Sprite (Eternal)

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Sprite

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Eternals, volume 1, #9 (1976)
Created by	Jack Kirby

Characteristics
Species	Eternal
Notable aliases	Robin Goodfellow, Colin
Abilities	Control over cosmic energy allowing energy blasts and invulnerability, Immortality, Vast psionic powers including telepathy, telekinesis, matter transmutation and illusion casting

Sprite is a fictional member of the race of Eternals in the Marvel Comics Universe. He was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in The Eternals, volume 1, #9.

1 History
- 1.1 The Eternals (2006)
2 Powers and Abilities
3 Notes
4 Bibliography

[edit] History

Sprite is an incorrigible trickster and practical joker, and has been for centuries. It is rumored that in Marvel continuity, he was the inspiration for William Shakespeare to write the character of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He revels in what he sees as "playful" behavior, seemingly mindless of the sometimes deadly consequences of his pranks, especially to fragile mortal Humans. Though he has been punished time and again for his actions, he always returns to his preferred way of life after a while.

During the Fourth Host of the Celestials, when Zuras called for the Uni-Mind to examine the Celestials' Mothership, Sprite remained behind with Domo's Central Processor. While trying to improve Olympia's systems, Sprite accidentally sent Olympia into the Negative Zone once, but the Eternals were able to restore it to its proper place. Sprite advocated the appointment of the Black Knight as Sersi's Gann Josin as a settlement to Ikaris, who wanted her killed

[edit] The Eternals (2006)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the new Eternals series by Neil Gaiman, Sprite, under the "real name" of Colin, is the star of "It's Just So Sprite", a sitcom on the Tweenie Channel. Although he seems to be unaware of his past or abilities, he's also a spokesman for Hero Registration (the series is set during the Civil War event).

Ikaris, who seemed to be the only Eternal with any memory of their past, saw Sprite on television and told Mark Curry that Sprite was another Eternal. Later, after Ikaris disappeared and the remaining Eternals started to recover their powers, Mark Curry contacted Sprite, seeking advice. Sprite reveals that he has always known who they are and takes them the Dreaming Celestial. There Sprite tells him that it was him who made all the Eternals forget who they were, as revenge for a million years of them treating him like a child - to the extenet that they created him as an Eternal 'who would never grow up', trapped in the form of a prepubescent boy (he would later use this form to inspire J. M. Barrie to create Peter Pan). Using the uni-mind powered by the Dreaming Celestial, Sprite uses his powers to warp reality, making him a normal human, so that he can finally age.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Powers and Abilities

Sprite, like all Eternals, has total control over his body's life force and molecular structure, making him virtually immortal. He does not age and is immune to all known diseases and toxins, radiation, and extremes of temperature. His old Eternal body had the appearance of a pre-adolescent child (and against his will, according to him), but he is in fact hundreds of thousands of years old.

Sprite is able to channel cosmic radiation into blasts of heat or force, levitate himself or others, and create illusions that fool the senses. He has superhuman strength, though because of his small size and childlike anatomy it is less than that of most Eternals. He can rearrange atoms and molecules, even those of his own body, in such a way as to radically restructure objects (he once created a working ground-to-orbit spacecraft in seconds), and in fact is second only to Sersi in the art of molecular reconstruction.

If Sprite's story is to be believed, he has successfully used the reality-warping powers of the Dreaming Celestial to give himself a human body (albeit with apparent super powers of its own,as yet unrevealed in the new series) that will age to adulthood normally.

[edit] Notes

Only one other character has been known as Sprite, and that's X-Men member, Shadowcat. She was first called Sprite in Uncanny X-Men #139 and remained that until issue #166 where she renamed herself, Shadowcat.