The The Eternals gave only a brief glimpse of the expansive team, which includes numerous from different eras of Marvel Comics. Comic fans know Phastos is an Eternal with a dynamic history, but it doesn't begin with the initial book created by the legendary writer and artist Jack Kirby.
Comic fans know The Eternals have a deep if not well-known history, of which Phastos is a critical part. The character's role in the movie is likely to draw on his limited but integral comic book history, meaning it's a great time to revisit the path Phastos has taken through the comics over the years.
Not An Original Member Of The Eternals
The Eternals first appeared in 1976, in The Eternals #1 by Jack Kirby. Though Kirby introduced big chunks of the elaborate Eternals mythology in those early issues, including many characters, Phastos wasn't one of them. The early stories Kirby worked on after returning to Marvel Comics after a brief stint at DC focused on the earliest era of the Eternals, before the fall of Titanos, the original city of the Titanos. Phastos would not be introduced until the second volume of The Eternals in 1985.
Weapons Maker
While all of the Eternals feature superhuman powers to some degree, most of them have a specific talent. Phastos genius lies in making weapons. He made most of the weapons the Eternals are shown to use, including the sword of Kingo Sunen and the flight harness used by Ikaris. His interest was almost always more in making things than it was other people, making him aloof and distant from the others. He was co-created by writer Peter Gillis and artist Sal Buscema for The Eternals #1.
Connection To Hephaestus
Jack Kirby imagined the Eternals as being the inspiration for later gods of human mythology. Many of the Eternals have names or powers connected to Greek gods, like Ikaris or Makkari. Phastos is no different. Within the context of the book, he is seen as the inspiration for the Greek god Hephaestus. He is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, and most importantly, fire and volcanoes. His Roman equivalent is Vulcan, who is also the name of several unrelated Marvel Comics characters, including the brother of Scott Summers, Cyclops.
Contemplative Soul
Despite his proclivity for making weapons of war, Phastos is actually a fairly philosophical character. He is often shown to be brooding and contemplative in regards to his peers, and is essentially a pacifist, though he has participated in several major battles over the years.
Phastos has a very negative outlook on life and existence, believing there is little or no meaning to it at all. Despite his being part of the comics for nearly forty years, comics fans have yet to learn if there's a reason why this is.
Eternal Physiology
The Eternals were created by the Celestials, some of the most powerful cosmic characters in Marvel Comics. The Celestials experimented on early man, using advanced genetics to give them all superhuman powers and abilities. Phastos has superhuman strength, stamina, and endurance. He also has enhanced hearing, vision, and speed, making him an extremely adept fighter in any situation if he chose to be. As with the rest of the Eternals, he is effectively immortal.
The New Breed
Phastos wouldn't be able to maintain his pacifist ideals, unfortunately. In the mid-90s, the Eternals went public for the first time, becoming The New Breed. This happened during the Onslaught the most evil X-Men villains, and the Deviants are the genetic cousins of the Eternals, considered lowly by the Celestials despite their power and intellect.
Ceasefire
Despite the need for him to take up arms against Apocalypse and the mutated Deviants, Phastos didn't entirely abandon his principles. His beliefs were reflected in his codename with The New Breed: Ceasefire. As Ceasefire, he wore a massive gray and purple suit of armor that augmented his strength and durability even further. Together with the New Breed, Ceasefire is able to confront Apocalypse in San Francisco and defeat him, preventing him from unleashing a horde of Deviants across the country.
Rewritten Memories
The Eternals would drift in and out of the comic book spotlight for much of their early history. After The New Breed episode, they virtually disappeared and didn't reappear again until a 2006 mini-series written by Neil Gaiman, writer of the Sandman comic book. In this series, Phastos and the other Eternals have all lost their memories.
Their collective amnesia was a result of the Eternal Sprite. His frustration at living forever in the body of a child led to his powers warping reality, essentially resetting the origins and the histories of all the Eternals, including Phastos.
Alternate Life
During this time, Phastos was living as a regular human man named Phillip Stoss. He was completely ignorant of his past or power. He continued to put his skills to great use, working as an automotive engineer in . Though Ikaris ed the truth about the Eternals and tried to convince Phastos and others, Phastos didn't quite but into the story. The collective memory of the Eternals was ultimately restored by the Dreaming Celestial, whose giant body was asleep under the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Deviant Saga
In 2011, the Deviants launch a major offensive that threatens the entire world. Phastos and the other Eternals Thor after the Deviant leader Ereshkigal finds a powerful mystical object in Asgard which she believes can reverse the degenerative fate of her people. Though the Deviants are defeated over the course of The Deviant Saga, Phastos elects to stay in the land of Lemuria and help them learn how to save their race from extinction. This is a big step forward for Phastos, who is generally more interested in inventions and gadgets.
