WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "The Silent Inferno" by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Cory Petit, from Heroes Reborn #3, on sale now.
Heroes Reborn has introduced readers to a whole new kind of Marvel Universe, one where the Squadron Supreme has taken up the role as Earth's Mightiest Heroes in a world that has never known the Avengers. While this brand new world might seem eerily similar to the old one, there are already several cracks beginning to form in its facade, and even some of its greatest heroes are seeing through them. In fact, the Speedster Supreme has just been introduced to one of the most powerful entities in all of existence, and Eternity could very well hold the key to everything.
During the attack on Washington D.C. perpetrated by the Masters of Doom, Squadron Supreme speedster Blur got caught up facing off against Wanda Maximoff, aka the Silver Witch. Their race brought him to the edge of death as he sought any way he could find to save his own soul. Thankfully, some helpful nudging on the part of the Ancient One gave Blur exactly what he needed to save the day. It also led him to another, far more friendly race. Blur almost saw through the veil of his own false world, though how much of it is real or not soon becomes a far more serious question when the presence of Eternity is revealed, and the race is back on.
First introduced in "If Eternity Should Fail!" by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee in 1965's Strange Tales #138, Eternity is one of several Abstract Entities, the physical embodiments of abstract universal concepts, or in the case of Eternity, universes themselves. For every iteration of the Marvel Universe among the near-infinite Multiverse, there is an Eternity -- though they rarely manifest. On a few occasions, when reality itself was threatened, Eternity would appear to directly intervene, as was the case in 1991's Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin and George Perez.
As powerful as each Eternity is, they are not truly omnipotent, nor are they permanent fixtures as proved by their destruction at the hands of the Beyonders in 2015's New Avengers #30 by Jonathan Hickman and Dalibor Talajic. Since then, the Multiverse has been remade and the Eternities returned, but how they have been affected by the events of Heroes Reborn still isn't quite clear. Even if the consequences of this new reality aren't certain yet, Eternity racing against Blur carries some serious implications with it regarding just how real this version of the universe is.
There is no doubt that Mephisto is the one behind all of this, even if no one knows how exactly how he has remade the world in his own twisted image. Of course, the presence of Eternity here ensures that this is indeed reality, no matter how much it might seem like a nightmare. That being said, without understanding precisely what Mephisto has done, there is no telling if this is the same Eternity from the primary Marvel Universe or a new Eternity born of this reality. If the answer is the former, then Eternity itself might play a very important role in setting the universe right again -- especially considering the incredibly vested interest they would have in fixing what is effectively themselves.
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