"Celestials" redirects here. For other uses, see
Celestial.
| Celestials |
|
Three of the Celestials - Arishem the Judge, Hargen the Measurer and Eson the Searcher. Art by Giorgio Comolo.
|
|
|
| Characteristics |
| Homeworld(s) |
The Black Galaxy |
| Notable members |
see here |
|
The Celestials are a group of fictional characters and extra-terrestrial beings that appear in the Marvel Universe. The Celestials were created by Jack Kirby and first
appeared in The Eternals vol. 1, #1 (July 1976).
History
The Celestials appear as completely silent, armored humanoids with an average height of 2,000 feet. As little is known
regarding their appearance underneath the armor, it is possible that this may be their true form. The Eternal Ikaris believes the armor is simply a shell for beings of pure energy, so as to allow interaction with the
physical world. [1] It has been suggested that they may
even be sentient stars. Unfortunately, not enough is known of the Celestials as a whole to do any more than guess. What is known
is that the Celestials are apparently responsible for the creation of two offshoots of humanity — the Eternals and the Deviants — on Earth over a million years
ago [2] and that they are responsible for modifying
standard human DNA in such a way as to open the possibility for the eventual appearance of human mutants.[3] The exact reason for the Celestials' genetic manipulation of proto-humans
is unknown, although it is known that the Celestials have conducted similar experiments on other races such as the
Skrulls.
Each race that the Celestials has experimented on is periodically assessed by Arishem the Judge, and if a race "fails" by
Celestials standards, Arishem will send an execution code to Exitar the Exterminator, a 20,000 foot tall Celestial who carries
out Arishem's sentence. On the first occasion that this act was witnessed, Exitar terraforms a planet into a garden paradise,
with only the "evil" inhabitants being destroyed, and the survivors are given a second chance. [4] More recent depictions, however, show races that fail the genetic test are
destroyed with their planet.[5] The Celestials' policy of
interference is the exact opposite of the Watchers' policy of observation, and the two
races have been enemies for many eons. [6]
The Celestials have only appeared on Earth on a few occasions, and very few beings on Earth are even aware of the Celestials'
existence. The Eternals and Deviants call the Celestials "Space Gods" and know that they visit Earth in "Hosts" at 1,000 year
intervals to monitor mankind's progress. Resenting the presence of the Celestials, the Skyfather
figures of Earth (e.g., Odin, Zeus, Vishnu) attempt to stop the Third Host, but are humbled very quickly. The Skyfathers then
develop a plan to stop the Fourth Host from judging Earth again. Unfortunately this plan fails, but as a result of the offering
of the Skymothers (e.g., Frigga, Hera) Earth is left in peace until the time of the Fifth Host.[7]
Members
The Celestial Fourth Host - (left to right) Hargen, Tefral, Nezzar, Gammenon, Arishem, Jemiah, Eson, Oneg and Ziran. Art by
Keith Pollard.
Main article: List of Celestials members
- The One Above All - Leader of the Celestials.
- Arishem the Judge - Field leader for ground teams.
- Tefral the Surveyor
- Eson the Searcher
- Jemiah the Analyzer
- Gammenon the Gatherer
- Hargen the Measurer
- Oneg the Prober
- Nezarr the Calculator
- Ziran the Tester
- Ashema the Listener
- Exitar the Exterminator
There is an additional Celestial named Tiamut, usually referred to as The Dreaming Celestial, the Apostate,
or the "Great Renegade." Tiamut apparently rebels against the rest of the Second Host when they are visiting Earth, and after a
drawn-out battle is then imprisoned under a mountain range by the other Celestials, and condemned to sleep for eternity. In the
modern age the Deviant Ghaur siphons off the Dreaming Celestial's power, but soon falls under
Tiamut's control. Ghaur is defeated soon afterwards by the Eternals and Avengers.[8] Due to the recent
machinations of the Eternal Sprite and several Deviants, Tiamut is reawakened and has
adopted the role of an observer of events on Earth.[9]
Ashema, the Listener was selected to 'harvest' Franklin Richards
as the culmination of their Earthly experiment, due to it finally producing a being on par with them. She learned compassion for
humanity and took it upon herself to preserve and contain his Heroes Reborn Earth through
her dreams, in a self-imposed hibernation.[10] With assistance from the Fantastic Four and
Doctor Doom she later counteracted the Apostate's attempts to induce chaos in this
dimension, and moved the planet to become a Counter-Earth in opposite orbit of
the sun.
There are also a number of Celestials that only appear in one story. These Celestials are the two 'brothers' Devron the
Experimenter and Gamiel the Manipulator;[11] Scathan the
Approver;[12] the Monolith Gatherer[13] and the Red and Blue Celestials.[14]
The One Above All Leader of the Celestials.
|
Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial.
|
|
|
Powers and abilities
The Celestials are among the most powerful physical entities in the Marvel Universe.
The highly evolved Cosmic Cube beings Kosmos
and Kubik — beings who wield nearly incalculable energy, matter and reality manipulation powers — stated that a single Celestial possesses "power many orders of magnitude
beyond our own."[1] Reed Richards has suggested that the
Celestials' source of power is Hyperspace itself — the source of all energy
in the Marvel Universe — a suggestion confirmed by the Invisible Woman's ability to completely disrupt Exitar's physical form
with her hyperspace-derived force fields.[2] His
father, Nathaniel Richards, further theorized that Celestial are beings from
Hyperspace and their armored appearance is merely a construct to interact with other dimensions.
The Celestials possess the ability to channel and manipulate an indeterminable amount of cosmic energy for boundless feats.
They have shown an ability to permanently seal off entire dimensions,[3] create super-powered beings such as the Godstalkers, reduce the Asgardian construct known
as the Destroyer to slag even while it was imbued with the life force of all the gods
of Asgard (with the exception of Thor), and move multiple planets across galactic distances at will. Celestial armor can
withstand planet-pulverizing forces and, in most instances, even when they have been injured they can repair the damage in
seconds. The Celestial armor has been damaged with varying degrees of success by the Invisible
Woman,[2] Thor,[4] and the
Odinsword-wielding Destroyer construct.[5].
Other versions
- In the alternate universe of Earth X
(Earth-9997), the Celestials are beings of energy encased in armor composed of vibranium, a
metal with properties that prevents their dissipation. They reproduce by planting a fragment of their essence in a planet
(performing experiments on the dominant species and allowing them capacity for superpowers as a security system), which
eventually matures into a new Celestial, who in turn absorbs the planet. It is revealed that Galactus is an enemy of the Celestials as he devours the planets that incubate Celestial "eggs." [6]
- In a What If issue, the Celestials return to a parallel Marvel Earth in the future and deem mankind unfit due to the
genetic tampering of the being the High Evolutionary. [7]
Footnotes
- ^ Fantastic Four Annual #23
- ^ a b Fantastic Four vol. 1 #400
- ^ Heroes Reborn: The Return #1 - 4
(1997)
- ^ Thor vol. 1 #387
- ^ Thor vol. 1 #300
- ^ Earth X vol. 1, #1 - 12
- ^ What If vol. 2 #1
References
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
