Marvel’s Black Knight Just Became The ETERNALS’ Greatest Threat
Marvel Comics has just retconned the Black Knight’s famous Ebony Blade – and it could foreshadow his role in the upcoming Eternals movie.
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This article contains spoilers for Empyre: Avengers #3.
Marvel Comics has just retconned the Black Knight into the one man who could potentially destroy the Eternals. The first Black Knight was created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely back in 1955, published by Atlas Comics, the company that ultimately became Marvel. Sir Percy of Scandia was a knight of Camelot who dedicated himself to protecting King Arthur, wielding a mystical sword called the Ebony Blade.
Decades later, Marvel brought the Black Knight into their present-day timeline when they revealed Sir Percy’s descendants had inherited the Ebony Blade. The best known Black Knight, and the one who serves alongside the Avengers today, is Dane Whitman; a scientist who found himself drawn into a world of magic and sorcery. He’s set to make his MCU debut in 2021’s Eternals movie, played by Kit Harington of Game of Thrones fame, and he looks set to have a starring role; all evidence suggests the romance between Black Knight and Sersi will largely drive the narrative.
This week’s Empyre: Avengers #3 has just retconned the Ebony Blade, Dane Whitman’s iconic weapon. The Ebony Blade was forged by Merlin using metal from a meteorite, and enchanted to grant its bearer superhuman powers. Unfortunately it also acquired a Blood Curse, meaning the sword now hungers for the shedding of blood, and exerts a powerful influence over the man who is fated to wield it. But according to Empyre: Avengers #3, the Ebony Blade doesn’t just hunger for blood; it consumes souls. In this issue, the Ebony Blade has been used to stab Ka-Zar through the chest, and Scarlet Witch and Shanna are able to resurrect him by drawing the soul out of the Ebony Blade before it can be digested. It’s actually quite a major retcon, granting the Ebony Blade greater power than ever before. Curiously, it makes Dane Whitman the one man who could kill an Eternal.
Why the Ebony Blade Could Kill an Eternal
The Eternals are, self-evidently, immortal beings; they can live forever, and as a result have exerted a profound influence on human history. Their immortality was subjected to its ultimate test in Neil Gaiman’s classic Eternals run, when one of them – Ikaris, played by Richard Madden in the MCU – was subjected to brutal torture by the Deviants. They tried everything they could think of to kill him, but his body proved capable of surviving – and quickly healing from – the most terrible injuries. Drowning doesn’t work either, because the Eternals can extract oxygen from water if they have to. They bathed Ikaris in acid, they dipped him in a smelter, and he was still unharmed. Finally, the Deviants strapped Ikaris to the business end of a cyclotron, and that seemed to do the trick; he was reduced to his component atoms. Incredibly, even they came back together. There appears to be no way to kill an Eternal for good.
But this retcon means the Ebony Blade is the one thing that can do the job. If the Ebony Blade strikes a living being, it doesn’t just shed blood; it consumes the soul. The idea is almost Biblical, reminiscent of Hebrews 4: 12, which declares the Word of God to be a sword that can divide the soul from the spirit and the flesh. Consequently, should the Ebony Blade be used to strike down an Eternal, it is reasonable to assume it would consume their soul. Even if their body resurrects itself as a simple biological function, their mind and soul will have been gone. Suddenly the Black Knight has become the greatest threat to the Eternals – and just at the time Marvel Comics is resurrecting the Eternals again. That’s surely not a coincidence.
This May Explain Black Knight’s Role In The Eternals As Well
The interesting question, of course, is whether or not Marvel is adjusting the Black Knight’s status quo in the comics ahead of his MCU debut. Marvel Comics has always attempted to establish a synergy between the comics and the movies, often adjusting comic book characters to ensure they broadly match their big-screen equivalents. That task is easier than ever now given Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is also Marvel Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer. So it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if this subtle rewrite foreshadows Black Knight’s role in Eternals.
If the Ebony Blade has this power in the MCU as well, it would neatly explain why Kit Harington’s Black Knight gets drawn into the conflict between the Eternals and the Deviants. Presumably these two races have been at war for millennia in the MCU, just as they have in the comics. The Deviants would undoubtedly seek out the Ebony Blade, coveting its power to actually kill their ancient enemies at last. Furthermore, it’s possible Eternals will draw upon the Gaiman run more than Jack Kirby’s original comics, which would mean a rogue Eternal could actually be the main villain; that would certainly explain why Marvel don’t seem to have bothered much about the Deviants, because they could just be secondary villains. If that is the case, the Black Knight will actually be the only person who could potentially stop an evil Eternal for good.
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One thing can be said for certain; Marvel won’t have rewritten the Black Knight like this by accident. The Black Knight has been in the background of the comics for a long time, and he has been largely neglected as a character. But he’s about to become a lot more important, with the MCU giving him some much-needed brand recognition. Marvel Comics will be hoping Kit Harington’s incarnation leads to a resurgence of interest in the Black Knight, just as the MCU transformed the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy into A-list brands. It’s surely only a matter of time before Marvel announce the next Black Knight series. Given that’s the case, the Ebony Blade’s new retcon could well be just what’s needed to breathe new life into such a book.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/marvel-black-knight-eternals-threat-sword/