Eternals Hints Kang The Conqueror Is Even More Powerful Than Celestials
Eternals gave a deeper look at what the Celestials can do and the power they have in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there might be one character more powerful than all of them: Kang the Conqueror, and here’s why. The MCU is currently on its highly-anticipated Phase 4, which is covering new characters, stories, and concepts, and even though the original Avengers team is now over, the MCU has a new team thanks to the Eternals, who made their debut in the movie of the same name directed by Chloé Zhao.
The Eternals are an alien race created by the Celestial Arishem the Judge and who were sent to Earth many centuries ago to protect it from the Deviants, their evil counterparts. Once the Deviants were defeated, the Eternals stayed on Earth to help humanity evolve but weren’t allowed to interfere in their conflicts, which eventually led them to part ways. The Eternals re-teamed many years later after the Deviants returned, their leader Ajak (Salma Hayek) was killed, and an apocalyptic event called “The Emergence” approached, and in the process of literally saving the world, they learned the truth about their origin, the purpose of their mission, and how the Celestials rule and are created.
Through Sersi (Gemma Chan), the Eternals learned that they were created and sent to Earth to help humanity evolve so once the population quota of intelligent life was achieved, a Celestial could be born from the seed planted on Earth, but the birth of it meant the total destruction of Earth. The Celestials have been present in the MCU long before the dawn of creation and have vast matter and energy manipulation abilities, and they can create planets, stars, and lifeforms. The Celestials are believed to be the most powerful beings in the MCU, but Eternals hinted at another, new character in the MCU’s Phase 4 being more powerful than the Celestials: Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).
The main concept in the MCU’s Phase 4 so far is the multiverse, which has been explored at different levels in Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Loki also introduced the concept of variants and the organization known as the Time Variance Authority, which is located outside of space and time and its purpose is to preserve the Sacred Timeline by preventing the creation of branching timelines. The TVA turned out to be led by He Who Remains (Majors), one of Nathaniel Richards’ variants along with Kang. Following the death of He Who Remains at the hands of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Kang took his place as ruler of the TVA, meaning he has control over what happens in the Sacred Timeline. Now, in Eternals, it’s explained that the team can’t interfere in human conflicts as that would stop humanity’s progress and thus delay the emergence of a new Celestial, but Kang is the one in control of time. Kang ultimately allowed Thanos’ snap to happen and may have allowed the Emergence too, so his influence over the universe is a lot stronger than that of the Celestials.
He Who Remains was only a very small taste of the power of Nathaniel Richards and what the TVA can do, but he was a “good” variant, whereas Kang is considered one of his evil ones. With that in mind, along with how more powerful than the Celestials he appears to be, it’s going to be interesting to see how he continues to influence the timeline and the multiverse in general, as well as how much of a threat he will be to the current MCU heroes.