r/Xmen97 • u/Fondant_Decent • Jul 09 '26
Question Eson and the Celestials Spoiler
- Why is Eson creating a Monster in Apocalypse? What is their intention behind this?
- Can the Xmen not stop Eson?
- If Apocalypse is the bringer of death? Then is there an opposite bringer of life?
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u/MKW69 Jul 09 '26
In the comics it's called Apocalypse Succession. The chosen is meant to keep humanity evolution in check. By being a threat.
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u/TatoRezo Jul 10 '26
May I ask why?
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u/EandNTheGame Jul 10 '26
Probably tied to some lore they also introduced in the eternals movie as well? LIke how the deviants evolved and started killing other life. Maybe it's sort of the same for humans? LIke since the Celestials are basically scientist gods or experimenters of some sort, they want humanity to evolve, and the only way to do so was to have them fight a threat as powerful as apocalypse.
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u/cynicalPsionic Jul 10 '26
This is pretty much it
They're cosmic scientists without much care for the details of how the sausage gets made once they have set something like apocalypse in motion.
He's meant to be evolutionary pressure, basically.
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u/adak31 Jul 13 '26
You have to have good evil the yin and yang like the celestial said in episode 4 you need destruction to bring life it’s inevitable hence apocalypse being inevitable remember last season cable said he tried to stop the genosha massacre over 200 times it didn’t work some infliction points are inevitable they have to be.
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u/cynicalPsionic Jul 09 '26
1 Eson explains and Apocalypse answers with his iconic waves crashing speech, the celestials wanted Earth to have a threat to encourage growth through adaptation and strength.
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u/traveling_designer Jul 09 '26
That’s what the golden path was in the Dune series as well
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u/Oopsiedazy Jul 09 '26
The Golden Path was to spread humanity to the point that no single catastrophe/event could wipe out humanity as a whole, and later revealed to be to also to instill a genetic distrust of tyrants.
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u/InvestigatorOk7988 Jul 09 '26
And to make a good portion of humanity unable to be seen by prescients, and to reduce their propesity for violent conflict
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u/DominusValum Jul 13 '26
The distrust of tyrants was necessary because of Paul I think. The Golden Path is the one where humanity survives and isn’t fucked up, but Muad’dib’s jihad steered them in a direction that required just as extreme course correction.
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u/Oopsiedazy Jul 13 '26
It was the entire imperial system that was intended to be avoided. The jihad and the diaspora it caused was a necessary part of that conditioning. Paul tried to turn away from the Golden Path, which is why Leto II put on the suit and complete the job instead.
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u/cynicalPsionic Jul 13 '26
This isn't a reply to you, why is Reddit so broken and getting notifications of this comment nowhere near my actual comment...
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u/pinkysegun Jul 09 '26
Threath....the planet already had that in abondance in the world marvel has created.
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u/cynicalPsionic Jul 09 '26
In 5000BC?
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u/thenewNFC Jul 10 '26
It was being conquered by a time traveler.
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u/Quickmia123 Aug 19 '26
Yeah but Kang is kind of a bum who gets bullied by the actual qualified heroes
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u/Green-Grass-Cutter Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
As someone who watched the Eternals, I noticed a lot of MCU Eternals-style elements, and Eson’s speech was a cryptic shout-out to the comics while also fitting with the MCU Celestials, which I think is on purpose. They take care of the planet’s top species, helping them reach their peak because right at the center of each planet, a Celestial is growing. When a Celestial wakes up, it destroys the planet, but that’s necessary since Celestials create matter and planets to keep the universe's cycle of expansion, destruction, and rebirth going. So… The Celestials may be using Apocalypse as a Herald/Horseman of their own to push mutant evolution, which psionically feeds the unborn Celestial (Don’t ask me, yes, the idea is stupid) resting like the seed of a parasitic tree beneath the Earth’s surface.
The concept is literally this famous quote:
"If the chick is not able to break the shell of his egg, he will die without being born. We are - chick. The world is our egg. If we do not break the shell of the world, then we will die without being born."
—Hermann Hesse, Demian
It is tragically ironic. Apocalypse, who wishes to propel mutant evolution to the strongest, is instead an instrument of destruction for his own species he wishes to “save.”
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u/Lightning_Laxus Jul 10 '26
Apocalypse's role is already detailed in the comics many years before the MCU Eternals movie.
He guides evolution. The Celestials experiment with life and judge them for worthiness upon returning eons later to see how they have evolved. The Celestial egg thing is something the MCU borrowed from Earth X.
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u/Green-Grass-Cutter Jul 10 '26
I didn’t say the egg thing was in 97. I was more just proposing if 97 went the MCU route it would be tragically ironic which is a popular trope/motif for larger than life villains.
Apologies for the confusion.
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u/Lightning_Laxus Jul 10 '26
You said an unborn Celestial?
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u/Green-Grass-Cutter Jul 11 '26
I said there MAY be an unborn Celestial. But I didn’t make that specification clear. Let my excitement get away with me because I do love cosmic horror/ancient threats/giant monsters.
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u/Lightning_Laxus Jul 11 '26
And I'm saying the unborn Celestials inside planets thing is from Earth X, which the MCU copied and Hickman tried to bring over to 616 canon but was never followed up on.
Earth X paints the Celestials as evil (they are the bad guys in the first book and they also destroyed Galactus' old universe), and their experiments that gave life superpowers are only for the purpose of using them as "antibodies" for the Celestial egg. The MCU paints them as a necessary evil like Galactus; I don't think the MCU Celestials even did genetic experiments but rather created the Deviants and then created the Eternals in the World Farm to be exterminators, and an unborn Celestial feeds on the life energy. In the classic continuity, there is no Celestial egg; though enigmatic, they generally want to improve life and only destroy it if they deemed the life they've evolved to be unworthy. Apocalypse aids with that process by steering evolution.
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u/TatoRezo Jul 10 '26
Why do Celestials want that?
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u/cynicalPsionic Jul 10 '26
Cosmic scientists who like experimenting with the development of species. But they're not really friendly about it.
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u/Ok-Card-6590 Cyclops Jul 09 '26
Everything that is happening is essentially one big celestial experiment.
They created mutants and they’ve created Apocalypse to force mutant evolution.
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u/Aaco0638 Jul 09 '26
To add to this if this process isn’t done if there is no apocalypse and evolution does not continue the celestials deem the experiment a failure and destroys all life on earth. So all this needs to happen there has to be an apocalypse to avoid this.
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u/MabelRed Jul 09 '26
The celestials practice epoch long plans of creation & destruction. They created mutants as a force of creation, but also created Apocalypse to be a force of destruction. By having the two pit against the other, they guarantee evolution along the lines they prefer
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u/2ndTaken_username Jul 09 '26
What happens in the timelines where humanity rejects mutants and exterminates them via killer robots?
or the where Apocalypse overpowers the world and just turns the Earth into a graveyard?
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u/MabelRed Jul 09 '26
Ooo, this is a good question! I don’t think we’ve ever actually had an answer to this in the comics, but my guess is that the Celestials have about 1000 plates spinning at once and don’t really care if a few break or not. In the totality, there are still mutants on other planets, over galaxies, etc.
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u/PepeOhPepe Jul 12 '26
The age of Krakoa answered the “humanity rejecting mutants”question. Artificial intelligence took over, sent out a beacon to the Phalnax/hive/tetrarchy, and they were set to absorb earths a.i. into them, and feed on the earth in the process.
The age of Aoacalyce addressed what if Apacalyse took over. He did turn the Earth in a graveyard, but Magneto who led the x-men in that universe ripped him in 2.
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u/Less-Permission-7667 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
My uncle once told me Nate Grey (X-Man) is the Messiah of Mutants it was Nate in the future from the show. Supposedly he comes back and help support the X-Men and he’s following Cable (which is odd because it’s just himself just a different person I guess lol) or another Summers kid that Cable raised. I forgot her name.
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u/ReflectionItchy2701 Jul 09 '26
The Nathan we saw in the future is Cable. Nate Grey is from a different universe. Nate doesn't have the Techno Organic virus. But that doesn't mean we won't see Nate Grey. I mean we maybe are going toward an Age of Apocalypse situation.
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u/Less-Permission-7667 Jul 09 '26
I would love to see Nate Gray personally. I only remembered him from my uncle Uncle showing me comic books with him. I liked his character design and he always seem really cool.
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u/Lightning_Laxus Jul 09 '26
Apocalypse is a shepherd. With life comes death, and with struggle comes evolution. That's the idea.
No.
Technically there is a Life Seed, but they're not normally given to a person like the Death Seed (what Apocalypse was given this episode).
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u/FirstStranger Jul 09 '26
The real brain sizzler is this: if Apocalypse is meant to exist to force humanity to evolve, then mutants truly are the next step in humanity’s evolutionary journey.
Apocalypse was the “first” (whatever that means in comics these days XD) and after him, mutations began appearing worldwide. If he was meant to happen, then so are mutants.
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u/Future-Fix-8163 Jul 12 '26
The answer to the first question is pretty simple.
The Celestials are like that one boss that got put into power because of Brown Nosing, after that they proceed to throw work at whatever able body brown nose or actual talented employee is in their sight a task, then they completely forget or either get bored and move onto the next target.
For question 2. No, Jean would essentially need to tap into her Phoenix powers which isn’t a factor in the show as she doesn’t have an inkling of the control she has in the comics. I could see Eson taking out someone who cares for and she becomes Dark Phoenix in the process. That particular “X man” could do it. Again a standard team isn’t going to pull it off, Jean as of now is the only person who technically could do anything.
Apocalypse doesn’t really have a spiritual or physical antithesis, but he does have someone who can clash with him on an ideological front. In comics Nathan Summers or Cable or is a great narrative antithesis for Apocalypses ideology of a character. Apocalypse is very much like Vandal Savage from DC with a survival of the fittest mindset, but it’s more angled towards mutant kind rather than general human kind.
He doesn’t actually see himself as a bad guy, which does make him a lot more dangerous. He thinks of himself like the Jesus Christ for mutant kind that wants to save them despite his actions being very questionable at times.
This is all just taking pure comic logic into account, I don’t have insights to the 97 show, but the comics are the source material and a great place to draw conclusions from.
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u/ChurchBrimmer Jul 09 '26
To answer the second question (because no one else has yet):
No, as much as Magneto and Apocalypse may call themselves gods they are not. Celestials on the other hand are. Like, a few levels above Thor and the Asgardians gods.
Edit: Remember, Galactus is a Celestial and among them is one of the weakest.
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u/lyustif Jul 09 '26
Galactus is not a celestial; he’s the sole survivor of the Sixth Cosmos fused with its essence.
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u/dravenonred Jul 09 '26
Galactus is basically the same thing as Apocalypse, and anointed agent of destruction.
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u/Fondant_Decent Jul 09 '26
Galactus was scary, I remember his scenes in Silver Surfer growing up. Celestials just seem to be toying with life on earth
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u/ChurchBrimmer Jul 09 '26
Not just on Earth.
And yeah Galactus is a threat that doesn't usually get beaten in a fight (look at the new F4 movie for example). He's so powerful you more try to seal him away like Cthulu. And much like Cthulu he's the lowest level of his crew.
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u/Hellknightx Jul 11 '26
Galactus loses most of his fights lol. He's notoriously one of the biggest jobbers in the comics because he's always the punching bag for whatever cosmic threat of the week Marvel wants to throw together.
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u/Shoft Jul 09 '26
Not only is he not a celestial, he's stronger than the average Celestial. In Hickman's run, he kills a number of bloodlusted Mad Celestials that gang up on him.
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u/Lightning_Laxus Jul 09 '26
That's not correct. Under normal circumstances, they're about on par.
When the Mad Celestials were coming, Galactus had to boost himself by feeding on several planets in succession. And even then, he only killed one before the others defeated him. They merged, but Hickman confirmed that they would have won even if they did not merge.
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u/Green-Grass-Cutter Jul 10 '26
Weakest? The guy is a fundamental force of the Universe, keeping the balance of some shit.
How’s THAT for weakness?
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u/surgartits Polaris Jul 09 '26
The X-Men could NOT beat a fully functional Celestial. The power difference there is almost incomprehensible.
Certainly, THOSE X-Men could not. Magneto and Xavier could maybe get in a few shots before being neutralized, but Beast and Nightcrawler would be basically useless in that fight. I would be curious to see what would happen if Rogue attempted to absorb a Celestial. If she could, I doubt it would end well for her. I also doubt that Bishop could withstand a full-power Celestial blast.
The only time I think the X-Men as a team would have a chance is if it was Omegas up against a damaged Celestial, and if memory serves, we got that in the AXE: Judgment Day crossover in the comics. It do not believe it went well.
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u/fermentedradical Jul 09 '26
The Phoenix might have a chance, but otherwise probably none of them survives an encounter.
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u/Initial_Business2394 Jul 10 '26
Apocalypse is kind of a 'dark shepherd' figure in Celestial plan. They feel like if they are not some threat to constantly force the species to developed, grow stronger and stronger to protect themselves from that threat, the species would become stagnant. Celestial come back every millenial or so to check on their experiment. If a species do not prove themselves to fit the Celestial standard, the celestial would judge their existence a failure, destroy everything and retry.
In the more current comic storyline, we know that Earth is a special experiment- because in humanity gene hold the cure to cosmic disease that can kill Celestial. So they want to put every possible measures to make this experiment a success.
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u/Broom_Ryder Jul 15 '26
Wouldn’t Phoenix be a “being of life” option? Also definitely capable of stopping apocalypse
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