The COVID-19 pandemic led to the delay of many planned Marvel releases, with most of the intended 2020 releases set to premiere this year instead. One such film, Eternals, has finally dropped its long-awaited first trailer, to the excitement of fans.

Eternals is directed by Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao, who also co-wrote the project with writer Patrick Burleigh. The film features a massive ensemble cast, starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, and Kit Harington. The film follows a group of immortals who, after spending centuries living alongside humans, are finally forced to step in and help humanity on a larger scale.

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The newly released trailer hints at an epic story spanning time and space, full of action, romance, and comedy. Eternals will introduce a whole new group of superheroes, ones that haven't been seen in the MCU before. But who exactly are these mysterious Eternals, and what can audiences expect from this group of heroes?

The Eternals in Marvel Comics

The Eternals were introduced in comic book form in 1976. They have featured in many mini-series in the decades since, including interaction with other Marvel characters such as Thor and Apocalypse, and a 2006 mini-series written by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman. While there have been several retcons and reboots over the years, as is common with long-running comic characters, the major concept of the characters has remained about the same.

The Eternals are a race of humanoids who were created when an alien race called the Celestials came down to Earth. The Celestials interfered in human evolution, creating an offshoot species, "homo immortalis," of physically beautiful immortal beings with amazing powers. These are the Eternals. Celestials also created another offshoot called Deviants, who have unstable genetics and physical mutations that often appear monstrous. The Eternals and Deviants are usually at odds, and the Deviants in some form are making their debut in the Eternals film.

All Eternals are fueled by cosmic energy and have a similar set of powers. All of the Eternals possess super strength, speed, teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, levitation, matter manipulation, illusion creation, and the ability to shoot cosmic rays. However, the beings can choose to channel their cosmic energy into a specific power in order to enhance or improve that ability. This leads to most Eternals having a specific power in which they excel.

The Individual Characters

With its large cast, Eternals will be introducing many of the immortal beings to the MCU. Even prior to release, it's been confirmed that several of the characters will differ in some ways from their comic book counterparts, but there are enough similarities to get an idea of what to expect from each of them. Kevin Feige has referred to Gemma Chan's Sersi as the film's lead. In the comics, Sersi is very powerful, with amazing skills in her focus on matter manipulation and molecular rearrangement. The film's official synopsis suggests the movie will also focus on her love of humankind.

The trailer indicates that Sersi will have a romance with Richard Madden's Ikaris. Ikaris chooses not to focus on any individual skill, and so while not the most powerful in any power specifically, in the comics he is one of the most powerful Eternals overall. In the comic books more closely tied to Greek mythology, the mythical figure Icarus who flew too close to the sun was actually Ikaris' son, and he took on the name to honor him.

Phastos, who will be portrayed by Brian Tyree Henry, also has a tie to mythology in the comics, often mistaken for the god Hephaestus when in ancient Greece. He is an inventor with a talent for creating various technology and devices, including weapons. In the film, he will be depicted as openly gay with a husband.

Angelina Jolie will be playing Thena, who is often associated with the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare, Athena. She is a fierce warrior who is skilled in the use of many ancient and eternal weapons, including a golden spear made out of cosmic energy. These golden weapons appear in the Eternals trailer. Thena is close with Gilgamesh, who is played by Don Lee. In the source material, Gilgamesh has been known by the name of many powerful beings of myth, including Gilgamesh and Hercules, and also been titled "Hero" and "The Forgotten One." He is the strongest of all the Eternals and possesses immense superhuman strength.

Eternals has gender-swapped a few of the characters. Lauren Ridloff, a deaf black woman, will be portraying Makkari, who is a hearing white man in the comics. In the books, Makkari channels cosmic energy into improving his speed in order to try and become the fastest being on earth, sometimes causing his other powers to weaken. Makkari is the fastest of the Eternals.

Salma Hayek will play Ajak, the wise and spiritual leader who is male in the comics but female in the film. Unlike the other Eternals, Ajak is capable of directly communicating with their creators, the Celestials. Actress Lia McHugh will play Sprite, an Eternal who always looks like a pre-teen child. Sprite's focus is on the power of illusion and reality-warping, but they are also talented at molecular reconstructions. In the comics, Sprite is most often depicted as male, but has occasionally been genderfluid.

Barry Keoghan's Druig appears similar to his comic book counterpart, playing an aloof and powerful loner who can be both friend and foe to the other Eternals. His power lies in manipulation, able to not only read but control the minds of others. In the comics, he can force people to live their fears as a waking nightmare.

Meanwhile, the character of Kingo, as played by Kumail Nanjiani, has been altered for the film. An expert swordsman who makes Japanese samurai movies in the comics, Kingo has been reimagined as an Eternal with a focus on shooting energy beams who becomes a Bollywood star on earth. Several non-Eternal characters will also feature in the movie, most notably Kit Harington's Dane Whitman. Dane is a human warrior who wields a mystical sword; that of his descendent, the first Black Knight. While he does briefly gain Eternal power in the comics, it's unknown if that will be the case in the film.

With such a large cast and literal centuries of backstory, Marvel Comics' Eternals allows for so many narratives and crossovers. It will be interesting to see not only what is explored in this first Eternals film, but where these characters will go in the MCU from here. The possibilities are seemingly as endless as the Eternals themselves.

Eternals will be released in theatres November 5, 2021.

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