Sprite (Eternal)

Sprite is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Eternals #9 (March 1977), and was created by Jack Kirby. Although physically a child, Sprite is an Eternal, a member of an ancient and extremely powerful immortal race.

In 2019, it was announced that Lia McHugh would be playing a female Sprite in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, debuting in Eternals (2021).

Publication history
Sprite first appeared in The Eternals #9 (March 1977), and was created by Jack Kirby.

Fictional character biography
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. Reveling in what he sees as "playful" behavior, he is seemingly unmindful of the sometimes deadly consequences of their pranks, especially to fragile "mortal" Humans. Though punished time and again for their actions, he always returns to his preferred way of life after a while.

During the Fourth Host of the Celestials, when Zuras calls for the Uni-Mind to examine the Celestials' Mothership, Sprite remains behind with Domo's Central Processor. There, he convinces the imprisoned Forgotten Eternal to help stop an attack to the Celestial ship.

While trying to improve Olympia's systems, Sprite accidentally sends Olympia into the Negative Zone once, but the Eternals are able to restore it to its proper place. . Sprite later advocates the appointment of the Black Knight as Sersi's Gann Josin (sharing a mental bond) as compromise with Ikaris, who wants her killed.}

Reality change plan (Eternals-2006)
In the Eternals miniseries by Neil Gaiman, Sprite, under the "real name" of Colín, was 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 is also a spokesman for Hero Registration (as the series is set during the Civil War event).

Ikaris, who seemed to be the only Eternal with any memory of their past, sees Sprite on television and informs Makkari that Sprite was another Eternal. Later, after Ikaris disappeared and the remaining Eternals started to recover their powers, Curry contacted Sprite, seeking advice. Sprite reveals that he has always known who he is and takes them to the Dreaming Celestial, their creator. There Sprite informs Curry that it was Sprite himself who made all the Eternals forget who they were, took away their powers, and removed all record of them from reality, as revenge for a million years of them treating him like a child - to the extent that they created him as the Eternal 'who would never grow up', trapped in the form of a prepubescent child. Using the Uni-Mind powered by the Dreaming Celestial, Sprite uses his powers to warp reality to his will, making himself a normal human, so that he can finally age. Sprite and Makkari are subsequently attacked by Deviants, but Sprite escapes. He was later seen boarding a train to run away from the problems he caused that led to the awakening of the Dreaming Celestial, and was ultimately found by Zuras. Sprite has no apologies for causing the current situation, and, satisfied with the life he lived, allows Zuras to kill him by snapping his neck.

Powers and abilities
Sprite, like all Eternals, has total control over his body's life force and molecular structure, making him virtually immortal; in addition to not aging, he 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 and others, and create illusions. He has superhuman strength, though because of his small size and childlike anatomy it is less than that of most Eternals. He is capable of rearranging atoms and molecules 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.

Sprite successfully used the reality-warping powers of the Dreaming Celestial to provide himself with a human body that would have aged to adulthood normally, if not for his demise.

Television

 * Sprite appears in Marvel Knights: Eternals, voiced by Sam Vincent.

Film

 * Sprite will be portrayed as a female version by Lia McHugh in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Eternals.