- NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Ikaris from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Ikaris (Marvel).
| “ | Do you think it was easy to live with the truth? To know that one day all this would end? To keep on lying to you? If we gave humanity the choice, how many of them would be willing to die so that billions more could be born? | „ |
| ~ Ikaris explaining his actions to Sersi and other Eternals. |
| “ | I'm sorry. | „ |
| ~ Ikaris to Sersi, before heading towards the sun out of guilt. |
Ikaris is the deuteragonist and the main antagonist of the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals. He is the ex-husband to Sersi, who is the tactical leader of the community of genetically-engineered Eternals that is devoted to protecting mankind from the Deviants.
It is later revealed that Ikaris caused the death of Ajak when she refused to start the emergence, leading to him battling his former allies. He would decide to join the Uni-Mind to kill Tiamut when remembering his past memories with Sersi, and a guilt-ridden Ikaris seemingly commits suicide by flying into the sun once the emergence is averted.
He was portrayed by Richard Madden, who also played Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, Prince Kit Charming in Cinderella and Michael Mason in Bastille Day, and voiced Alucard in the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series.
Biography[]
Background[]
Ikaris was created by Arishem the Judge as a synthetic lifeform being with the purpose of getting rid of the Deviants, also being created to kill predators in other planets, so intelligent beings in those planets wouldn't be killed by them, and then could serve as fuel to the Celestials that were going to be born in the center of these planets, in an event known as Emergence, in which entire galaxies would be created with the new Celestial's help, creating a death and life cycle.
He and the other beings with the same mission of Ikaris were called the Eternals, as they were immortal and appeared similar to human beings. Ikaris, along with Ajak, were the only two among their group of Eternals that retrieved their memories after each Emergence, while the other members did not remember and thought that their mission was to kill Deviants so intelligent life could evolve, not knowing that it would be sacrificed to a new Celestial to be born.
Ikaris and the Eternals would be sent to Earth in 5000 BC to stop the Deviants from harming civilization, and Ikaris was the first to fight and later introduced himself to Sersi. As centuries passed, Ikaris became close and married Sersi, but didn't reveal the truth of the Eternals' creation. He also became good friends with Sprite, who would make up the tale of Icarus, The Boy Who Flew Too Close to the Sun, while they were in Athens. In the 1500s, Ikaris and the Eternals defeated the presumed last of the Deviants, and Ajak tasked them to go their separate ways to live with humanity. Though Ikaris decided to live with Sersi, he would end their marriage due to suffering from a moral dilemma from knowing of their true purpose.
When the titan Thanos succeeded in obtaining the Infinity Stones, he caused the decimation, which resulted in the delay of Earth's emergence. When the snap was undone by the Avengers in 2023, Ikaris met with Ajak, who revealed that she was planning to prevent the emergence after gaining compassion for humanity. Though shocked, Ikaris decided to lie that he agreed with Ajak, and sent her into a trap where the Deviant Kro took her power. He succeeded in preventing Ajak's goal, but felt immense regret after burying her body in South Dakota.
Eternals[]
Despite his regret, Ikaris decided to find the rest of the Eternals to unite them to kill the rest of the Deviants, which could end their true mission. Traveling to England, Ikaris reunited with Sersi and Sprite by defending them from Kro and took them to South Dakota to find Ajak's corpse. After managing to convince Kingo to leave his set, the group traveled to Australia to find Thena and Gilgamesh. Once they agreed to rejoin, the Eternals went to the Amazon Rainforest to reunite with Druig, who left the group centuries prior to start his own community. When explaining recent events, the Deviants arrived and Kro managed to kill Gilgamesh, who had rescued Ikaris from the empowered being. Ikaris mourned the loss of Gilgamesh with the group, but felt some aggravation from the Eternals losing direction in completing their mission.
When Druig admits that he isn't strong enough to affect a Celestial, the Eternals decide to find Phastos, who had previously given up on humanity after helping them gain the skill to create weapons like the atomic bomb. With the remaining Eternals together, they traveled to Iraq and find the Domo, where Makkari has resided. When the group want to use their powers to form a Uni-Mind to stop the emergence, Ikaris shows hesitance, leading to Druig and Sersi to learn the truth. Ikaris attempts to explain that it was their duty to make sure the Celestials' life cycle continue, and briefly battles his former allies alongside Sprite, who believes that the emergence will allow her to grow into an adult.
Despite reaching Sersi to prevent her from stopping the emergence, he decides not to due to recalling his past memories of their time together. He and Sprite then proceed to surrender, and unite their power to Sersi with the others to help her kill Tiamut, thus averting the emergence. Afterward, Ikaris apologized Sersi for his actions, and seemingly committed suicide by flying directly into the sun.
Personality[]
| “ | Ajak: Oh, Ikaris. I led you down the wrong path. Ikaris: It's the only path I know. |
„ |
| ~ Ajak and Ikaris. |
Ikaris was a loyal soldier who took pride in following orders. However, he was totally dedicated to the Celestials' mission, even going as far as to kill Ajak, and later threatening and fighting his fellow Eternals should they interfere with Tiamat the Communicator’s Emergence. This dedication though was not absolute since his love for Sersi took precedence in the last moment before Ikaris could attack her. When he had the chance to stop Sersi from forming the Uni-Mind, he chose not to do so and even joined the other Eternals into the Uni-Mind. Afterwards, Ikaris felt deep guilt over what he had done in killing Ajak and betraying his fellow Eternals, causing him to be intensely conflicted between his love, his guilt and his loyalty to the Celestials, leading him to fly out of the Earth’s atmosphere and seemingly commit suicide by flying towards the Sun.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Eternal Physiology: By design from the Celestials, Ikaris was an Eternal possessing superhuman strength, durability, speed, agility, stamina, reflexes and healing numerous times superior than any normal human being, as well as immortality and being able to manipulate cosmic energy to a certain degree. He was regarded as one of the most powerful of the Eternals, to the point where it took three of them fighting him to restrain him; and even when operating alone, it was alluded that it was very rare for Deviants to live or even escape intact after a confrontation with Ikaris.
- Superhuman Strength: Like all Eternals, Ikaris possessed great superhuman strength, numerous times stronger than any normal human being. He was the second strongest Eternal of his time, only surpassed by Gilgamesh. He was able to knock back a large Deviant who had been pressuring Gilgamesh with a single charge and at one point he could forcibly open the mouth of a Deviant to launch his optic beams directly at it's internal organs. He also easily overpowered and pushed Ajax off a cliff with enough force to cause a crater on the icy ground. During the battle with the other Eternals, Ikaris repeatedly managed to overcome them with great physical force without much effort. He was able to strike at Thena's shield with such force to push her back and easily pin her to a wall as well as casually throw her with enough force to stop Makkari's super speed, effortlessly lift, restrain, and throw around Druid, stop Makkari at her top speed and toss her aside with a single hand, and even break out of Phastos’s restraints with considerable effort.
- Superhuman Durability: Ikaris' body was numerous times more resistant to physical and energy damage than any normal human being. He was able to casually catch Thena's energy blade with a single hand and withstand multiple powerful blows from her and Makkari at super speed along with Phastos's energy projectiles without suffering any noteworthy injury.
- Superhuman Speed: Ikaris could run and move at great superhuman speed, much faster than any normal human being. His speed is lesser than Makkari, but more so than the other Eternals, as he was able to effortlessly catch Druig off-guard and quickly overwhelm Thena in a rapid exchange of blows.
- Superhuman Agility: Ikaris naturally possessed far greater agility, equilibrium, flexibility, dexterity, balance, and body coordination than any normal human being.
- Superhuman Stamina: Ikaris' advanced musculature was considerably more efficient than any normal human being. As a result, his muscles virtually did not produce fatigue toxins during physical activity. His endurance allowed him to exercise his maximum capacity for an extremely long period of time without tiring at all.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Ikaris could react and dodge objects traveling at high speeds, much quicker than any normal human being. He was responsive enough to even react to Makkari's super speed after a while and was able to counter most of Thena and Phastos's attacks with ease.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Ikaris' metabolism enabled him to rapidly regenerate damaged bodily tissue with far greater speed and efficiency than any normal human being.
- Flight: Ikaris was genetically able to fly, glide and float through the air and vacuum of space at hyper-sonic speeds, allowing him to takeoff and land safely on the planet's surface with ease. He can also maneuver with great precision in any direction, as well as float in one place.
- Cosmic Energy Manipulation: By design of the Celestials, all Eternals are genetically capable of using cosmic energy. Each Eternal possesses a unique ability, all derived from the same cosmic power source.
- Optic Energy Blasts: Ikaris was able to use his cosmic energy to project powerful cosmic energy beams from his eyes. These beams are extremely deadly, possibly surpassing Kingo's own projected energy blasts, such that Gilgamesh was surprised to learn a Deviant survived after a direct encounter with Ikaris.
Abilities[]
- Genius-level Intellect: Ikaris was shown to have a great amount of intelligence as he was able to lie to the other Eternal members about the Emergence, which he already knew about, for eons.
- Skilled Tactician: True to his status of tactical leader of the Eternals, Ikaris was able to carefully plan his actions to achieve his purpose. As such, he dedicated his efforts to ensure that the Emergence of Tiamat the Communicator would occur, plotting to have Ajak killed so that the Eternals would be distracted and focused against the Deviants.
- Skilled Combatant: Ikaris was known to be a skilled combatant, as shown when he battled several Deviants, even his own Eternal members.
- Leadership: Ikarus is shown to have great leadership.
- Multilingualism: Ikaris was fluent in English, Babylonian, and sign language, using the latter to communicate with the deaf-mute Makkari.
Gallery[]
.jpeg "Eternals (MCU).jpeg (82 KB)")
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Ikaris was a third generation member of the Eternals.
- The Eternals director, Chloé Zhao, stated that the character was mostly inspired by Zack Snyder’s Superman.
- Charlie Hunnam, Alexander Skarsgård, Armie Hammer, and Sam Heughan were all considered for the role before Richard Madden was cast.
See Also[]
- Ikaris on the Villains Wiki.
