Ikersi

"I'm yours, Sersi. If you'll have me."

- Ikaris

Ikersi is the het ship between Ikaris and Sersi from the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom.

Eternals
In 5000 B.C, Ikaris and Sersi - a member of an immortal individual group called the Eternals are awakened to be sent to Earth with an order to protect humans from the deviants. They meet each other for the first time in a spaceship headed to the planet. On their flight, Sersi stares at the planet from inside the spaceship, asking if Ikaris found it beautiful, which he did. Eventually, they stay on Earth for thousands of years.

Ikaris begins to develop feelings for Sersi. After being encouraged by Ajak, Ikaris confesses his feelings to Sersi, claiming that he is hers if she'll have him. They have an intercourse, then marry each other in a Hindu wedding ceremony. They are together for roughly 3000 years before Ikaris leaves her for an unknown reason Sersi keeps waiting for him, but finally moves on when she thinks that Ikaris isn't coming back.

Years later in the modern world, Sersi is living in New York as a teacher, she also has a new lover called Dane. While having a night date with him, a deviant comes to attack her, which surprises her a lot as she thought that the deviants were already eliminated long years ago. Ikaris unexpectedly makes an appearance and helps Sersi fight the deviant.

Concerned about the reappearance of the deviants which seemed to have evolved, Ikaris and Sersi, along with Sprite, go on a journey to gather the other seven Eternals who have been living separately. They are surprised to find Ajak - the leader of the Eternals - killed by a deviant. They also learn the shocking truth that the true mission of the Eternals has always been to facilitate the birth of a celestial, which in turn will destroy the planet where it is born.

It is later revealed that Ikaris was the one who killed Ajak and indirectly caused the evolution of the deviants by doing so. Ikaris also plans to make the birth of the celestial happen as he thinks that he was born for that sole purpose - something that Sersi is very against. When Sersi is about to kill the celestial, Ikaris comes with the intent to kill her. He tries so hard to finish Sersi off, but the laser won't come out of his eyes. Suddenly, all the memories of the times he has spent together with Sersi start flashing before his eyes. He cries and murmurs his apology to Sersi.

After Sersi successfully kills the celestial, Ikaris flies away to the sun, letting himself be devoured by it.

Quotes
"I promise you that my feelings for Sersi won't distract me from the mission."

- Ikaris

"Why did you leave? I thought something must've happened to you. Days turned into years. You never came back. Why?"

- Sersi

"I wouldn't mind leaving this world. I only wish that when we do, I would be able to remember you. I'm in love with you, Sersi. I'm grateful for the life I've lived with you."

- Ikaris

"I don’t want to fight with you, Sersi."

- Ikaris

Behind The Scenes
"One of my favourite [scenes] is one of the first scenes in the film when [Sersi and Ikaris] meet on [The Domo] for the first time. And I always kind of remember one of the first days when we were in our full costumes and we just - our characters just say 'hello' to each other but for me, there was a lot of Richard and Gemma saying 'Hey, okay, let's make a superhero movie together' so I'll always kind of remember that."

- Richard Madden, Ikaris Actor

"He’s incapable of relating to humanity unless he’s with Sersi. He misses seeing the world through her eyes because he’s floating while her hand is on the ground, not grounded enough to be human."

- Chloé Zhao, Eternals Director

"I think they have such a different outlook on the world. There's something about opposites that attract. I think there is something in Ikaris that Sersi is just drawn to. There is something about the way that Sersi sees the world that Ikaris is drawn to."

- Gemma Chan, Sersi Actor

"I think they balance each other beautifully. Between the kind of practicality and duty and honor sense that Ikaris has, balanced between Sersi's way that she sees beauty in the world. And I think that is what keeps them kind of learning from each other."

- Richard Madden

Fanon
Fans have been shipping Ikersi since the release of the Eternal's trailers. The scene where Ikaris tried to make himself kill Sersi was the most emotional one for the fans. The same scene also made some other viewers start shipping them. Fans are touched by the fact that he couldn't kill her, that he chose his love for her over what he felt was his duty. In turns, his love towards Sersi who loved Earth was what saved the planet. They think that Ikaris and Sersi serve good a friends to lovers to enemies to i-can't-kill-you-because-i-love-you trope. Some fans have also mentioned that Ikersi has many similarities to Darklina (the ship between Aleksander and Alina from Grishaverse).

Although Ikaris and Sersi have broken up - with Ikaris leaving her alone and Sersi claiming that she has moved on, fans believe that they still have feelings for each other. They notice that Ikaris turned the stone Sersi had given him into a necklace, then gifted it to her during their wedding ceremony. Sersi seems to be still wearing it to the present time. Fans also note that the reason Ikaris left Sersi was because he couldn't stand hiding the truth about the emergence anymore; he considered Sersi's love towards humans and couldn't live with her knowing that the people she loved were meant to die. Thus, fans think that Ikaris chose her happiness over his happiness with her.

Despite the angst, there are also sweet moments between them which the fans enjoy. For example, the way Ikaris was following Sersi around the village and trying to learn the language and how to cook and plant because he wants to understand the things and the people she loves, even though he is awkward and bad at them; how he accidentally called himself beautiful while trying to compliment Sersi in a human language; and how excited he was when he mistakenly thought that Sersi had broken up with Dane.

Even if Ikaris is presumably dead, Gemma Chan has mentioned that the Eternals have their memory stored in the World Forge, so they could have made another Ikaris. She also joked about how Richard could still play Ikaris in the next film. This made the fans hopeful for the couple's reunion in the future project.

On AO3, Ikersi is the most written ship for each of the characters and the second most written ship in 'Eternals (Movie 2021)' tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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TWITTER
 * twitter@ikersea
 * twitter@ikersithinker
 * twitter@ikersifilms
 * twitter@ikersifilms

Trivia

 * Ikaris and Sersi are the first couple in MCU to have an adult scene.
 * Gemma Chan (Sersi) and Richard Madden (Ikaris) have been friends for ten years.
 * When asked whom she would be with if she were on eternal road trip, Gemma answered that it would be Richard.
 * A couple of Ikersi scenes from the trailers didn't make it to the final cut.