Who Created the Celestials? [The Origin of Celestials in the MCU]
Marvel Universe is a place of unlimited possibilities, and there are beings of spectacular power there. There are only but a few that are stronger than the Celestials. They are the ones responsible for this iteration of the universe. For instance, they created the Eternals, so they’ll likely have a bigger role now in the MCU as well. The question is, who created the Celestials?
Celestials are primordial beings created in the initial universe called the First Firmament. It was a single, sentient cosmos who created life – the Celestials – as servants. Later, they started creating life independently, and after their inner wars, the first multiverse broke out.
There’s more to their history than initially seen, although their complete origins are somewhat blurry still. We know that they are beings of extraordinary power and will have a more significant role in the MCU now, as they are the creators of the Eternals (which are getting a movie in early November) soon. Let’s dive into the Celestial history a bit more.
What Created The Celestials?
Saying “who” created the Celestials may be a bit of a reach – I think “what” suits their creator better. Celestials are one of the oldest life forms ever to exist. As we learned from the comics (and now from the MCU as well), the Marvel Universe has countless universes and multiverses, but in the beginning, there was only one universe, called the First Firmament.
The First Firmament, or the First Cosmos, was a sentient, perfect, but a single universe that decided to create life, and at that moment, the Celestials were born. They were servants capable of creating their own life forms, but they initially operated only under the First Firmament’s will.
There were two types of Celestials. One type was extremely devoted to the First Firmament, always seeking his approval when using their powers to create life and worshipping him to a fault. That’s why he called them the Aspirants. They were usually depicted as darker entities than the other type – the Celestials we know today in the MCU.
That other type was called the “multicolored rebels.” They look much more vibrant and colorful. Although their physical appearance is quite similar to one another – colossal armored giants with a head, torso, and limbs whose core is made of pure energy – they all have individual features and distinguishing characteristics making each of them unique.
There were more Celestials than the Aspirants – “as many as the stars themselves,” quoted from Iron Man Vol 5. #13. While Aspirants only did what the First Firmament wanted, Celestials wanted their creations and life forms to take their own path: grow, evolve, and even die eventually.
The Aspirants and the First Firmament disliked that heavily, and the Celestial War broke out between the Aspirants and the Celestials. The Celestials detonated their weapons and shattered the First Firmament into pieces, creating the first multiverse.
The First Firmament’s sentient consciousness escaped with the remaining Aspirants while the Celestials continued to develop the first multiverse or the Second Cosmos.
Every iteration of the Cosmos has an expiration date, as the Prime Marvel Universe is the iteration of the Seventh Cosmos, created by the Celestials out of the Abyss. The Abyss was an empty, dark void that existed after the Sixth Cosmos had been destroyed and before the creation of the Seventh Cosmos.
The Origin of Celestials in the MCU
While Celestials didn’t have a significant role in the MCU so far, we have seen and encountered several of them already in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well. Their origins and creation are about the same as in the comics – they are primordial cosmic beings responsible for creating the universe and life.
In the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it’s revealed that the Celestials are a race of beings believed to be extinct that traveled the Cosmos and judged the worlds using the Infinity Stones.
If they found a world whose civilization isn’t worthy of surviving in their eyes, they’d simply wipe it out of existence. The Celestial we see using the Power Stone in the movie is called Eson the Searcher. But, something happened to them later, and they disappeared from the universe, which is why many believed they were extinct.
Well, until we learn that they aren’t, as there’s at least one of them who survived – Ego the Living Planet. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ego is revealed to be a Celestial using a humanoid avatar to travel around the universe, trying to wipe every life form clean of existence until nothing but himself remained. The Guardians and his son, Star-Lord, ultimately kill him.
There’s another Celestial (sort of) who we see in several movies but don’t really acknowledge. As the Celestials created the Seventh Cosmos, it disturbed the Abyss, where Knull ruled and lived. Knull was a primordial deity living in the void, and he hated the Celestials for destroying his Abyss and filling it with light.
That’s why he created a sword made of pure darkness and chopped off one of the Celestial’s heads in a single swing. The severed head remained floating in the Cosmos, and after a while, it was turned into a planet we know in the movies as Knowhere. Although it’s not stated directly in the movies, it’s not a planet but a reused severed head of a Celestial.
The primary life form that the Celestials created were the Eternals and Deviants (one of them being Thanos). The Eternals movie is coming out in November 2021, and judging by the trailer, we’ll see a lot more from the Celestials in the movie, making it obvious that they weren’t extinct.
With MCU Phase 4 revolving around the concept of a multiverse a lot, and the fact that we saw them in the trailer for Eternals make many fans believe that the Celestials will have a significant role in the upcoming movies and series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ll have to wait for a few more weeks to find out how big of a role that’ll be.