- "We came here seven thousand years ago on the Domo, our starship, to protect humans from the Deviants."
- ―Sersi to Dane Whitman[src]
The Ambush in Mesopotamia was the first encounter of Deviants against the Eternals, who staved off an ambush from a pack of Deviants on a Mesopotamian settlement.
Background[]
In an attempt to ensure the future of the Universe, the Prime Celestial Arishem the Judge designed a plan in which he would implant the seeds of other Celestials in various planets. The Celestials to be born would absorb energy from intelligent life emerging on said planets, before being born in a cataclysmic event known as the Emergence. In order to make sure that intelligent life would appear, Arishem created and sent the Deviants, but they escaped from his control, forcing Arishem to create the Eternals to hunt down and exterminate the Deviants.
The Eternals suit up
Earth was one of the planets chosen by Arishem to be implanted with the seed of a new Celestial, Tiamut the Communicator. Like other planets, she hosted a population of Deviants, meaning that the planet needed the intervention of the Eternals. A group of ten Eternals, led by Ajak, thus journeyed to Earth aboard the Domo to eliminate the Deviants.[1]
Battle[]
- "Father!"
"Run!" - ―Mesopotamian Young Man and Mesopotamian Father[src]
A Deviant emerges from the water
In 5000 B.C., a small group of three Deviants attacked a human settlement in Mesopotamia. One of them, a massive Dimetrodon-like creature, arrived by the sea and violently burst out of the water to devour a nearby fisherman. The Deviant then turned its gaze towards the fisherman's son, but the boy was saved by the intervention of Ikaris, who fired his eye beams at the creature. Ikaris then flew towards the Deviant, which deployed its wings as well, leading to an aerial battle. Although Ikaris was wounded on his shoulder when the Deviant bit him, he was able to defeat the creature with his optical lasers before punching it in the face, causing the Deviant to fall into the sea.
Kingo fights
The fisherman's son was attacked by another six-legged Deviant arriving from land, but he was saved by Makkari, who used her superhuman speed to bring him far from the creature. The Deviant chased them and attempted to devour other humans, but all of them were protected by Makkari, enabling Kingo to attack it with his energy spheres. Makkari then rushed towards the creature at full speed, causing it to stumble, before Kingo was able to finish it off by conjuring a massive energy ball that caused the Deviant to fall from the cliff and die.
Thena using her weapons
The remaining Deviant was confronted by Gilgamesh and Thena. Gilgamesh used his superhuman strength to punch it in the face and knock it back, allowing Thena to cut it in the leg and the face. Thanks to her various weapons which she conjured in an instant, Thena was able to hold the Deviant at bay and wounded it several times, plunging her spear into its head. Gilgamesh then punched it with his two fists while Thena jumped over its back and thrusted her spear down the throat of the Deviant, killing it as well and ending the attack on the settlement.[1]
Aftermath[]
- "Artifacts that shaped human history."
- ―Natural History Museum Advertisement[src]
The Eternals pose together
Once the attack had ended, the battling Eternals regrouped before the Domo appeared in front of the humans, with the five remaining Eternals descending from it one by one. Since the humans had no idea who the Eternals were, they were afraid of them and acted defensively, but Druig took control of their minds to appease them while Ajak healed Ikaris' wound. Sersi was then invited by Ajak to approach the deceased fisherman's son. Upon coming closer, she picked up a stone dagger and turned it into a gold dagger which she handed over to the boy. The artifact actually crossed all of human history and, in the 21st century, it had found its way into the collections of the Natural History Museum.[1]