The History Of Marvel's Celestials Explained

Who made the Celestials? What was their purpose? They were created by the first cosmos that existed, a sentient universe that called itself the First Firmament. It was alone and was the entirety of its universe, but it got lonely and created beings to keep it company. Paralleling the story of Lucifer to a degree, the group of celestial creatures that were loyal to it were known as Aspirants. They wore dark-colored armor and had no desires other than to praise the creations of their creator.

The other group of beings became the more familiar Celestials, and they were interested in change, growth, and the possibility of death. They wanted to test the creations of the universe in order to see what would happen. They weren't satisfied simply praising the First Firmament's plans and creations. This was seen as blasphemous by the First Firmament, who wanted its creations to praise it. War broke out as a result.   

The Celestials first happened upon Earth when one named the Progenitor crash-landed four billion years ago. He was infected by a powerful insectoid race known as the Horde, who are the Celestials' opposite number. Whereas the Celestials are creators and cultivators, the Horde exists to destroy. They both serve a being called the Fulcrum. When a planet tips toward Deviant influence, the Horde receives that planet's energy when it's judged. If it tips toward Eternal influence, then the Celestials receive that energy. Celestials are also fair game for the Horde, which is why the Progenitor fell.

When he died, his infected essence oozed into the primordial Earth, along with thousands of Horde eggs. Loki claimed that it was the Progenitor's essence that was responsible for the rise of superpowers amongst humanity. Loki is also a great big liar, so who knows?

What happened for sure is that another Celestial named Zgreb tracked the Progenitor down a million years ago. It got infected by the Horde and they transformed it into the first Dark Celestial. Zgreb tried to destroy the Earth, but it was opposed by the Stone Age Avengers, led by Odin. That group included ancient versions of the Phoenix, the Ghost Rider, Star Brand, the Black Panther, Iron Fist, and the Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto. They weren't able to kill the Celestial, but they did bury it and seal it away. That lasted until Loki freed Zgreb a million years later.

Around 20,000 years ago, the Second Celestial Host arrived to monitor the progress of the Earth's three dominant subspecies. The Deviants had staked out the upper hand as the Eternals were having trouble protecting humanity from them, spawning many a myth about monsters. The Deviant kingdom of Lemuria was at war with the smaller human kingdom of Atlantis when the Celestials arrived. The arrogant and overconfident Deviants made the critical error of attacking the Celestials' ship in orbit.

The Celestials responded by blasting Lemuria so hard that it sank to the bottom of the ocean, along with Atlantis, rearranging the Earth's landmass in the process. Eson the Searcher was the one who did most of the destructive heavy lifting. Most of the Deviant population was annihilated in what they called the Great Cataclysm and what was called the Great Flood by humans, allowing humanity to become the Earth's dominant species. 

However, by the Celestials' own protocol, the Deviants had become the Earth's dominant species and the Earth should have been culled right at that time, giving its energies to the Horde. The leader of the Second Host, Arishem the Judge, decided instead to destroy the Deviants when they attacked. This drew sharp disagreement from Arishem's fellow Celestial, Tiamut the Communicator, who attacked Arishem. Tiamut was defeated by the combined Host, stripped of its soul, and buried near what is now California. Tiamut was now known as the Dreaming Celestial. This was now the third Celestial buried somewhere on Earth. 

In the 11th century, the immortal mutant En Sabah Nur heard about a Mongolian ruler powered by some kind of mysterious technology. No stranger to such artifacts during his long life, he tracked down a being called Garbha-Hsien in a craft called Ship and defeated him. Nur spent years on Ship, building a Sphinx around it, before he started hearing a voice in his head. This was the voice of the Celestial Eson the Searcher, who offered him use of Ship's technology in order to one day rule the world. Nur accepted, though he was told the Celestials would one day return to collect on their favor. Why Eson chose to do this is unclear, just like many of the Celestials' motivations are murky at best.

Nur started calling himself Apocalypse as he and his forces were plagued by a barbarian with a cybernetic arm called the Traveller. This was Nathan "Cable" Summers, traveling back in time to engage his ancient enemy. Through a series of accidents involving his own techno-virus infused blood, Apocalypse learned how to understand Ship, which was a sentient Celestial transport craft. This gave him molecular control over his own body similar to that of an Eternal's, making him not just ageless but nearly impossible to kill. Apocalpyse spent much of the next 800 years hibernating and building up his power.

The Deviant Lord Ghaur tapped into the Dreaming Celestial's essence, becoming extremely powerful. This had a price, as the Dreaming Celestial manipulated Ghaur into trying to free him, only to be thwarted. The Deviants manipulated the Eternals into awakening it, and the Dreaming Celestial was not amused. Only through Makkari calming it down did he prevent the Celestial from wiping out the Earth.

Upon awakening, the Dreaming Celestial decided to observe and eventually judge Earth, standing outside San Francisco as it did so. The High Evolutionary and Mister Sinister tried to manipulate it by tampering with its armor, but the Celestial was already in an odd frame of mind: It was questioning its entire purpose, including its role regarding its master, the Fulcrum. It saved Thena's son from death and admired Iron Man from afar.

Another Celestial Host popped up to investigate, and the Dreaming Celestial (along with Cyclops) asked them nicely to leave. Apparently, no one had ever tried this before, because it worked!

The Dreaming Celestial went off to a waiting place that resembled a bar. It met the godlike Fulcrum, the Celestial's chief, in the form of a bartender named Jack (a nod to King Kirby). When the Dreaming Celestial removed its helmet, revealing a humanoid form, it begged the Fulcrum to spare Earth. The Fulcrum was pleased, as this was the first Celestial to rise above its given purpose, and they left this plane of existence to become companions.

Zgreb was awakened by that pesky Loki, wanting the Dark Celestials to destroy Earth. As the Fifth Host fell from the sky, apparently dead, the Avengers tried to figure out more about the Horde. They discovered the Eternals had committed mass suicide, as they had learned that they weren't there to help humanity. They were driven insane when they learned their purpose was to cultivate humanity as a potential cure for the Horde infestation and check in on Earth from time to time to see if the "antidote" was ready. 

Ikaris of the Eternals told Iron Man that humans were capable of forming a Uni-Mind like his people, and that their DNA held the key to defeating the Horde. The Horde had reanimated the armor of the dead Celestials on Earth, but the human Uni-Mind utterly shut them down. The Celestials returned to life and helped the Avengers defeat the Dark Celestials. Once again, Earth was saved.

Later, Loki went after the Infinity Stones. He had heard of a place at the end of time called the Quarry of Creation, where the Stones originated, and traveled there only to find that his selection of Stones was completely non-functional there. Furthermore, he saw thousands of Stones just like them, being mined by a group of ancient Celestials. The trickster realized the trick was on him: these Celestials had been mining and sending the Stones out into the multiverse, manipulating it for their own ends.