Celestial (comics)

Celestials
The Celestial Fourth Host (left to right): Hargen, Tefral, Nezzar, Gammenon, Arishem, Jemiah, Eson, Oneg, and Ziran. Scene from Thor #300 (October 1980). Art by Keith Pollard.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Eternals #2 (July 1976)
Created by	Jack Kirby
Characteristics
Place of origin	Unknown
Notable members	List of Celestials members
Inherent abilities	Capable of virtually any effect

The Celestials are a group of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Immensely powerful and of huge humanoid shape, the Celestials are some of the oldest entities in the Marvel Comics universe. They debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have appeared in Marvel publications for four decades. They also appear in various forms of merchandise such as trading cards.

The Celestials debuted in Eternals #1 (July 1976) and were created by writer-artist Jack Kirby. They reappeared as regular guest stars in three subsequent limited series sequels: Eternals vol. 2, #1 - 12 (October 1985 - September 1986), Eternals vol. 3, #1 - 7 (August 2006 - February 2007), and Eternals vol. 4, #1 - 9 (August 2008 - May 2009).

The characters have also been featured in other titles, including the "Celestial Saga" storyline in Thor Annual #7 (1978), Thor #283 – 300 (May 1979 - October 1980), Thor #387 – 389 (January–March 1988), Quasar #24 (July 1991), Fantastic Four #400 (May 1995), X-Factor #43-46 (August–November 1989) and #48-50 (December 1989 x 2 - January 1990).

Celestials existed near the birth of the universe and created life and death along with the multiverse. There were once billions of them, until their hegemony was challenged by a species known only as the "Aspirants", who went to war against them by creating a now-lost hyper weapon called the "Godkiller", a space-borne 25,000 foot (7,600 m) tall humanoid robot that dwarfs even the Celestials themselves. After a bitter war of attrition, during which the Godkiller destroyed countless Celestials, the Aspirants and the Godkiller were ultimately defeated and the Aspirants wiped out. New Celestials may be born by consuming the mass of an entire galaxy. Visiting Earth every few thousand years in groups called "Hosts", the group is revealed to have been responsible for the creation of the Eternals and the Deviants, and, via genetic manipulation, the existence of superpowers in mutants.