Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Previosuly in the A.X.E.: Judgment Day event:- A cabal of Avengers (well, Iron Man), Eternals (Ajak, Makkari and Phastos) and X-Men (well, the mutant Mister Sinister) reanimated the dead Celestial Progenitor to get him to stop Druig's Eternals attacking the mutant nation on the island Krakoa and Arrako (Mars). In that they were successful but then it decided to judge humanity individually and collectively (they should never have used a bit of the Celestial Arishem The Judge). They tried various tactics to stop or sway the judgement, including releasing Starfox (Eros) from the Eternals' prison the Exclusion who got the UN to promise a reformed world. But nothing worked and Progenitor started to destroy the Earth.
This issue shows us another plan by Starfox to save the human race, interspersed with flashbacks which show us (nearly all new) details of his life.
On Titan long ago Mentor and Sui-San, already parents of the troubled Thanos, decide to have another child Eros. Thanos' birth drove his mother insane, but now she needs to believe she can do better.
An info-dump tells us that presently the Celestial is trying to subvert the Eternals' Great Machine which is in effect the Earth. A mixed team of heroes has infiltrated the Celestial's body (at the end of AXEJD#5) and is trying to reach its self-destruct node (follow their slow progress in 1-shots A.X.E.: Avengers and A.X.E.: X-Men). Meanwhile some others have slowed Progenitor's progress by restoring the machine to its factory settings making it calm, emotionless and rational (as opposed to the sarcastic version in the voiceover in the Eternals series). (I haven't seen this anywhere, maybe it'll be in the A.X.E.: Eternals 1-shot?) Meanwhile other superheroes are trying to save as many people as possible, guided by the Machine alerting them to danger areas.
As part of that Starfox is in Paris saving rioting folk from themselves by using his emotion-control power to calm them down, but not so calm that they stop trying to survive.
Another of the Machine's info-dumps explains the Titan Accord. An even longer time ago there was an Eternals Civil War between the followers of A'Lars and those of Zuras. The Celestials originally created 100 Eternals, and if 1 of them is killed then the Machine resurrects him/her (sometimes changing the sex). Eternals couldn't mate to produce children (though they could successfully mate with humans). A'lars wanted to try to create more true Eternals, Zuras opposed it. They eventually made peace and A'Lars was allowed to go to Titan, moon of Saturn, to experiment. Titan already had Eternal-like beings created in various ways (from an earlier Eternals schism). A'Lars renamed himself Mentor and married (a true Eternal) Sui-San there. Kronos (an earlier Eternal turned into a cosmic being) gave them Quantum Bands as wedding rings which enabled them to procreate. Their 1st child Thanos became a mass-murdering monster. Their 2nd Eros has been a 'moderately successful adventurer'. The Eternals considered A'Lars experiment a failure, and when the parents were each separately killed and resurrected by the Machine they were Excluded.
Thanos and Eros were still not true Eternals when they were born. In the current Eternals series that led up to the AXE:JD event we saw Thanos' attempt to be fully Eternalised fail. Now in a flashback we see Sui-San sneak (teen?) Eros into the Eternals' capital Olympia and get the Machine to 'integrate' him. Sui-San has to leave before she's discovered but she urges her son to stay and become the 1st new Eternal ever, to prove his parents right. However Eros is too interested in having fun for the 'moment'.
In the present Starfox discovers that the Machine sent him to Paris because its about to be hit by a giant flaming meteorite (shaped like a skull). He's desperate to figure out how to save the place.
But we get another flashback where Eros is having a party in an alien bar. A Rigellian Recorder arrives looking for him but the Eternal is going by the name Starfox now (a name which he will also use later when an Avenger). However he asks why the Recorder wants Eros, and is told that Thanos has destroyed Titan. We then see him at his mother's grave swearing to give up his hedonistic lifestyle. But he never really did, just added in a bit of super-heroing.
Now Starfox uses the Machine's worldwide teleportation nodes to gather the makings of an atomic bomb which he uses to destroy the meteorite. But the rest of humanity still needs saving.
In the final flashback (after Eros was killed to stop Thanos being reborn in Guardians Of The Galaxy (2019) #6) we see the true Eternal resurrected by the Great Machine in Olympia. Prime Eternal Zuras has him thrown in the Exclusion until he can decide what to do with him. And then Sersi and Jack Of Knives came to get him out at the end of AXEJD#3.
Now he uses his power to allow a fatally-wounded Parisian to die peacefully. And then he thinks of a plan. He takes the Machine portals to the throne room in Olympia. Since the overthrow of Druig in AXEJD#4 Starfox has been Prime Eternal and now he takes his seat to get the Machine to implement his plan. But Zuras, who's been PE for most of the time since A'Lars left (until Thanos took over, and then Druig), demands to know what he's doing. SF explains that he's going to open all the portals and remove the restriction that only Eternals can use them. The Machine contains fractal dimensions that can hold the population of the Earth, and he intends to keep them all safe until the crisis is over (as 1 of the rules the Celestials built in to the Eternals dictates).
Zuras declares that letting humans in goes against tradition and so he blasts Starfox out of the throne, saying that he himself is the only 1 who has proved capable of ruling the Eternals. But Eros blames him for putting his parents in the Exclusion and then *torturing* his father. Of course they continue 'debating' as they fight. Starfox points out that the Eternals recently discovered that the Celestial-created Deviants were more important than them. The Deviants were *supposed* to cause the rise of superhumans and mutants. He believes that his people and the Great Machine have to change. Zuras points out that Kronos almost destroyed Earth in the experiments that made him a god. A'lars wanted change and got Thanos. Priestess Ajak wanted to create a better Celestial 'god' and caused the current situation.
Zuras also points out that most of the Eternals will kill the humans if SF lets them in. After the failure of his plan to save the world they won't listen to him again. But Starfox says they *will* listen to Zuras. He proposes a deal, Z can have his throne back if he allows SF to implement his plan. And for some reason Zuras goes for it.
The Great Machine opens all the portals (allegedly 1 every 500 metres) and Eros' persuasive voice invites everyone in. And they gratefully accept the offer.