WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Eternals #1 by Kieron Gillen, Esad Ribic, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
With a new series just getting started, the Eternals must face the one thing they never thought would happen to them: Change. Following the mass suicide event all the Eternals went through following the revelation of their purpose (or now lack of one), the immortal species awakens to a world that is rapidly changing before their eyes. The first of these changes is in the form of the Eternals' version of Loki, Sprite. No longer is he the boy who never grows up, but is now in the form of a young girl to shake things up a bit.
Sprite debuted in 1976's Eternals #9 by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer and quickly differentiated himself from his fellow Eternals who were much more reserved and stoic, conveying a sense of dignity. Sprite was none of these things. Due to his role as being an eternal child, Sprite decided to spend his days playing tricks on both the Eternals and the Human race they were sworn to protect from the Deviants. It got to the point where Sprite became the inspiration for legendary trickster characters such as Puck and Peter Pan.
Despite the joy Sprite took in his antics, he was never entirely okay with the notion of being a child forever. Even though he grew mentally alongside his fellow eternals, his lack of any physical maturation resulted in him being seen as a child by the entirety of his race, something that he came to deeply resent. This dissatisfaction with his role in life eventually lead to Sprite shifting from trickster to full-blown supervillain.
In Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.'s 2006 Eternals series, Sprite took drastic action both to change his fate and to get revenge for being treated like a child for a million years. Using the Uni-Mind, he tapped into the power of the Dreaming Celestial to alter reality. He stripped his fellow Eternals of their powers and memories of who they were, and wiped away all record of them from the world. With that completed, Sprite finally got his dearest wish and altered himself into a regular human boy so he could grow up and finally experience all the vices in life that had been denied to him because of his stagnated age.
Taking up the name Colin, he became the star of a comedy show called That's Just So Sprite while his fellow Eternals wandered in blissful ignorance. But Sprite's plan was not foolproof. Ikaris had retained his memories and confronted Sprite for his crimes, but the child god showed no remorse for his actions, and took pleasure in the discomfort he had caused his people. When the Eternal Zuras regained his memories, he confronted and killed Sprite, who didn't resist, but swore that he would get his revenge some day.
That was the last anyone saw of Sprite until the new Eternals series. For reasons that have not been fully explained, the Eternals decided to revive and free Sprite. Upon opening Sprite's pod, Ikaris discovered that the boy god had changed his gender. Oddly enough, Sprite's personality had changed as well. The process of rebirth had only allowed Sprite access to her last "safe" set of memories, so there were gaps in her knowledge. She still knew Ikaris and her fellow Eternals, but the modern Human world was a novelty to her and she had no recollection of attempting to alter reality to get rid of the Eternals.
Sprite's new persona even seemed taken aback that she would take such drastic actions. But the playful spirit is still there as she finds amusement and joy in everything she does, being the face of levity to Ikaris' stoicism. And she seems to still be interested in protecting the world from the Deviants, even though she knows she tried to destroy the Eternals previously. Even though Sprite now stands beside the other Eternals, the soul of the sinister god who once betrayed them all still lingers beneath it all.