Marvel Studios' Eternals is being banned in three countries for not removing certain scenes. The three countries banning the Disney and Marvel Studios film are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Eternals will be introducing at least 10 new heroes into the fold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Balancing screen time and turning characters who are relatively unknown into popular iconic heroes means Eternals has a difficult task. With all of these characters comes a lot of personalities, powers, and stories to explore in a single film.
Among those new characters is Phastos, who has the ability to manipulate, fix, or enhance matter at will. Phastos is also the first openly-gay superhero in the MCU and shares a kiss with his husband in an Eternals scene. The Hollywood Reporter sources say the decision to ban Eternals was likely made over the inclusion of these characters and the aforementioned sequence. Per THR, local censors requested a series of edits that Disney refused to make, causing the three nations to pull the plug on Eternals' planned November 11 release. While Eternals has been removed from websites in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, the film is still listed as one of the pending releases in the United Arab Emirates.
Eternals will also be tasked with bringing the MCU further into the cosmos. Fans will be introduced to the Celestials and Deviants, in addition to the titular alien race. The film follows the highly successful Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and precedes the highly anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home. Right now, Eternals hasn't been doing well with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film will hopefully do better once it's in the hands of the fans and new viewers. After all, it has an A-list cast, so many viewers who aren't Marvel fans will probably see the film for their favorite stars.
Phastos is a more unique character, which makes him more interesting in terms of lore because he's not someone commonly seen in superhero blockbusters. There's plenty of Superman or 'god' type heroes in almost every medium (Homelander, Omni Man, Shazam, Ikaris, Goku, One Punch Man, etc). It's unfortunate that the scene that makes the character his own individual person is what prevented the film from being shown in those countries.
It's unclear if this ban will affect the box office numbers in a detrimental way or not. Marvel Studios and Disney are very big powerhouses, so they may still make out just fine with the places that do accept the Eternals. Only time will tell how this film holds up amongst its other Marvel contemporaries. It was also revealed that Eternals likely won't have sequels, which is very unfortunate because fans are just getting to know these characters.
Eternals is out now in theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter