetic code at will. Given Marvel regained the film rights to the X-Men after Disney acquired the bulk of Fox's film and TV empire, there's naturally intense speculation Eternals could set up mutants in the MCU. But, while the Celestials of the MCU may look like those of Jack Kirby, Marvel has clearly switched things up significantly; the Eternals have a radically different origin story in the MCU, meaning anything else could be changed as well.

But there's a chance the Celestials won't be the ones to create mutants in the MCU. Marvel is being extraordinarily secretive about the Deviants' role in Eternals, and it's possible they will be the ones to create the mutants instead.

The Deviants Are All About Change & Evolution

A Deviant coming out of the sea and ready to attack in Marvel's Eternals.

Thematically - especially for the MCU - Eternals has something of a strange narrative; one of the war between permanence and change. On the one hand, the Eternals are - as their name suggests - immortal beings who do not experience change and growth. On the other side of the equation are the Deviants, a group of aliens who came to Earth millennia ago and appear to symbolize change and evolution. As Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore revealed during set visits, the Eternals were sent to Earth to protect humanity from the Deviants, who he calls "the changing people" who come in all different shapes and sizes. Apparently the Deviants possess the ability to take on the form and attributes of whatever predator they consume, and as a result some are as small as humans, one is as big as an ocean liner; every Deviant possesses unique abilities, making them a difficult threat to counter.

The Eternals believed they had wiped the Deviants out some 5,000 years ago, explaining why they have gone their separate ways, believing their mission to be over. Eternals begins with the emergence of a new Deviant in London, witnessed by Sersi, and it's presumably the Deviant leader Kro. He is unlike any other Deviant, one who has become like a human; he is able to think, to plan, to communicate, and most likely to communicate. Far from extinct, the Deviants have apparently been keeping their heads down, and the changing people have changed again. It's unclear whether Kro is the one responsible for the mysterious cataclysm known as the Emergence, or whether he's simply attempting to take advantage of it. But whatever the case, the Deviant threat has changed and evolved, while the Eternals are static and unchanging.

The Eternals Track Deviants - Just As Mutants Can Be Tracked

The set visits seemed to suggest Phastos will be a key player in the battle against the Eternals. Marvel's Property Master Craig Price gave Screen Rant a tour of some important items from the film, including a Deviant tracked constructed by Phastos. As Price explained, "It’s for him to be tracking deviant energy around the world as he travels. So this will turn into a visual effects globe that will track the energy of the Deviants to assist with the Eternals finding them."This idea is completely new to Eternals lore, indicating Deviants generate some sort of biological energy field allowing them to be traced.

There is, however, a basis for a similar sort of idea - in X-Men comics, rather than Eternals. There, every mutant generates what is sometimes referred to as a "mutagenic energy field," which has been used by mutant hunters such as the Sentinels or heroes like Charles Xavier. It seems Eternals is lifting a concept from X-Men lore, and applying it to the Deviants, which seems a rather strange choice on Marvel's part.

The Deviants' Goal Could Be To Create Mutants

A group shot of over a dozen X-Men standing on a battleground in Marvel Comics.

There are clearly thematic ties between the Deviants and the X-Men's mutants; in thematic terms, both symbolize change and evolution. The Deviant scanner further suggests some ideas traditionally applied to mutants are being connected to the Deviants instead. All this raises the possibility the connection between Deviants and mutants will go deeper than that; that the Deviants' mysterious plan is to trigger Deviant genes across the planet, the birth of mutants - human Deviants, changing people in a changing world. This could even be the "Emergence" Kro longs for, a flare of energy that will activate Deviant genes across the globe. If this is indeed the Deviants' plan, then presumably Eternals will end with the heroes choosing to step back, to allow humanity to change like never before.

In thematic terms, this would be an appropriate way of resolving the rather odd conflict that lies at the heart of Eternals, between a never-changing status quo that even Eternals such as Sprite are dissatisfied with and the concept of change and evolution. It would make Eternals one of the most important movies in the MCU to date, the launchpad for the MCU's X-Men. This would even explain why Marvel has been claiming Eternals takes place around the time of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the most further forward the franchise has gone in the MCU timeline to date; because such a placement would be key to explaining why mutants haven't been seen in shows like WandaVision or The Falcon & the Winter Soldier. But the interesting question is whether all of the Eternals would choose to accept the birth of mutants, or whether some of them would instead choose to oppose it, a philosophical schism that would set some of the Eternals up to become villains rather than heroes when the X-Men finally arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's true this is only a theory, but if it's correct then Eternals will transform the entire MCU.

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