Marvel’s Eternals: What Is “The Emergence?” Explained

Marvel’s Eternals has released its final trailer, which offers a lot more in the way of background information on what threat the Eternals race is going to face. In one fo the first scenes of the Eternals trailer, the Eternals’ spiritual leader Ajak (Salma Hayek) reunites with heroic warrior Ikaris(Richard Madden) to bring a dire warning: the events of the Avengers battle with Thanos – and the cosmic events of The Snap and The Blip – released an amount of energy that has catalyzed a destructive event called “The Emergence,” that will apparently wipe out life on Earth in seven days after Eternals‘ story starts.

So what is “The Emergence” in Marvel’s Eternals? We’re here to help explain.

Marvel’s Eternals: What Is “The Emergence?”

Not surprisingly, the Marvel Studios team and Kevin Feige have said little to nothing about what the conflict in Eternals is all about; not even the promo posters for the film don’t reveal its villains. However, the new trailer does give us our first look at both the wildly mutated Deviants, as well as the Celestials that first gave the Eternals life. With both the Deviants and Celestials factoring into the story of Eternals, there are really only two strong possibilities for what “The Emergence” is, based on Marvel Comics lore.

The Deviants Get Unearthed

The first possibility is that “The Emergence” is as literal as it sounds. In Marvel Comics, the Eternals and Deviants warred for centuries, until the Celestials came to Earth during the “Second Host” or the god-like beings’ second visit to the planet. The Celestials destroyed the Deviant empire during the Deviants’ war with Atlantis – an event that sank Atlantis under the sea and forced the Deviants under the Earth, where they remained for centuries.

In the context of the MCU version of Eternals, “The Emergence” seems like it could be related to the Deviants somehow harvesting whatever energy needed to break free of whatever has kept them trapped under the Earth for centuries. The Deviants also emerged from underground in the comics to attack New York City, so it’s an easy series of events to streamline into an MCU film.

The Celestials Return

The other possibility for Eternals is that The Emergence is tied to an even more grand threat: the Celestials and their judgment of Earth. The final Eternals trailer made it clear that the film is directly tied to the fallout of Avengers: Endgame, and the cost of the cosmic energy that was played with during The Snap and The Blip events that killed off – and then replaced – half of all life in the universe. It’s just as easy to believe that the uses of the Infinity Gauntlet have now made Earth a renewed target for the Celestials judgment – or that The Snap, Blip, and subsequent Emergence of the Deviants all culminate in a third act threat of the Celestials’ judgment.

After all, the MCU Eternals seemingly exist for the purpose of keeping the Deviant threat down – so if it looks like they are failing in that function, their creators may deem Earth to be too much of an unstable and dangerous threat to the universe.

Eternals is currently scheduled to hit on theatres on November 5th.

Eternals is currently scheduled to hit on theatres on November 5th.