Is Ikaris Really Dead At The End Of Eternals (And Can He Come Back)?
One of the major twists of Marvel’s Eternals movie was Ikaris going against the other Eternals on Earth to fulfill the grand scheme of the Celestials. But while we know that Ikaris failed in his attempt to have Tiamut rise up and destroy Earth in the process of its awakening, we saw the Eternal flying into the sun. But is Ikaris really dead at the end of the Eternals movie, and can he come back?
It was confirmed by one of the writers of the Eternals that Ikaris is, in fact, dead. There was no way he could have survived going into the sun, considering that he is a synthetic being that still has his limits. Meanwhile, there is news about any plans of bringing him back in future Marvel films.
One of the biggest shocks in the movie is that Ikaris flies off into the sun in what was seemingly a way for him to atone for his mistakes. This came as a surprise because Ikaris plays a big role in the Marvel universe in the comics. Of course, this was a creative decision on the part of the MCU, as killing Ikaris opened up future opportunities for Eros and even Black Knight.
Why Ikaris Flies Into The Sun At The End Of Eternals?
When the Eternals premiered, people all over the world were excited about what Phase Four of the MCU could offer, as the Eternals in the comics have always had major roles in the grand scheme of things. However, this movie also served as a way for us to get to know the Eternals and for us to understand what and who they are.
As the events of the film unfolded, one of the things we got to know more about was the fact that the Eternals are actually synthetic beings that were created by the Celestial Arishem. The reason why Arishem sent them to Earth was for them to wipe out the Deviants and to make sure that the planet’s population of intelligent life was high enough for what is called the Emergence.
Basically, the Emergence happens when a planet with the “seed” of a Celestial has reached a high enough population of intelligent life to fuel the birth of a new Celestial. As the Celestial emerges from the planet, the planet and all of the living creatures on it will get destroyed in the process.
Knowing that everything on Earth would die due to the Emergence, the Eternals planned to find a way to stop this from happening. And that was when Ikaris, the strongest of the Eternals, revealed that he had known of this for centuries and that he was the one who killed Ajak after learning that the leader of the Eternals was planning to go against Arishem’s wishes.
In short, Ikaris turned out to be the big bad antagonist who just wanted to stay true to his creator’s wishes to bring forth the Celestial Tiamut. And the reason why he wanted Tiamut to emerge was that Celestials are responsible for creating more suns, which allow billions of other lifeforms to emerge on other planets.
It was needless to say that the most powerful of the Eternals was more than a handful for the remaining members of the group. However, Ikaris hesitated at the final moment due to the feelings he had for Sersi. He failed to stop Sersi from “freezing” the Celestial Tiamut, and that meant that the Emergence never happened.
As Ikaris apologizes to Sersi while telling him his feelings, he flies off from the planet and goes straight to the sun. The reason why he did this was to atone for his mistakes. He was so guilt-ridden that he believed that he could no longer face his family after nearly killing them.
Ikaris flying to the sun is an allusion to the tale of Icarus, whose wings got burned after flying too close to the Sun. It was also revealed during the film that the tale of Icarus, as far as the MCU canon is concerned, was just something that Sprite made up.
Is Ikaris Really Dead?
When Ikaris flew off into the sun, it was never revealed that he burned off and died right then and there. This prompted fans to believe that he could possibly be alive, similar to how Superman in DC only grew stronger when he went to the sun. After all, Ikaris shares a lot of similarities with Superman because of his abilities that include flight, eye beams, and super strength.
However, Kaz Firpo, a writer for the Eternals film, confirmed that Ikaris is really dead. He joked about it by saying, “What is the melting point of an Eternal? How long does it take to literally melt an Eternal robot?,” as an attempt to find humor in the fact that some people think that a synthetic being like him could have survived the heat of the sun.
So, in short, Ikaris is dead. However, his death opens up a lot of future opportunities for other characters to rise up because, let’s face it, the Eternals have far too many characters.
For example, the introduction of Eros in the first post-credit scene could be a way to spice things up. Eros might have trouble shining if Ikaris was still there hogging up the spotlight. Of course, Kit Harington learning more about his Black Knight past could open things up as well, especially now that he is in a relationship with Sersi with Ikaris out of the picture for good.
Can Ikaris Come Back To Life?
There is no confirmation regarding whether or not Ikaris or some other Eternal can come back to life. This is still something that the writers can think about, especially considering that the potential of this new film franchise is massive.
However, it could be possible for Ikaris and the other Eternals to come back to life, considering that they are synthetic beings. It could be possible that the Celestial Arishem still holds the blueprint for the Eternals and that he could use those blueprints to recreate them. But they wouldn’t exactly be the same as the ones that died.
