WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Eternals #5 from Marvel Comics, on sale now.

Since Jack Kirby created them in the '70s, the Eternals have been some of Marvel's most ethereal heroes, a strange but dedicated race of defenders who've fought against cosmic forces to protect humanity. One of their great advantages has always been their capability to return to life following death, restored by the same cosmic forces that empower them.

However, there's been a terrible secret at the heart of this process, as revealed in The Eternals #5 by Kieron Gillen, Esad Ribić, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Clayton Cowles. Every time an Eternal is reborn, a human dies, and this revelation leads the Eternals to make an unlikely potential partnership with their most dire enemies, the Deviants.

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The Eternals Resurrection Reveal 2

One of the most unique and powerful elements of the Eternals is their ability to be restored, thanks to the Machine. Thanks to the Machine -- a sentient device that sees itself as an extension of the Earth -- the Eternals are always able to be restored to life following any death. That's what motivates Ikaris to rush around the globe to help repair the Machine when it's been broken by Phastos, who sacrifices himself to repair the machine and absorb the overloading energy. Confronting Phastos over his recent actions like restoring Thanos, Phastos reveals that, as the first of the Eternals to be restored to life in their latest cycle, he was able to take his time examining the Machine and learn more about it. Along the way, he discovered a secret about the Machine that broke his resolve.

It turns out that any and every time the Eternals are resurrected, they are done so without the spark of life. So, to finish the process, the Machine steals it from a human, which kills them instantly. For Ikaris' latest restoration, that turns out to be Toby Robson, a friend of Sprite who Ikaris had taken a keen interest in. Phastos had wanted to stop the Machine, reasoning that with Earth's other heroes present, the Eternals could be allowed to spare the humans they thought they were saving. But without the Machine, the Earth almost ended, proving to him -- and the rest of his compatriots -- that the Eternals are trapped on this world, dying (and killing humans) in a bid to protect them. Sersi is revealed to have known this truth and reveals that the other Eternals had learned about it in the past, and they were always as horrified as they are now.

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The Eternals Resurrection Reveal 2

But because she'd witnessed the fallout of their previous discoveries and taught herself to be somewhat disconnected from the world, she's made peace with the heavy toll they enact for immortality. Called upon by Zuras, the primary group of Eternals decides they can join the Uni-Mind and convince their fellow Eternals that something must be done. But instead, Sersi reveals that every time they make this discovery, every time they argue for the survival of the humans at the cost of their powers -- the other Eternals outvote them. The humans are seen as specks in the grand scheme of things, and those who resist this conclusion out of noble intention are mind-wiped. It has happened countless times over the years, and the Eternals just continue to exist in such a way.

She notes that the Deviants, for all their faults, are at least free to escape the kind of cycle that they've found themselves in. This prompts the group to instead decide to change -- and to do so, they venture to the Deviant city of Lemuria so they can too learn how to be a changing people.

This is a major shift for the Eternals and promises to change not just the trajectory of their lives but potentially their entire role on the planet Earth. More importantly, it also opens the door to what exactly a modern alliance between the Eternals and the Deviants could look like after eons of conflict.

Although they've rarely been Marvel's most prominent characters, the Eternals have been a steady presence in the background of the Marvel Universe for most of its existence. Now, their potential alliance with the Deviants promises to be their most meaningful new actions in an agel

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