By the time the movie ends, some of the Eternals aren't getting along.

Eternals has arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao's movie hitting theaters after a yearlong pandemic delay. Dipping into Marvel's cosmic comic book storylines, it introduces a new group of immortal superheroes who've lived quietly on Earth for centuries, battling the savage Deviants and helping human civilization progress. 

The movie takes place after Avengers: Endgame, when billions of vanished people returned after a five-year absence and the world is suddenly feeling pretty crowded. We'll also have a separate article diving into the post-credits scenes, if you want to jump straight to those.

It's time to get into the cosmic ending, here come the SPOILERS.

Their true purpose

This is a complicated one, so let's take a look at the revelations earlier in the movie to make sense of it all. If you just want to know what happens in the ending, scroll straight down to the "Emergence averted" section.

After wise leader Ajak (Salma Hayek) is killed by the Deviants, Sersi (Gemma Chan) is elevated to the role of Prime Eternal and the Celestial Arishem reveals the real nature of the group's mission on Earth in one of the movie's slightly overwhelming plot dumps.

New Celestials -- ancient, god-like entities with incredible matter and energy manipulation abilities -- are created by seeding planets and allowing life to flourish on that world. The energy of living beings allows the Celestial to grow and ultimately break out of their planetary shells, a moment known as the Emergence. That world is destroyed in the process, which seems a bit rude.

Celestials like Arishem aren't too bothered about the survival of the human race.

The concept was used in the

The Eternals believe they're from the world of Olympia, but they're actually synthetic beings created by the Celestials at the World-Forge and sent to wipe out the Deviants (meaning one creation was sent to stop another). Their memories are wiped after each Emergence, and they're sent off to a new planet to do it all again.

Thena (Angelina Jolie) occasionally loses control and tries kill allies because she's afflicted by Mahd Wy'ry (pronounced like "mad weary"), an illness caused by wiped memories returning. Like any computer, it's hard to erase data completely.

Thena struggles to keep it together for much of the movie.

Earth's Emergence

Earth's Eternals were responsible for ensuring that the Celestial Tiamut could grow deep within the Earth's crust and break out when the time was right, but Prime Eternal Ajak was the only one aware of their true mission. She revealed it to second-in-command Ikarus (Richard Madden), who reckons her desire to stop Tiamut's Emergence is a betrayal of their mission and will prevent the births of billions of beings through the next Celestial seeding process.

Herein lies the movie's connection to Avengers: Endgame -- Thanos' Snap delayed the Emergence because it erased much of the life energy Tiamut would have used. When Hulk brought the lost half of the population back, that energy returned and the Celestial geared up for his Emergence.

Which makes you wonder why the Celestials didn't order the Eternals to help in the battle against Thanos, since the villain's machinations interfered with their plans.

Thanos unknowingly saved Earth from destruction.

Ajak's team believed that they'd wiped out all the Deviants on Earth, but Ikarus discovered some that had been frozen in ice and went unnoticed. The beasties thawed out, and Ikarus slayed his boss by pushing her into their lair. 

Deviant leader Kro stole Ajak's healing powers as he killed her, and decided he wanted to take the rest of the Eternals' abilities (yum yum). He does so with Gilgamesh and almost gets Thena towards the movie's conclusion, but she manages to slice him up at the last second.

If the Deviants plotline feels like a non-sequitur, it's because they served as little more than a distraction for the other Eternals while Ikarus makes sure the Emergence can happen.