Exclusion

The Exclusion, located in a pocket dimension^[2] "between six artificial molecules" beneath the South Pole in Antarctica, is a key location for the Eternals. It serves several functions for the Eternals, the most important of which is that it is where they are resurrected after they die.^[3]

The Exclusion also serves as a prison for those Eternals deemed to have erred so greatly that they themselves are considered mistakes.^[3] As such, it is the place of intellectual quarantine for Eternal Society^[4] and has been described as "the Eternals' Hell on Earth."^[5]

Although the greater part of the infrastructure of the Machine is dispersed in sub-dimensional threads across the whole of the planet Earth, the Exclusion is where interactions with the Machine can occur most easily. An interface known as the Reality Loom enables an Eternal user to select and weave those threads to achieve various effects. The Machine, which is a fan of Star Trek, has stated that the Exclusion is best thought of as the engine room of the planet Earth.^[4]

The Exclusion is also where the machinery that prevents unwanted non-Eternals from entering the hidden cities and installations of the Eternals is located.^[6]

The Exclusion was constructed about one million years ago. It, the Machine and the Machines of Resurrection are known to have been operational since before the First Host of Celestials left Earth.^[7]

Soon after Ikaris was resurrected and Sprite was released, the wardens of the Exclusion were slaughtered and the Machines of Resurrection were rendered inoperative.^[8] Once the core systems of the Machine were reactivated, the Resurrection Engines came back online^[9] but the Jailers were not immediately resurrected.^[10]

After Thanos was elected Prime Eternal, he came to the Exclusion to torture and interrogate Phastos who had been imprisoned there since resurrecting after having been recently killed in Lemuria. While there, Thanos learned that his parents Sui-San and Mentor were also imprisoned there because they were actually true Eternals and had been resurrected after he had killed them.^[11] Thanos then proceeded to murder, torture and interrogate them as well.^[12]

Later, after Druig was elected Prime Eternal, he came to the Exclusion and, at the request of Ajak and Makkari, released Phastos to them.^[5]

It order to help the Mutants of Krakoa against the Hex, Ikaris, Kingo Sunen, Sprite, and all four members of the Forgotten used stealth suits to enter the Exclusion, defeat Kalos the Destructor and upload a temporary override that enabled the X-Men to access the Armories of Uranos.^[13][6]

Later, Sersi hired Jack of Knives to accompany her to the Exclusion and break out Starfox (Eros) whose powers she thought could be helpful in dealing with the current Judgment Day crisis.^[14]

• Machines of Resurrection
• Reality Loom

Wardens[]

• Ur-Luciva (Warden of the Exclusion)
• Kharon (Exclusion Security and Transport)

Prisoners[]

• Kronos (Excluded "K")
• Uranos (Excluded "U")
• Sui-San (Excluded "S") (Temporarily withdrawn by Thanos, imprisoned again by Druig)
• A'Lars (Excluded "A") (Temporarily withdrawn by Thanos, imprisoned again by Druig)
• Excluded "H"
• Excluded "T"

Former Prisoners[]

• Sprite (Excluded "SP")
• Zuras^[15] (Imprisoned by Thanos, released by Druig)
• Valkin^[16] (Imprisoned by Thanos, released by Druig)
• Phastos^[11] (Imprisoned by Thanos, released by Druig)
• Eros (Excluded "E")^[14] (Broken out by Sersi)

• The place in Antarctica where Eternals were resurrected was identified as "Olympia" in Eternals (Vol. 3) #4 (November, 2006). Olympia continued to be stated and shown as being in Antarctica throughout the rest of Eternals Volume Three (2006-2007) and all of Eternals Volume Four (2008–2009). They were distinguished from each other in Eternals (Vol. 5) #1 (January 6, 2021), with the Antarctica location renamed "The Exclusion."
• A location caption in Eternals (Vol. 5) #4 places the Reality Loom within the Isolation but several references in Eternals (Vol. 5) #5 state that it is within the Exclusion instead. It's possible that they are two different names for the same place or that the Isolation is a sub-section of the Exclusion. Some in-story clarification would be helpful.
• When Ikaris was resurrected after the mass suicide, there were eight Eternals imprisoned within the Exclusion.
  • The first to be Excluded was "U" (Uranos), who thought that the best way to fulfill the Eternal Principles was to scour the Earth of anything but Eternals.
  • One of the three most recent was Sprite, who nearly murdered all of the Eternals when his attempt to free himself from his station of Eternal Child almost destroyed the Machine.
  • Two other revealed sins were apocalyptic auto-deification and siring a creature that killed half the galaxy with a single finger click.^[3] It has been confirmed that that creature was Thanos and that his parents A'Lars and Sui-San are both Excluded.^[8]
  • The specific crimes for which Uranos ("U"), Kronos ("K"), and A'lars/Mentor ("A") and Sui-San ("S") were excluded were, respectively, attempted omni-genocide, auto-deification, and unsafe lineage.^[4]
  • Excluded "E" was Eros (Starfox)^[14] who had been imprisoned by the Eternals because he was a matter of scientific curiosity to them and not because of anything he had done.^[5]
  • The true identities of "H" and "T" have not yet been revealed but it is known that they (*^*&%*%) were excluded for attempting to rewrite the core identity of unspecified Eternal(s) which resulted in the *%*^% apocalypse.^[9]