With the upcoming MCU Eternals film from Marvel Studios, many fans both new and old are looking back at Jack Kirby's Eternals, a group of seeming immortals who serve the will of the all-powerful Celestials here on Earth. Among the Eternals is the powerful warrior known as Thena, known to often be clad in golden armor.
Like all of the Eternals, Thena has a long history in Marvel Comics, and it's a lot stranger than one might expect. The Eternals have fits and spurts of interacting with mortals and humanity, but much of their history also finds the Eternals secluded and wanting nothing to do with the world around them.
10 She Worked For Stark Enterprises For A Period Of Time
There was a time that Thena had forgotten that she was an Eternal and the existence of her people. This was due to the machinations of a fellow Eternal known as Sprite who had turned on her fellow Eternals.
During this period, Thena believed she was a human woman married to a man named Thomas Eliot, and she was raising a son named Joey. Thena was employed by Stark Enterprises (the name of Stark Industries at the time). Ikaris ultimately helped the Eternals break Sprite's spell, and Thena swore to keep watching over and raising Joey.
9 She Had A Brief Stint With The Heroes For Hire Under Human Torch And Namor
There was a time that Namor the Sub-Mariner owned a massive multi-million dollar corporation called Oracle Inc. This corporation employed a version of the Heroes for Hire that operated under the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, and was led by Luke Cage and Iron Fist.
For one of their missions, they needed some extra muscle, and She-Hulk and Hercules were away at the time. As such, they got in touch with Thena, and she helped out the Heroes for Hire.
8 She Can Both Generate And Manipulate Cosmic Energy And Can Alter Matter
Each Eternal has a litany of superpowers, and each one has some degree of enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and durability. Eternals also choose certain superpowers to specialize in.
Among Thena's specialized powers are the control, emission, and manipulation of cosmic energies. She can produce blasts of energy and even create handheld weapons from cosmic energy. She can alter matter, though she is not as skilled in this pursuit as her fellow Eternal, Sersi. She also has a strong measure of telepathy and telekinesis.
7 She Can Teleport But Does Not Enjoy Using This Power
Thena also has the ability to teleport herself and those in the immediate vicinity. However, Thena does not enjoy using this power and how it makes her feel in the aftermath.
It is a massive drain on her cosmic energy reserves, and it takes Thena some time to build that cosmic energy back up.
6 Thena Is The One Who Decided To Reveal The Eternals' Existence To The World
The Deviants are the sworn enemies of the Eternals. They were the first creation of the Celestials on Earth, but the Deviants were malformed and chaotic. No two Deviants look alike, and the Eternals, among their other duties, must keep the Deviants at bay.
At one point, the Deviants decided to launch an attack on New York City, and Thena and the Eternals stopped them. It was at this time that the Eternals decided to reveal themselves to the world at last, and they chose a professor named Samuel Holden to convey the nature of the Eternals' existence to the world at large. Of course, in a world with the Avengers, X-Men, and all other manners of supernatural individuals, the reveal of the Eternals didn't have all that much of a lasting impact.
5 Her Birth Name Was Once Azura But Was Changed With Royal Decree
Thena was born with the name Azura. At one point, Zuras and Azura met Zeus and Athena of Olympus. They noticed the resemblances they had with one another and formed a pact. For a time, Zuras and Azura served as the Olympians' messengers on Earth.
As part of this pact, Azura's name was changed to Thena to better serve this function.
4 Thena Of The Eternals And Athena Of Olympus Are Often Confused
Consequently, humanity often confused Thena with Athena, and this mixup has followed Thena for much of her life.
In fact, Thena claims that Athens, the Greek city dedicated to the goddess Athena, was actually dedicated to Thena thinking that she was Athena.
3 She Had Twin Children With A Deviant Named Kro
Long ago, Thena formed a romantic relationship with a Deviant by the name of Kro. However, this was broken off by the Eternals, as fraternizing with Deviants is strictly forbidden. Thena later also became involved with a Deviant named Tzaigo.
However, Thena would later return to Kro, and the two would have twins together. The twins' names were Donald and Deborah. They were born to an infertile human woman named Ritter who birthed and raised the children. Their true parentage was revealed when Dr. Daniel Damian had the twins kidnapped. Since then, they have learned how to meld into the powerful Dark Angel and are part of a Deviant team called Delta Force.
2 She Is A Part Of The Olympian Caste Of Eternals
There are different types of Eternals throughout the Sol System. There are even Kree Eternals, which indicates that the Celestials created Eternals and Deviants throughout the universe. The four types of Sol Eternals are the Olympian Eternals, the Polar Eternals, the Uranian Eternals, and the Titan Eternals. The current Eternals run by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic implies that there may be several more varieties of Eternals on Earth, but they haven't been expanded upon yet.
Thena, Ikaris, and the main team of Eternals are from Olympia. Ikaris' father, Virako, was a Polar Eternal. The original Marvel Boy, aka Robert Grayson/the Uranian of the Agents of Atlas, is a Uranian Eternal. Thanos and his brother, Eros, are of the Titanian Eternals.
1 She Canonically First Appeared As Minerva In 1940's Red Raven Comics #1
Back during the Golden Age of comics, Marvel--then called Timely Comics--had already begun playing around with the superhero concept. Captain America, Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, the Human Torch, Toro, and Namor are the most remembered characters from this era. However, there were several other characters from this period that have been brought back upon occasion over the years.
One such hero is the Red Raven, a flying superhero. In the first issue of Red Raven Comics in 1940, there is a backup story by Martin A. Burnstein and Jack Kirby called "Mercury in the 20th Century." Among the characters in this issue is Minerva, who was later retconned to be Thena of the Eternals under a different name. However, the true first appearance of Thena was in Eternals #5 by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer in 1976.
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