Makkari, formerly known as

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

and Mercury, is a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a tradit ...

character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

. The character is depicted as a member of the Eternals, a race of

superhumans The term superhuman refers to humans or human-like beings with enhanced qualities and abilities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. Th ...

in the

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians o ...

. He first appeared in the 1976–78

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series ''The Eternals'', where the name was spelled Makarri. He was also a member of the First Line and Monster Hunters.

Lauren Ridloff Lauren Ridloff (; born April 6, 1978) is a deaf American actress known for her roles as Connie in the TV series '' The Walking Dead'' and Makkari in the film '' Eternals''. Her breakthrough role was in 2018 with her lead performance in the Bro ...

portrays a deaf female version of Makkari in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

, debuting in '' Eternals'' (2021).

Publication history

Originally, Makkari was a character in

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

's ''

The Eternals The Eternals are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were created by Jack Kirby, making their first appearance in ''The Eternals'' #1 (July 1976). In the Marvel U ...

''.

Mark Gruenwald Mark Eugene Gruenwald (; June 18, 1953 – August 12, 1996) was an American comic book writer, editor, and occasional penciler known for his long association with Marvel Comics. Biography Early career Gruenwald got his start in comics fa ...

later reintroduced Makkari as a long-running supporting character in the ''

Quasar A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

'' series. Hurricane reappears as a member of the Monster Hunters in ''Marvel Universe'' #4 (September 1998), in a story set in the 1950s. By the end of this three-issue story, it turns out the monsters they are hunting are actually Deviants and Hurricane is

revealed Reveal or Revealed may refer to: People * Reveal (rapper) (born 1983), member of the British hip hop group Poisonous Poets * James L. Reveal (1941–2015), American botanist Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Revealed'', a 2013 novel ...

to be Makkari. Marvel Comics continuity was later

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...

ned so that the character presented as the

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

god Mercury, introduced in ''

Red Raven Comics ''Red Raven Comics'' was a title of Timely Comics (the predecessor of Marvel Comics). Only a single issue was published, cover-dated August 1940. It was replaced by the title '' The Human Torch'', which began with issue #2 (Fall 1940), continuing ...

'' #1 (August 1940; "Mercury in the 20th Century" by artist Kirby and writer Martin A. Bursten,

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

"Burstein"), was, in fact, Makkari. Mercury was only seen in that single story, in which he worked to thwart the machinations of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

. Makkari is featured as one of the main characters in the Marvel

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

''Eternals'' (2006–07), written by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gra ...

and penciled by artist John Romita Jr.

Fictional character biography

Makkari is the son of Verona and Mara, born in Olympia, the capital city of the Eternals of Earth. He is a member of the Eternals' Technologist's Guild and is skilled at designing and building high-speed vehicles. Makkari has involved himself in

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

's affairs more often than most Eternals. Under the name

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

, he taught writing to the

Egyptians Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...

.''Marvel Mystery Handbook 70th Anniversary Special'' #1. Marvel Comics. He was taught

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

.''Quasar'' #28. Marvel Comics. He rescued Sersi from

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames ...

. He spent some time as the

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...

eer of

Darius I of Persia Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigni ...

. He witnessed the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

, the reign of

Vlad the Impaler Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...

, and the

Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San An ...

. In the 1940s, he worked on Earth, per Zuras' request, under the aliases "Hurricane" and "Mercury" (an example of

, these

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

characters were not originally supposed to be related), and fought Warlord

Kro KRO, or (Catholic Radio Broadcasting), was a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcast the bulk of its television output on the NPO 1 channel. KRO was also responsi ...

and Deviant Mutates alongside the Monster Hunters, a team he formed using his identity as National Security Agent Jake Curtiss. Later on, he taught

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

a few guitar tricks. Following the disbanding of the Monster Hunters, Makkari was convinced by

Pixie A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas ar ...

to join the First Line as "Major Mercury". He and First Line fought against the original Skrull invasion of Earth, and, along with Yeti and Pixie, was one of the few members of First Line to survive the conflict. Makkari accompanied Thena to New York City to help rescue Sersi and repulse the Deviant invasion. He was with the Eternals who introduced themselves to the students at City College during the Fourth Host of the

Celestials The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, the characters debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions. The Celestials ...

. He then returned to Olympia with Ikaris and Margo Damian, where he encountered Sprite. He also participated in the Uni-Mind ritual. Alongside Ikaris and Sersi, he battled the

Hulk robot This article lists Marvel characters beginning with the letter "H", with a brief description introducing each one. Hala the Accuser Gabrielle Haller Gabrielle Haller was a catatonic Holocaust survivor who awoke from the disorder after Charle ...

. Makkari then battled Ikaris, who was under the mental influence of

Dromedan The Changing People, dubbed the Deviants by the Eternals, are a fictional race of humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. In the Marvel Universe, the Deviants are the end product of a series of DNA tests known ...

. Makkari later battled

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Le ...

. He battled

Maelstrom Maelstrom may refer to: * Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool ** originally the Moskstraumen in English Amusement rides * Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort i ...

alongside the Avengers. Makkari elected to remain while the majority of Eternals departed Earth. Makkari accompanied Ikaris on his mission to assemble the Eternals to wage war against the Deviants. Makkari then encountered Lord Ghaur. Makkari accompanied the other Eternals to

Lemuria Lemuria (), or Limuria, was a continent proposed in 1864 by zoologist Philip Sclater, theorized to have sunk beneath the Indian Ocean, later appropriated by occultists in supposed accounts of human origins. The theory was discredited with the d ...

to battle the Deviants. Makkari battled Ghaur alongside the Eternals,

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, ...

, and the West Coast Avengers, and participated in the defeat of Ghaur. Some time later, alongside the Eternals, Makkari fought the Super-Skrull and encountered the

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

. Makkari was later rescued by

when he began running rampant, literally. He revealed that he had traded his other Eternal abilities for greater speed and endurance. He became friends with Quasar when he enlisted Quasar to go to Lemuria to help him save Master Elo, who was tutoring Makkari in how to channel his cosmic energy into more speed. He then accompanied Quasar to the

Stranger A stranger is a person who is unknown to another person or group. Because of this unknown status, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity and character can be ascertained. Different classes of strangers have been identified ...

's laboratory world. There, he encountered the Star-Dancer, and battled Trikon and the Whizzer.''Quasar'' #17. Marvel Comics. Makkari later worked in Quasar's office under the alias "Mike Khary." He participated in a marathon to the Moon sponsored by the

Runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

, one of the Elders of the Universe, and nearly won; he bested Quicksilver, Captain Marvel, Whizzer, Speed Demon, Black Racer, and Super Sabre, only to lose the race in the last moments by an amnesiac, dimensions-spanning human being. Makkari then became Quasar's roommate. He was killed when his heart was stopped by Maelstrom, but returned to life, as part of an agreement struck between

Eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempit ...

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, Infinity and Oblivion.

later attempted to seize more power by draining the kinetic energy from Makkari, but Maelstrom was ultimately defeated by the other Eternals. However, he soon found he had become so fast that he could no longer move in synch with the rest of the universe. In the 2006 ''Eternals'' limited series, the Eternals are the victims of memory and reality manipulation by Sprite, and have thus forgotten their true identities. Makkari believes himself to be a medicine student named Mark Curry, and is the first Eternal shown in the series. He meets Ikaris, and causes his capture by the Deviants. By issues #2 and #3, he finally begins to experience his powers of super-speed, and uses them to stop terrorists from attacking a party. However, after telling him what has happened Sprite tricks Curry into opening a passageway to the long-dormant Celestial underneath San Francisco, and in doing so incapacitates Curry. During this time the

Dreaming Celestial Dagger Dagoth Dagoth is a demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange. Daken Dakimh the Enchanter Damballah Daniel Whitehall Daniel Whitehall is a British intelligence agent also known as the Kraken. An elite assassin and member of the ...

and Makkari began to talk in his dreams, firstly in the form of Sersi, and told him that it personally made him. By the end of the series he has become the Dreaming Celestial's

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

. Later when the Celestials' Final Host arrived on Earth, Makkari along with all the Eternals killed themselves after realizing the true purpose for which they were created.

Powers and abilities

Makkari is a member of the race of superhumans known as Eternals. He possesses superhuman strength, speed, and reflexes. He can create cyclones by running in circles, and can run up walls and across water. Makkari's body eventually accumulates fatigue poisons and is susceptible to injury. Although in most of his appearances Makkari has the typical powers of an Eternal, his obsession with speed, starting in the

series, causes him to focus most of his body's Cosmic Energy on enhancing his running speed. As a result, he lost his ability to fly and many of his other powers were weakened in the process. Makkari possesses none of the psionic powers of the average Eternal (levitation, ocular force projection, and molecular rearrangement), having purposefully readapted all his specialized cell enclaves to speed and running-related attributes. At present, he can run at near

light speed The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant that is important in many areas of physics. The speed of light is exactly equal to ). According to the special theory of relativity, is the upper limit for ...

for extended periods, but his physical strength (while still far greater than human) has been reduced by half, and he seemingly cannot project energy or manipulate matter. Makkari sometimes wears a protective crash helmet, though he does not truly need it. He wears synthetic stretch fabric, specially treated to resist the rigors of high velocity movement. Makkari has great mechanical aptitude, and the ability to pilot most land and air vehicles. He has moderate experience at hand-to-hand combat; his fighting style incorporates his superhuman speed. He has finished the standard Eternal higher education, and underwent special tutoring in the applications of speed.

Reception

Accolades

* In 2016, ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and film theories. ''Screen Rant'' was launched by Vic Holtreman in 2003, and originally had its primary office in Ogden, Utah. ''Scr ...

'' ranked Makkari 3rd in their "12 Fastest Superheroes Of All Time" list. * In 2018, ''

CBR.com ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom C ...

'' ranked Makkar 2nd in their "25 Fastest Characters In The Marvel Universe" list. * In 2019, ''

'' ranked Makkari 7th in their "15 Most Powerful Eternals" list. * In 2021, ''

'' ranked Makkari 6th in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of The Eternals" list. * In 2021, ''

'' ranked Makkari 6th in their "10 Strongest Characters From Eternals Comics" list. * In 2022, ''

Sportskeeda Sportskeeda is an Indian sports and esports news website, founded in 2009. It is operated by Absolute Sports Private Limited and owned by Indian video game company Nazara Technologies. The website has news, features, commentary and videos on spo ...

'' ranked Makkari 5th in their "5 fastest characters in comic history" list. * In 2022, ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particl ...

'' included Makkari in their "Top 5 Fastest Superheroes" list. * In 2022, ''

'' ranked Makkari 4th in their "Marvel: The 20 Fastest Speedsters" list.

In other media

Television

Makkari appears in ''Marvel Knights: Eternals'', voiced by

Sebastian Spence Sebastian Spence (born December 9, 1969) is a Canadian actor. He played the lead role of Cade Foster in the Space Channel science fiction television series, '' First Wave'' (1998–2001).Science Fiction Television Series, 1990–2004: Histories, ...

Film

Makkari appears in '' Eternals'', portrayed by

. This version of the character is a woman of color as well as deaf. Makkari is shown to have lived on her ship the Domo for years and it is implied that she is in a relationship with Druig. Makkari rejoined the team to stop Tiamut and prevent the destruction of planet Earth. Makkari and the team confronted Ikaris and Sprite to stop Tiamut. Makkari merged with the others to form the Uni-Mind and petrified Tiamut. Makkari, Druig, and Thena traveled in the Domo to seek out more Eternals to tell them the truth. Upon discovering that Sersi,

Phastos Phastos is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema, the character first appeared in '' The Eternals'' (vol. 2) #1 (October 1985). He is a member of the Ete ...

, and Kingo had been captured by Arishem (who intends to study their memories to see if humanity is worthy enough to live) during the mid-credits, the trio allied with

Eros In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the ear ...

and Pip Gofern to save them.

Video games

Makkari appears as an unlockable playable character in '' Marvel Future Fight''.

Notes

References

External links

Makkari
at the Marvel Universe * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Makkari (Comics) Characters created by Jack Kirby Comics characters introduced in 1940 Comics characters introduced in 1941 Comics characters introduced in 1976 Eternals (comics) Fictional characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability Golden Age superheroes Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds Marvel Comics characters who can teleport Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Marvel Comics superheroes Timely Comics characters