Eternals always looked like it was going to be groundbreaking for the MCU, thanks to its diverse cast and grand story. But the recent Oscar wins for director Chloe Zhao and the growing buzz behind the movie point to the possibility of a major game-changer for the MCU.
The first and most important reason for the buzz around Eternals was always the diversity, something that was promised not just in front of the camera, but behind the camera too. When Zhao was tapped to direct the movie, she wasn’t as well known as she is now. But she was an Asian-American woman directing a big-budget superhero movie, and that, in and of itself, was rare. The movie is also set to feature Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee, and Brian Tyree Henry, among others. Marvel had never had a cast as diverse as Eternals, and fans were excited.
Covid-19 delay after delay later, fans are still excited for what Eternals, which is set to release November 5th of 2021, has to offer. The above-mentioned diversity is still a big reason why. Marvel has been ahead of the superhero game in almost everything, except diversity. It took them way too long to bring the first Black Marvel superhero to the screen, Black Panther, and even longer greenlit the first Marvel comic book adaptation centered around a female character, Captain Marvel. It’s been over a decade and Eternals is only now set to feature the MCU’s first openly gay superhero. As beloved as the original Avengers team was, a more diverse team has felt long overdue.
This movie could also be the beginning of a far-reaching storyline that could expand into many more movies. Though the plot has been, as per Marvel, kept very much under-wraps, the Eternals draw a lot of inspiration from Greek Mythology. Considering Eternals is more or less an origin story for the Eternals, mythical beings created by the Celestials, the movie could conceivably span hundreds, or even thousands of years. With that added mythology element, Eternals could certainly deliver a Lord of the Rings kind of epic fantasy-adventure tone. Plus, it would be very easy to incorporate some history Easter Eggs, as well. The movie centers around eternal beings, after all. They’ve surely been around for everything.
Including some big moments in MCU lore. The character of Thena, for example, who will be played by Angelina Jolie, has a very famous and destructive cousin: The Mad-Titan himself, Thanos. If the movie spans hundreds, even thousands of years, as speculated, some Thanos backstory, or at least an explanation as to how he became the being hell-bent on wiping out half of the universe, is not out of the realm of possibility. The MCU has already changed Thanos storyline a great deal, but there’s still a chance Eternals could try to give some depth to his decisions. Or even go into how these eternal beings have been present for some of the events that have shaped the world.
But the ramifications of Eternals could be even more immediate. The Celestials, who created both the Eternals and the Deviants, also created the mutant x-gene. Casual fun things to create while getting the universe together. Fans have already met a Celestial in the MCU – Ego, the living planet and Peter Quill’s father. The Eternals are next. A Deviant has already been introduced – or an Eternal with a mutant Deviant gene, Thanos himself. Fans, however, have yet to encounter anyone carrying the x-gene, or at least no one that has been acknowledged as such. The MCU didn’t even have the rights to mention mutants till the acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
Fans wildly speculated that WandaVision would be used as an intro to mutants in the MCU. That didn’t end up happening, or at least it wasn’t as clear as fans would have hoped. WandaVision does seemingly establish Wanda had powers before experiments were carried out on her, after all. Eternals hasn’t been mentioned as a possible way to introduce mutants, but it seems about as likely now as anything else. They wouldn’t even have to delve into any of the familiar faces, just bring up the existence of individuals carrying the x-gene. Another fun possibility would be delving into the Eternals ties with the Skrulls, who are set to play an even bigger role in the future of the MCU, and who were also created by the Celestials.
Either way, Eternals seems certain to open the door to a whole new aspect of the Marvel comics mythology that hasn’t really been explored to date. It’s set to do that while introducing a diverse cast of characters, and possibly tying up some storytelling lose ends. Whatever Marvel might have hoped for the property when it was first conceived, right now it looks like Eternals is set to be a major game-changer. And, that’s not all. It also looks like Eternals might just be the first Marvel movie to get serious awards buzz. A win all around.