Ikaris is Not The Villain in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’

| Photo courtesy of TheForward.com.

(REVIEW) Marvel’s Eternals made its grand debut onto Disney+ for streaming on Jan. 12, 2022. The film follows the titled Eternals’, an immortal alien race, introduction to the already-full Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sersi, Ikaris, Sprite, Ajax, Thena, Gilgamesh, Kingo, Makkari, Phastos and Druig are members of a group of superheroes who are more than seven centuries old and placed on Earth to protect humans from Deviants (an alien species who are end products of DNA testing gone wrong). 

The main conflict of the first half of the movie is the reemergence of the Deviants. The group of superheroes thought these creatures were eradicated centuries ago, so one of our heroes, Ikaris (Richard Madden), decides it’s time to get the crew back together to stop the resurgence before it becomes a bigger issue. 

However, they learn along the way that they were not sent to Earth to fight Deviants; they were sent to prepare Earth for the ‘Emergence’ in which a Celestial (an ancient race of entities that possess vast matter and energy manipulation abilities) will rise from the core of Earth, destroying the planet. Now, their new worry is trying to stop this Emergence without the head Celestial, Arishem (David Kaye), who created and placed them on Earth, finding out.

So, it would be easy to say that Arishem is the true villain, and while that is true, one person shares his title in the eye of the public. 

Ikaris is, by word of the other Eternals, the strongest. His powers include flying, superhuman strength and projecting cosmic energy beams from his eyes. He spends a large portion of the movie trying to get everyone back together to fight off the Deviants, but when it’s time to delay the Emergence, he shows his true colors and betrays the group. Ikaris is the cause of the death of their leader, Ajax (Salma Hayek).

But does that make him a villain? 

For seven centuries, Ikaris was led to believe that the Emergence was necessary for the survival of the Celestials as well as the Eternals. He was conditioned to follow Arishem’s rules unconditionally, so how can he be blamed for his actions? Ajax was a threat to the finalization of Arishem’s plan. There would be a point in time where Arishem would’ve gotten rid of her. 

In the final battle, when Sersi and Ikaris are standing alone, he finally breaks. He can’t kill her because he loves her. Ikaris lets go of his belief because he realizes how much she cares about Earth and wants to protect it. So, he follows the mythology of Icarus and flies into the sun, allowing Sersi to stop the Emergence. His love for them supersedes his loyalty to Arishem.

If anything, he falls into the category of a morally grey character. 

Loki from the Thor trilogy, Natasha as Black Widow and Erik Killmonger from Black Panther are prime examples of morally grey characters in the MCU who do not receive the same backlash as Ikaris. 

By the time Thor: Ragnarok made it to theaters in 2017, Loki had become a beloved character. In his first appearance, the “god of mischief” attempted to control the minds of everyone in New York City and launched an invasion of aliens. He did this all in the hopes to be worshiped, and accidentally killed his mother when he let enemy aliens into Asgard out of spite for his father. 

Then, there is Natasha Romanoff, the trained assassin. She’s murdered world leaders, parents, children, and displays a lack of loyalty several times in the span of eight movies. 

Finally, Killmonger returns to his home country of Wakanda to seek revenge for his father’s death. He attempts to kill his cousin, the Black Panther, and send high-tech weapons to countries on the verge of coups. 

These three characters share the same fate as Ikaris. They all die doing what they believe is the right thing. How is it that Ikaris is not given the same grace? He is dismissed as being a traitor while Loki is given a pass for his murderous tendacies. 

A traditional MCU villain, like Thanos, doesn’t change his mind when he’s set to destroy the world. Hela, from Thor: Ragnorok, sets out to destroy Asgard to ascend with an unimaginable amount of power. She contributes to the destruction of an entire world. True villains do things to benefit themself, so in what way would Ikaris benefit in him and the planet being wiped out?

Ikaris flew into the sun because he knew his beliefs harmed his fellow Eternals. He’d rather die than be the villain they saw him as.