Marvel’s 10 Strongest Eternals (Besides Thanos)

Summary

• The Eternals of Marvel’s universe have had a vast impact on Earth, saving humanity and operating as heroes throughout history.
• Influenced by Greek gods, Eternals like Kingo, Betilakk, and Sersi possess unique powers to rival the villainous Eternal, Thanos.
• The strongest Eternals, like Gilgamesh, Ikaris, and Kronos stand out as beings blessed with enough power to defeat Thanos in an even battle.

Created by the Celestials with the purpose of looking over humanity, the Eternals are a team of powerful warriors. While each member is strong and powerful on their own, a select few have shown themselves to be strong enough, and powerful enough, to even stand a chance against their Deviant cousin, Thanos.

On par with Greek gods, even sharing their home of Olympia, the Eternals were built to be evolutionary advanced human-adjacent beings. With the majority of the Eternals desiring peace, they have still spent millennia honing their abilities, fighting skills, and cosmic power. But who amonth them can truly be called the strongest of Marvel’s Eternals?

10 Kingo Sunen, The Samurai Eternal

First Appearance: Eternals #11 (1977)

Hailing from a Japanese settlement close to Hokkaido, Kingo embraced the way of the Samurai, learning from the best in the 16th century. His Samurai skills in combination with his Eternals powers of super-strength, flight, energy projection, and molecular manipulation (plus being effectively immortal on top of it all) make Kingo a highly powerful individual.

Interestingly, he does not use his Eternals powers in battle. Instead, he prefers to stick to the way of the Samurai when in combat, using only his Samurai armor, katana, and wakizashi as well as his exceptional fighting skills.

While the MCU altered Kingo’s chosen culture from Japanese to Indian (played by actor Kumail Nanjiani), the decision for Kingo to adopt a film star career as a disguise comes straight from the source comics books.

9 Betilakk The Interloper

First Appearance: New Defenders #147 (1985)

Also known as simply ‘The Interloper’ (or alias ‘Will Fanshawe’), Betilakk distanced himself from the other Eternals and humanity in general. Regardless, Interloper still fought with other cosmic forces to defeat the evil Dragon of the Moon to defend the Earth. In fact, he would eventually fight the cosmic being by himself, showing his power as well as his loner tendencies.

In addition to the typical Eternal abilities, Interloper can invoke fear in people’s mind to the point that they become petrified of him. While not as powerful as some of his Eternals peers or the Mad Titan, Interloper still offers a lot and remains an important Eternal.

8 Sersi, The Mistress of Illusions

First Appearance: Venus #9 (1950) as Circe, Eternals #3 (1976) as Sersi

While Sersi has the typical Eternals physiology, she has a personality all her own, being a social butterfly and a loyal optimist. Sersi also once sacrificed herself for the Earth, showing her caring and devotional nature. Moreover, she can work well with others, making her an incredible teammate, as seen in her time with the Eternals as well as with the Avengers.

While her upbeat personality could be considered her unique power on its own, Sersi possesses the highest mastery of matter transmutation among the Eternals defending Earth, with her rank of a fifth level adept making her a strong asset to any team.

7 Makkari (AKA Mercury, AKA Hurricane)

First Appearance: Red Raven Comics #1 (1940) as Mercury, Captain America Comics #1 (1940) as Hurricane, Eternals #5 (1976)as Makkari

Besides her speed, Makkari is also a great communicator, chosen by the Dreaming Celestial to be the messenger for the Celestials to the rest of the Eternals.

Gifted with the power of super speed, Makkari has honed their gift with practice, bolstering their natural ability to be even more powerful than just what was bestowed upon them as an Eternal. Using their gift of super-speed even at the cost of other Eternal abilities, Makkari thwarted many nefarious plans that ne’er do wells had on Earth.

Some instances included stopping a counterfeiting ring and defeating the Deviants attack on New York City with Thena. Besides her speed, Makkari is also a great communicator, chosen by the Dreaming Celestial to be the messenger for the Celestials to the rest of the Eternals.

6 Thena, Prime Eternal

First Appearance: Eternals #5 (1976)

The similarity of her name to the Greek goodess of warfare, Athena, is no coincidence. Spending the millennia of her life training to become an ever fiercer and more masterful warrior, Thena long held the rank of Prime Eternal as the group’s leader. On top of the innate Eternal strengths and heightened agility, Thena’s psionic powers make her a formidable warrior.

With potent gifts in psionics and telekinesis, Thena is capable of channeling cosmic energy into a vast array of attacks. But it’s her ability to mentally control the very atoms that compose her body that make her defeat so difficult. And if a fight could prove fatal, mental attacks to disguise herself, or teleport away are solid backup plans.

5 Thane, The Son of Thanos

First Appearance: New Avengers #10

The son of the Eternal Thanos and an Inhuman woman, Thane is dangeous mix of both genetic lines. Born with the Inhuman gifts of super strength, reaction time, speed, and endurance, Thane got a leg up when he gained Death Touch as well when he experienced Terrigenesis.

The Death Touch power turned out to be more of a curse than a benefit, with Thane unintentionally killing everyone within a certain radius of him for a time. Also, after he underwent Terrigenesis, he inherited the power of amber encasement, basically trapping anyone around him in amber, putting them into a state of living death.

4 Ajak, Speaker of The Eternals

First Appearance: Eternals #2 (1976)

Reputed to be the strongest warrior among the Eternals, Ajak lives up to their high praise. They have even defeated Thor at one point. Their accomplishments don’t stop with emerging victorious from a battle with Thor, however. They bested Kro’s Deviants in Babylon as well as creating a Celestial.

Usually, creation is the other way around where Celestials are considered, but Ajak along with a few others brought the Celestial, the Progenitor to life. Humans thought that Ajak was so powerful that ancient Aztecs believed they were the Lord of Flight, Quetzalcoatl.

3 Gilgamesh, The Forgotten One

First Appearance: Eternals #13 (1977)

Labeled as ‘The Forgotten One’ of the Eternals, Gilgamesh shares powers with the rest of his Eternal peers. But one thing sets him apart: his super strength. With an insane amount of brute strength, Gilagmesh is one of the strongest of all the Eternals in raw power. Initially unaware of his own Eternal heritage, Gilagmesh’s immortal life spread his reputation around the globe, alongside Samson and Hercules.

Despite being an incredibly forceful and formidable Eternal, he prefers to be among humans than the other Eternals, explaining his nickname. Relating to humans, he overthrew tyrants and destroyed beasts without much effort on humanity’s behalf, making him one of the most sympathetic Eternals, as well as one of the strongest. However, a fellow Eternal beats him out as the strongest member.

2 Ikaris, Prime Eternal

First Appearance: Eternals #1 (1976)

Often highly regarded among the Eternals, Ikaris has played a big part in fighting Thanos on multiple occasions. Blessed with all the powers and abilities fans expect from a cosmic Marvel warrior, Ikaris is nearly unbeatable, possessing power comparable to Captain Marvel or Sentry.

Additionally, Ikaris went toe to toe with Red Hulk when he attacked fellow Eternal, Sersi. The fight was so astounding that it caused a volcano to erupt. There was no clear victor of the battle since Ikaris had to protect humanity from the incoming lava that was released from his fight. However, Ikaris more than held his own and arguably would have won the fight had it not been for the ensuing lava flow.

1 Kronos, The Ttitan God of Time

First Appearance: Iron Man #55 (1972)

One third of the ruling Eternals called the Patriarchs, Kronos along with his two fellow rulers, held the most voting power of all the Eternals. Therefore, he had the powers of an Eternal mixed with the power of being head of a bureaucracy.

The grandfather of Thanos, it is no surprise that Kronos is a powerhouse of epic proportions. He is smarter than even the brightest of Earth’s geniuses, including Reed Richards and Dr. Doom. Likewise, he can control time and the souls of the dead. Considered to be an equal to Zeus, Galactus, and Odin, Kronos remains the most powerful and strongest of Marvel’s Eternals.