One of the most powerful figures in the Marvel Universe, at 4,000 years old Thena is still considered quite a young woman by the standards of Eternals, a group of cosmic demi-gods charged with watching over humankind. Created by Jack Kirby for his Eternals comic series in 1976, the psionic warrior has led the group of immortal superheroes through every trial and tribulation in the Marvel Universe, all while helping to subtly shape human history.
Portrayed by the well-known Angelina Jolie in Eternals, Thena (like the rest of the Eternals) is much less well-known. Many aspects of her long life, including victories in battles, romances, and even her origins have only been made privy to those who've read the comic series she's steadily helped shape for almost five decades.
She Was Created As An Experiment
Before there was anything in the universe, it was a vast cosmos born from an entity known as the First Firmament. Growing bored, lonely, and anxious, it created two groups of servants, the Aspirants and the Celestials. Unlike the Aspirants who dutifully served their creators, the Celestials wanted to create life too, and fought for that right until the First Firmament and the Aspirants left the known universe for another.
The deity-like Celestials then created two groups of their own; the Eternals and the Deviants. The Eternals were ethereally beautiful, and as some of the first beings in the Marvel Universe, had incredible power. Thena was made to be immortal and super-cosmic, though she herself was an experiment of beings who were themselves an experiment.
She's Inspired By Athena
When Zuras and his Eternals settled in Olympia, the Greek Gods heard of their feats and requested a meeting. Zeus and Athena when to meet their counterparts, Zuras and his daughter Azura, and the Olympians made the suggestion that they could retire to a pocket dimension of Mount Olympus and leave the Eternals to represent them on Earth.
Zuras assumed Zeus's role and Azura represented Athena, changing her name to Thena to reflect her Olympian counterpart. This led to humans actually thinking that the Eternals were in fact the gods themselves, not simply replacements or representatives.
She's Shaped Human History
The Eternals can be viewed as a group of ten god-like beings, imbued with similar cosmic powers to the gods of Greek mythology. Thena has many of the powers attributed to Athena, and like her peers, has a hand in shaping human history.
As one of the leaders of the Eternals, Thena helps to guide her peers as well as the humans of Earth. Like a Greek god, she subtly manipulates historical events, vowing to never interfere too greatly in the outcome of humanity's destiny.
She Once Went To War With Odin
With the looming threat of the Fourth Host of the Celestials, Thena had no choice but to reveal herself to humanity as an Eternal, along with the rest of the Eternals and Deviants. The public turned against the "hidden races" at the same time that Odin declared them pawns of the Celestials and waged war. Thor, having none of it, fought alongside the Eternals when his father sent reinforcements to the Olympian gods in order to reclaim Olympia for themselves.
When the truth of the Celestial plot was revealed, Asgardians and Eternals joined together to press the attack, and in the chaos precipitated the tragic death of Zuras, inspiring Thena's ascension to Prime Eternal.
She's One Of Marvel's Oldest Heroes
Though Thena is known for appearing in the Eternals comic series since the mid-'70s, where she's been a central part of nearly every storyline for five decades, she was formerly known as the Roman goddess Minerva, who debuted in Red Raven #1 in 1940 until Jack Kirby retconned her origin.
That means that prior to Eternals #5, she was an even older part of the Marvel Universe, often confused for Minerva’s counterpart in Greek mythology (Athena), while Minerva was confused with Doctor Minerva, who premiered in Captain Marvel #50 in 1977, a year after Thena got her new story.
She Had A Secret Love Affair
In the comics, Thena had a secret love affair with Kro, the enigmatic Deviant Leader who once meant to kill her when they met in Babylon, but later refused because of her temperament and beauty. Their on-again, off-again relationship lasted for thousands of years, with only a select few ever finding out about it.
Occasionally, Kro's actions forced Thena to stand against her lover, especially if they needed to maintain the guise of being enemies. In Eternals #3, when Kro and his minions attacked New York City, Thena had no choice but to fight him. She subdued his Deviant uprising, and as was often the case they fought and then made up.
She Had Twins
Over the course of her clandestine relationship with Kro, Thena became pregnant. In order to keep up appearances, she was forced to secretly implant her embryos into a human woman sometime during the Vietnam War. They were born as two seemingly normal humans named Deborah and Donald Ritter, but their ordinary appearances belied their unusual parentage.
As Deviant-Eternal hybrid children, they had a variety of interesting powers, which led to them questioning their Earth parents. Eventually, they would not only come in contact with their real mother, but the Fantastic Four, and other famous Marvel superheroes.
She's The Leader Of The Eternals
As next in line to lead the Eternals upon her father's death, Thena always knew the leader she would need to become. When Zuras finally died after challenging the Celestials, she became the final word on decisions concerning her fellow cosmic-powered peers, though Ikaris had his doubts.
As one of the most revered members of the Eternals, Ikaris held influence in Olympia and resented Thena as the Prime Eternal. Thena had to withstand many attempts at the throne from Ikaris, all the while wondering if she wouldn't suffer her father's fate. Eventually, things got personal when Ikaris went after Kro, and Thena had to make a difficult decision; save her secret Deviant lover and expose herself or allow him to die and secure her legacy. She chose the former, and Ikaris was able to usurp her as the leader of the Eternals.
She Has The Power To Manipulate Matter
In the trailer for Eternals, Jolie can be seen wielding a glowing golden sword, which differs from the golden spear that Thena is normally seen with in her comic book storylines. Fans who know her abilities from the Eternals series may hold the key to the significance of her weapon of choice.
Like many Eternals, Thena is able to manipulate the energy that flows within her veins, channeling it into different objects. This ability to coerce matter into anything she desires -including a cosmic blade- might explain why she's seen with an unexpected sword.
She's Technically Dead
As recently as 2018, a storyline involving the Avengers in which Dark Celestials attacked Earth shocked fans to their core. Tony Stark traveled to the Eternal home of Olympia only to find it littered with corpses of his friends. He determined that rather than be purposefully attacked, they'd all chosen to die or turned against one another. But why?
Thena, like the rest of the Eternals, had learned a dangerous truth; she and her comrades had been sent to Earth not to protect it, but to harvest it. They were supposed to cultivate humankind into a viral weapon, and the revelation was overwhelming.