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Angelina Jolie’s Eternals Movie Character Explained: Who Is Thena?

Here's everything you need to know about Angelina Jolie's new MCU character, Thena, who is set to make her debut in Marvel's Eternals movie.

• by Nicholas Raymond
• Sep 04, 2019

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Acclaimed actress Angelina Jolie is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year in Eternals - but who exactly is her character, Thena? As Eternals is a lesser-known property in Marvel Comics, most of the heroes and villains in Eternals comics are extremely obscure characters, and Thena is no exception.
Confirmed at SDCC 2019 with a November 2020 release date, Eternals is the second film in Marvel’s Phase 4 slate. Alongside Jolie, the film’s star-studded cast includes Salma Hayek as Ajak, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Kit Harington as Black Knight, and more. Directed by Chloe Zhao, the movie will give the MCU its third big-screen superhero team by introducing the Eternals, a race of immortal aliens created by the Celestials and sent to Earth to fight the Deviants.

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Related: MCU Theory: Eternals Explains Why So Many Infinity Stones Were On Earth
The characters and concepts from the film originate from the legendary Marvel Comics writer and artist Jack Kirby. The team debuted in Kirby’s Eternals comic book series in 1976. Thena made her first appearance in the comic’s fifth issue, and has been a central character in nearly every Eternals story published since. She was later retconned to be the Timely Comics character Minerva, who debuted in 1940. This means that, in a way, Thena is one of the MCU’s oldest heroes. Here’s everything you need to know about the Eternals character Thena.

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Thena's Origin Story In Marvel Comics

A long time ago, the Celestials created two offshoots of the human race: the immortal and god-like Eternals and the hideously deformed Deviants. The Eternals were born on Earth, but some branched off and settled in other areas of the universe. One Eternal, Zuras, became the leader of the Earth-based Eternals and founded the city of Olympia in the mountains of Greece. He fathered a daughter, Azura, who he later renamed Thena. In time, Thena became a trusted member of the Eternals and second-in-command to Zuras.
Some of Thena’s actions in human history have become a part of Greek and Roman mythology, with Thena often being mistaken for the goddesses Athena and Minerva. During her early years, Thena became discontent with relations between the Eternals, the Deviants, and the humans, as well as the “balance” that her father sought to maintain between them all. Thena longed to have the Deviants destroyed and make the humans equal with Eternals. Things changed for Thena when she entered into a forbidden, doomed romance with the evil Deviant, Warlord Kro. Their love story, which has spanned two thousand years, is responsible for much of the heartache that Thena has experienced in her long life.

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Thena's Powers & Abilities Explained

All Eternals are fueled with cosmic energy, giving them access to a vast number of abilities. So like all other members of her race, Thena's powers include flight through levitation, shooting beams of energy from her eyes and hands, manipulating matter, telepathy, and teleportation. She also possesses superhuman strength, speed, and agility. And as an immortal, Thena is nigh-invincible and nearly impossible to kill. Eternals are able to use their cosmic energy to train their abilities, which is why some Eternals are more powerful than others. Thena has honed many of her powers over the thousands of years, thus making her one of the most formidable members of her race.

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Thena doesn’t just rely on her natural-born powers to win her battles, though; she is also highly skilled in weaponry. Since the Eternals possess advanced technology, Thena occasionally carries a special crossbow that fires bolts of cold energy into combat. Her signature weapon, however, is actually a spear. Thena is rarely seen without her golden spear, which can emit heat energy and deploy an anti-gravity field when thrown.
Related: Kit Harington’s MCU Character Is Older Than Marvel Itself

Thena's Most Important Comic Book Stories

During the 1980s, a 12-issue Eternals miniseries put considerable focus on Thena, who had just lost her father. After Zuras’ death, Thena assumed the role of Prime Eternal to become their new leader. Her brief stint as leader was marred by an accusation of treason from Ikaris, who believed that she had let her relationship with Kro prevent her from leading the Eternals into war with his people, the Deviants. Ikaris’ accusation turned out to be correct. Thena tried to stop the two races from fighting, even though the Deviants, led by her former lover, were conspiring against them.

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Thena and Kro even had children after the two crossed paths in the Vietnam War, but this was kept a secret from both of their species. Her romance with Kro is the crux of Thena‘s story in the comics. Thena has always loved Kro, despite his evil intentions for the Eternals and humans. It was Thena’s long-held belief that Kro was different from the rest of his kind, and on rare occasions, Kro has indeed displayed noble qualities.
Neil Gaiman's 2006 Eternals miniseries reimagined the core characters, including Thena, by erasing their memories and providing them with new lives in the world of humans. With Thena's old persona washed away, she was an employee of Tony Stark, as well as a wife and a mother to a human child. After her memories were restored, however, Thena decided to keep the child, even though her fellow Eternals disapproved.

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Related: Doctor Strange Was Going To Tease Black Knight (But Marvel Cut It)

Angelina Jolie Will Play Thena In The MCU

In March 2019, it was reported that A-list actress Angelina Jolie had been cast as Sersi in Eternals. This was proven incorrect when the movie and cast was officially announced at SDCC 2019, with Jolie playing Thena instead. It was later confirmed that Captain Marvel's Gemma Chan is playing Sersi in the Eternals film. At Disney’s D23 Expo, Jolie stepped onto the stage with the rest of the cast, with concept art behind each of the stars revealing their characters’ costumes. Jolie’s Thena will don the character’s classic gold outfit and will even sport her long blond hair.

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While the cast of Eternals features several well-known actors, Angelina Jolie is, of course, the most recognizable. Among the films Jolie has starred in include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Maleficent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Salt, and The Tourist. Her work in Changeling and Girl, Interrupted earned her Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. The casting of Angelia Jolie as Thena in Eternals certainly adds a great deal of star power to Marvel’s next big cosmic team-up movie.