Patrick Shen

COSMIC ENTITIES OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

WHAT ARE COSMIC ENTITIES?

• Beings of supreme power that exist in the Marvel Comics universe

• Classified into separate, distinct categories:

• Abstract entities that serve a purpose in the machinations of existence itself

• beings belonging to polytheistic godly Pantheons on Earth

• Beings or races that do not provide any function in the universe, but hold tremendous amounts of power such as:

• The Celestials

• The Elders of the Universe

• The Elder Gods

• Heralds of Galactus

THE CELESTIALS• A race of space-faring humanoids clad in armor that hold immense cosmic powers,

typically standing 600m tall

• Conduct genetic experiments throughout the universe on various life forms, coming back to judge their creations

• No one knows their origins, although they serve The Fulcrum along with the Watchers and the Horde

ELDER GODS• The Elder gods first appeared billions of years ago, when organic life was beginning to evolve on Earth

• The full number of the Elder gods has not been revealed, but among them were: Gaea, goddess of the Earth; Chthon, god of black magic, Set the serpent god of chaos, and Oshtur, goddess of the stars

THE LIVING TRIBUNAL• The judge of the multiverse who maintains the cosmic balance of power, with powers

beyond all but his creator, the “One Above All”

• Has three faces that represent equity, necessity, and vengeance that must agree with each other before it can intervene

• A multiversal being, meaning there is only one Living Tribunal

• Only ever defeated once when Thanos claimed the Heart of The Universe

ETERNITY/INFINTY• Eternity is the de facto supreme being of the universe and the embodiment of time, while

Infinity is the embodiment of space

• They are shown to be two sides of the same coin, rather than completely separate entities

• Represents the “necessity” face of the Living Tribunal

• Has spawned “children” concepts, such as Empathy, Eulogy, Expediency, Entropy, Epiphany, Enmity, and Eon (Epoch)

DEATH/OBLIVION• Death and oblivion are twin concepts, being the embodiments of death

• and non-existence

• Often appears as a woman with either a beautiful face or a skulled one

• She exists in the Realm of Death, which also contains the Infinity Well

• Thanos has on multiple occasions attempted to prove his love for Death by destroying all life, once with a Cosmic Cube and another time with the Infinity Gauntlet

• Death has been “killed” and resurrected, once by the Beyonder and also in another universe

• Represents the “vengeance” face of the Living Tribunal

GALACTUS• Exists from the universe prior to the mainstream “616” continuation, as a mortal named

Galen and reborn in the Big Bang

• He must devour the life energies of planets in order to survive

• Is the third force with Eternity and Death, and represents the “equity” face of the Living Tribunal

• Like all cosmic entities, he no longer has a true form, though not all Galacti are physically and metaphysically the same

• Recruits Heralds that scout suitable planets for consumption

JEAN GREY/PHOENIX FORCE• Is the nexus of all psionic energy, and the primeval root and source of all life

• Being multiversal, it is the second most powerful entity beneath the Living Tribunal

• Favors using powerful telepaths as avatars, but it is shown that Jean Grey has now merged with and become the most powerful incarnation of the Force, White Phoenix of the Crown

THANOS – COSMIC CUBES• An eternal of Titan who surpassed the strength of all other eternals through bionic

implants and meditation

• Became obsessed with Death, and wanted to impress her through the use of a cosmic cube

THANOS – INFINTY GEMS• Death abandoned him, so as a plot to regain her favour he sought to destroy Magus

• Later sought out 5 of the 6 Infinity Gems, Time, Space, Soul, Reality, Power, Mind to create a device capable of destroying stars

• He obtained the Soul Gem from Adam Warlock while defeating Magus

• Gamora found his true intentions, which alerted Warlock who contacted Captain Marvel and the Avengers

• Was eventually killed by Warlock

THANOS – INFINITY GAUNTLET• After his death from Adam Warlock, Death

resurrected him

• He returned to his starship and Armada, wrestling control from his alleged granddaughter Nebula, deciding to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet

• All of the Universe’s most powerful champions and cosmic entities were assembled against Thanos

THANOS – INFINITY GAUNTLET

• After the mortals failed, the cosmic entities were involved, but they too were defeated with Thanos usurping Eternity as the center of all reality

• Nebula stole the gauntlet and undid all the damage caused by Thanos, before the gauntlet fell into the hands of Warlock

• Warlock was deemed unworthy, and he dispersed the Gems among the Infinity Watch

THANOS – MAGUS• Eternity was rendered catatonic by Magus, the evil personification of Warlock

• He wanted to reassemble the Infinity Gauntlet to fight against Magus, only to have it fall into Magus’ hands

• He defeated his own doppelganger and confronted Magus, who was eventually vanquished by Eternity who had been restored by Gamora and Galactus

THANOS – HEART OF THE UNIVERSE• Thanos gained the Heart of the Universe to learn of a fatal flaw in the Universe

• He absorbed the universe when he was met with opposition

• Death and Warlock, who existed outside of reality at the time, convinced him to restore it

THANOS – HEART OF THE UNIVERSE

BIBLIOGRAPHY• http://www.corvusonline.net/thanos/ThanosQ1.html

• http://www.corvusonline.net/thanos/history1.html

• http://marvel.wikia.com/Cosmic_entities

• Marvel: The End #1 - #6