With the announcement of tickets going sale as the film nears its November theatrical release date, a new featurette for Marvel Studios' Eternals reveals its epic scale and the enormous impact it may have on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
The Eternals featurette, which is titled "In The Beginning," includes comments from the cast, director Chloé Zhao, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, while also delving deeper into the history of the new exciting heroes and the expansive universe it seeks to depict. According to Feige, Eternals will deal heavily with the origins of the entire MCU in ways that will set up future events in phase 4.
"The impact that Eternals will have on the MCU will be nothing less than redefining the cinematic universe," adds Feige. Salma Hayek, who will be playing the role Ajak, shares, “It's not your typical place, it's not your typical shots, it's not the typical cast." Other cast members such as Angelina Jolie (who plays Thena) have also claimed how Eternals will incorporate a sense of empowerment and that the thousand-year-old heroes who have been secretly living on Earth are nothing like what fans have seen before in a comic book film.
As described in a recent press release from Disney, the story will take place across two drastic time periods. The synopsis reads, "One storyline is set in the past when they operated as a formidable team and a close family unit. The second storyline is in the present, when the group has fractured and split apart, content to live among humans, hiding in plain sight. The prevailing threat of the Deviants, which once again threatens the existence of mankind, means the Eternals need to put their differences aside and regroup." Zhao emphasizes the importance of family in Eternals, stating that the point of this new story is to go on this journey with these characters to figure out who they are and what it means to be human.
Long-time Marvel producer Nate Moore claimed that Eternals will explore brand new aspects of the MCU, adding, "We want audiences to discover a corner of the Marvel universe they've never seen before. We want them to discover a mythology that is a challenging sci-fi movie but also has a human heart. And we want them to meet ten heroes who they hopefully can relate to." With a confirmed runtime of 156 minutes (2 hours and 36 minutes) that marks Eternals as the 2nd longest MCU film, placing it right behind Avengers: Endgame's 3-hour runtime, the film certainly has the potential to be one of the most epic MCU projects to date and should surely push the ongoing cinematic universe in new cosmic directions.
Eternals' star-studded ensemble also includes Game of Thrones' Richard Madden and Kit Harrington as Ikaris and Dane Whitman, Crazy Rich Asians' Gemma Chan as Sersi, The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, The Walking Dead's Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Train to Busan's Don Lee as Gilgamesh, and The Green Knight's Barry Keoghan as Druig. The film will have an early premiere on October 24th at the Rome Film Festival.
Eternals is set to release exclusively in theatres in the U.S. on November 5th, 2021.
Source: Marvel Entertainment/YouTube