SNAP into Marvel! — Is There Room For Makkari?
by Austin Gorton
First Comic Book Appearance: The Eternals #5
First Multimedia Appearance: Eternals (2021) played by Lauren Ridloff
Powers: In addition to all the usual Eternal powers and abilities, Makkari possesses superhuman speed to a degree that makes them one of the fastest beings on the planet.
Comic Book Chronicles
Unlike fellow Eternals Sersi and Gilgamesh, the superfast Makkari (who in the past was mistaken for such god-like beings as Hermes and Mercury) never served on the Avengers. But Makkari’s role in the wider Marvel Universe is still one of the most significant of all the Eternals.
After Makkari appeared alongside their fellow Eternals in most of the usual places (the original Jack Kirby series, stories in Thor, subsequent Eternals miniseries), writer Mark Gruenwald made them a supporting cast member in his late 80s/early 90s Quasar series.
Becoming fast friends with the title character, Makkari made appearances in nearly two dozen issues of Quasar throughout the life of the book. Their most notable story during that time likely came when Makkari was tapped to participate in a race of the fastest superhumans on Earth held by the Elder of the Universe called the Runner.
Having spent time transferring his generic Eternals abilities to boost his speed, Makkari finished second in the race, beaten only by a mysterious figure whose name he heard as “Buried Alien” (a sly nod by Gruenwald to then-deceased Barry Allen, aka DC Comics’ Flash).
A pair of subsequent stories published later but set in earlier decades further fleshed out Makkari’s adventures prior to the broad emergence of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. In a story in 1998’s Marvel Universe by Roger Stern and Mike Manley, NSA agent Jake Curtiss forms a team of monster hunters, including Doctor Druid and Ulysses Bloodstone (father of Marvel Snap subject Elsa Bloodstone); by the end of the story, the monsters in question were revealed to be Deviants, and Curtiss was revealed to be Makkari.
A few years later, Marvel published The Lost Generation by John Byrne, a series with the novel conceit of being published backwards (ie issue #12 was published first, followed by #11, and so on). It chronicled the adventures of a “lost” team of superhero-esque adventurers operating before the Fantastic Four became a team; one of their members, Major Mercury, was Makkari.
Back in stories set in contemporary times, Makkari was one of the more significant characters in Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.’s mid 2000s Eternals miniseries. After the emergence of the long-formant Dreaming Celestial, Tiamut (a name later used for the awakening Celestial in the Eternals film), Makkari is tapped to be Tiamut’s prophet (a role usually filled by the Eternal Ajak). Entering into a relationship with Sersi (who was selected by Tiamut to protect Makkari), Makkari’s connection to the Dreaming Celestial took a mental and physical toll on him.
Following the death of Tiamut and the revelation of the Eternals’ true purpose on Earth, Makkari, like most of the rest of the Eternals, killed himself. Even after being resurrected in Kieron Gillen’s 2021 Eternals series, Makkari still suffered the loss of Tiamut, losing their ability to speak, hear and communicate telepathically while trying to communicate with the deceased Celestial.
Fit & Finish
One thing modern iterations of the Eternals can do is swap gender with ease. Given every time they die, they’re reborn in a new physical body, it’s easy for them to come back with a new look or gender. This was first established by Sprite in Neil Gaiman’s miniseries. But Gillen’s series, which launched a little less than a year before the MCU film was released, really ran with it, taking the opportunity to present many of the comic book Eternals in ways that resembled their forthcoming cinematic counterparts.
As a result, comic book Makkari was reborn as a woman who eventually lost the ability to hear, just like the Makkari in the film. Given Marvel Snap’s predilection for going MCU-forward with its Eternal cards, it’s no surprise then that this is the version of the character first featured in the game.
Form & Function
Makkari’s ability to “run” from your hand onto the board is clearly a nod to the character’s super speed abilities (similar to how the also-fast Quicksilver races to be in your hand at the start of the game). The question is whether this ability is more of a liability than an asset in the game. While her three cost makes Makkari an obvious inclusion in Silver Surfer decks (where she could easily get boosted to a 6+ point or higher card that costs nothing so long as she’s in your hand at some point in the game), we currently find ourselves in a bit of a clog meta.
After the boost to Gilgamesh, KaZoo decks are one of the dominant decks on the ladder, and often find themselves filling all the lanes. Even after the Professor X/Cannonball nerfs, the Angela/Thena combo remains a strong points generator, and it needs spots to fill to boost points. Negative and Junk decks are out there doing their best to disrupt combos and eat space by filling the opponent’s board as quickly as possible. Even the existing Makkari-friendly Silver Surfer builds rarely lack for cards to play.
All of which is to say, even if you make room to include Makkari in your deck, there may not be a spot for her on the board when she appears in your hand. Or worse, she may take up a spot -— particularly in the late game — which you were holding for a different/better/bigger card.
The Marvel Snap community is always good at finding novel ways to play new cards. The meta is always in flux (and often helped along by Second Dinner’s OTA and patch buffs and nerfs). But at least at the start, Makkari seems particularly poised to be the dud of the season, ironically for the super fast character, the victim of poor timing.
