THE APPEAL OF THE LESSER KNOWN
Unless you have been a longtime Eternals reader, you probably have not heard much about Kro. Personally, I had to conduct some research to get a handle on him. That, I theorize, is the point of Marvel Studios putting The Eternals and its family of characters on the silver screen.
While the franchise has its fans, this is what you might call “an acquired taste.” Sure, being a Jack Kirby creation gives the team attention, but the title never built a solid fan base. As we have seen from Marvel, that lack of familiarity turns into an advantage. Whatever gets produced will draw in crowds (remember crowds?) since the studio owns the current box office. They will likely go back to the same sci-fi, action-comedy formula that earned accolades for Guardians of the Galaxy. The best part? Mainstream audiences do not know a thing about The Eternals. Any preconceived notions are thrown out the proverbial window.
WHO IS HE?
The same can be said for Kro. Since he is not an established villain with a legendary backstory, the filmmakers are free to do whatever they see fit. Instead of being handcuffed with the tradition behind, say, Doctor Doom, Kro is a blank canvas.
That being said, we are likely to see some major alterations from his comic origins. It appears we are already seeing that shift. The package for the Marvel Legends figure has a monstrous appeal while Kirby drew him with more human qualities.
Speaking of Kirby, he wrote Kro as the leader of the Deviants, the race of human-hybrid creatures created by the Celestials. He is an immortal shapeshifter who has pretended to be Satan to torment mankind. He would have been a YouTube sensation with that level of trolling.
To complicate matters, he has a romantic relationship with the leader of The Eternals, Thena. They have twin children. Donald and Deborah Ritter were raised as humans. Therefore, they were unaware of their magical parentage.
ETERNALS #1 (1976)
Kro made his debut in the first issue of the original Eternals series. The news of Kro being the primary antagonist for the movie will have a minimal impact on Eternals #1 prices. After all, this one already had an inflated price tag that came with the movie announcement.
Judging by the 12-month averages, Eternals #1 had been losing money virtually across the board. For the 14 different graded copies of the standard 35-cent editions with comparable data that have sold in the past year, an even dozen showed a loss in fair market value. However, the past 90 days have seen a rise. I speculate that Kro is at least part of the reason for that boost.
Over a three-month span, 12 out of the 13 grades sold with comparable sales data have shown gains in fair market value. After the monumental drop earlier this year for all the grades of Eternals #1, that is a strong showing as we enter the final quarter of 2020.
GOING FORWARD
The closer we get to a release date for The Eternals will keep this issue on the hotlist. The real test will be if it retains the inflated values after moviegoers give their verdict on the final product.
