SPOILER WARNING: Do not read until you’ve seen Marvel Studios’ “Eternals,” currently playing in theaters worldwide. Major spoilers are ahead.
NYT What to Know About ‘Eternals’
Who are they? How long have they been here? Where do they fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We have answers.
The Film
Chloé Zhao’s movie (which drops the “The”) makes some key adjustments to Eternals lore: The Celestials are responsible for all intelligent life in the universe, and they created the Deviants to protect humans from predators. The Deviants rebelled, so the Eternals were created to fight the Deviants and help guide humanity in its evolution. Set after the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” the film reveals flashbacks to how the Eternals interacted with humans over the course of history while in the present, they try to stop a cataclysmic event from destroying the Earth.
An idea featured in the original Eternals comic and in the film is that the Eternals are secretly the inspiration for humanity’s greatest myths. Many of the characters have names resembling mythological figures, and in the film, Ikaris (Richard Madden) even says he’s responsible for creating the Icarus story (though he also gets mistaken for another modern mythic figure: Superman).
The Characters and Their Powers
The movie features 10 Eternals, including Ikaris, who can fly and shoot laser beams out of his eyes; Sersi (Gemma Chan), who can transmute matter into other forms; Sprite (Lia McHugh), an eternally adolescent girl who can create illusions; and Thena (Angelina Jolie), a skilled warrior who can conjure weapons out of energy. The leader of the Eternals is Ajak (Salma Hayek), the only one who can communicate with the Celestials. All these characters were introduced in Kirby’s initial run on The Eternals, albeit with some notable differences. Ajak, Sprite and their teammate Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), male characters in the comic, were changed to female for the film. The cast is also more diverse than their characters’ original depictions.
While the Eternals have had a relatively small cultural footprint compared to other Marvel superheroes, they count at least one infamous villain among their ranks: Thanos, who previously menaced the MCU for the last decade, is a mix of Eternal and Deviant in the comics.
Additional Characters
Spoiler alert: The remainder of this article includes revelations about characters that appear in the post-credits scenes of “Eternals.” For those who have seen the film and are curious about who these characters are, read on.
“Eternals” briefly introduces two other notable Marvel characters in its post-credits scenes. Eros (Harry Styles) appears aboard the Eternals’ ship at the end of the film, revealing he is Thanos’s brother. Eros is a fellow Eternal who is mostly known for being a womanizing, carefree party boy. In the comics, he teamed up with various heroes to take down his genocidal brother and joined the Avengers for a time, but he tends to be invested in more worldly pleasures.
Additionally, Dane Whitman (Kit Harington), who previously appeared to be Sersi’s non-superpowered boyfriend, is seen opening a box containing a sword at the end of the film. In the comics, Whitman is a scientist who discovers that his uncle Nathan is secretly a medieval-themed villain known as the Black Knight. On his death bed, Nathan asks Whitman to take up the mantle of the Black Knight and use his weapons and research for good rather than evil. Whitman has been a member of the Avengers, and he most commonly wields a magic sword known as the Ebony Blade.
Indiewire ‘Eternals’ Post-Credits Scenes: Chloé Zhao Details How She Crafted an MCU-Changing Surprise
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has never shied away from tossing major narrative bombs into its films after they’ve — quite literally — ended, but Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals” offers a few more twists to the formula. Not only does the Oscar winner’s first Marvel feature conclude with plenty of table-setting for more action to come, it does that within both the film’s primary running time (kinda new!) and in a pair of post-credits scenes (the usual land of all those late-breaking twists).
Zhao’s eons-spanning epic introduces the titular Eternals — essentially, a race of immortal beings who have been (secretly) hanging out on Earth for thousands of years — and sees what happens when their apparent dedication to the safety of Earth’s inhabitants is threatened by a wide variety of forces. That’s the short version, but suffice it to say, it ends with some of the Eternals proving victorious (and some, well, very much not), only strengthening their bond with their Earthly home.
And then Zhao and co-screenwriters Patrick Burleigh, Kaz Firpo, and Ryan Firpo throw all that for a loop, ending the film with the remaining Eternals divided, though still in service to the same idea: to find the rest of their brethren and let them in on some major secrets. It’s an exhilarating end, the kind that sets up plenty of new adventures, but one also steeped in some serious drama (what, audiences will wonder, is going to happen to Sersi, Kingo, and Phastos, who have been swept off the planet to face their very mad maker, Arishem? And what about Thena, Makkari, and Druig, who have headed out in their spaceship to wrestle up the rest of the Eternals?).
It’s plenty to ponder, and Zhao only extends that straight into a pair of post-credits scenes. Zippy, information-packed post-credits sequences are nothing new to the MCU, but Zhao handily combines both fan service and good, old-fashioned bluster to present a pair of scenes that seem poised to change both the MCU and any subsequent “Eternals” features in major ways.
1. The Eternals Get Two New Compatriots
The first scene finds Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Druig (Barry Keoghan) tooling through space in the Eternals’ decidedly slab-shaped spacecraft. All is not well, however, because the trio is worried: They haven’t heard from their earthly pals in weeks and fear the worst. They’re right to! Turns out, Sersi (Gemma Chan), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) have been whisked off the planet to get a major talking-to from Arishem, their creator and also primary antagonist. That’s where “Eternals” ends, with the trio learning that Earth is about to be tested for their transgressions, kind of a risky move for concluding any massive franchise film.
Help is on the way, both in the form of the space-y Eternals realizing that they need to go back to find the rest of their family, and wait, is that Harry Styles? Yes, yes it is. Meet Pip the Troll (CGI, not Harry Styles) and his best pal, Starfox AKA Eros, AKA Harry Styles. The duo appear on the Eternals’ ship, because they too realize that something bad is happening and that they need to assist their brethren. And they are indeed brethren, as Eros refers to them as his “fellow Eternals” almost immediately.
There’s plenty to unpack here, but it all stems from an original, early idea that Zhao had. “They very much wanted me to pitch to them what I wanted the post-credits to be, so I pitched the idea of Pip the Troll and Eros to Kevin [Feige] a long time ago, just when we started shooting the movie, because I loved the idea of other Eternals existing in the universe,” Zhao told IndieWire. “Once you’ve seen the film, you understand why.”
One important thing to note: Eros is the brother of Thanos (yes, that Thanos), who is also an Eternal. So yes, they are brethren. And yes, Eros knows a thing or two about beating back super-powered bad guys. Zhao dug into that very idea, stretching it out to include the very nature of the Eternals themselves.
“The fact that, in the comics, Eros was on Titan, made me think that if Eros was an Eternal, maybe Titan has similar responsibilities as Earth,” Zhao said. “Could Eros have affected someone like Thanos the way that [former Eternals leader] Ajak [Salma Hayek] has affected earthlings? And what does that mean? On top of that, how did he get away? He’s clearly just chilling.”
Pip and Eros are, in comic book lore, long-time compatriots and pals. They’re also very different, and that’s something Zhao wanted to play up, comparing them to fellow space travelers Han Solo and Chewbacca, offering a decidedly “Star Wars” vibe to the whole thing. And, from the start, Zhao said she could only imagine one human playing the divine Eros.
“The dynamic between Pip and Eros made me think of Han and Chewie,” Zhao said. “I thought they were very dynamic characters. When I went to pitch this, there was only one person I thought could play this, and that was Harry Styles. I saw him in ‘Dunkirk’ and kept tabs on him. I thought he was very interesting visually. So for the post-credits sequence to exist, I needed a yes from Kevin and a yes from Harry, and luckily they both said yes.”
2. Dane Grapples with His Fate
Eros and Pip are not the only new characters introduced in the film’s final moments; they’re not even the only new characters forced to grapple with the weight of their superheroic fates. While details about the film’s post-credits scenes have been floating about the internet world for weeks, one of them is not entirely surprising, if only because a minor character’s name pretty much gives it away from the start, at least to the Marvel faithful.
Early in the film, we meet Dane Whitman (Kit Harington), a good-natured schoolteacher who has been romancing Sersi for some time. Over the course of the film, Dane is privy to plenty of shocking details about the Eternals, and as the film ends, he attempts to share his own major secret with Sersi. But that’s a secret that shouldn’t surprise: “Dane Whitman” is the name of the third incarnation of the Black Knight, a long-time member of the Avengers and a classic superhero in his own right.
Before Sersi is swept up by Arishem, Dane tries to tell her about the weird thing he’s just learned about his own family. Before he can explain, Sersi is gone, leading directly to the final scene, in which Dane wrestles with said secret. While the exact details of this Dane’s fraught family are not dispensed just yet, the general shape of it — it’s a legacy that began in medieval England, a birthright from which Dane can’t hide, and also an excuse to wield a massive sword — is in place in just one scene.
Dane, clearly horrified by Sersi’s disappearance, stands over a large box, eventually cracking the thing open to reveal a massive sword. It’s the Black Ebony, the typical weapon of the Black Knight, and it’s even got a kicky little Latin phrase inscribed on the top of its box: “Mors Lucrum Mihi,” which he translates to “Death is my reward.” But is he actually ready for that? It’s not just the audience thinking that, there’s also a chilling voice asking it aloud. Zhao confirmed to Fandom the voice belongs to none other than Blade, who is coming to the MCU played by Mahershala Ali. Looks like the MCU just got another new hero. And, as a closing title card tells us, “the Eternals will return,” and this time, they’re going to have even more help.
Additional reporting by Eric Kohn.
Uproxx: Chloé Zhao Explains Key Decisions In ‘Eternals’ And Could ‘Star Wars’ Be In Her Future?
There are more than a few things in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals we’ve never really seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most of the conflict in Eternals comes from within the Eternals themselves. One of the main arguments in the film comes from the Eternals’ primary mission, which is to protect Earth, but only up until a point. After this point, Earth will be destroyed, which will bring millions of new planets and life to existence. Ikaris (Richard Madden) believes the group should finish its mission. Most of the other Eternals, led by Sersi (Gemma Chan), have grown to like Earth and do not like this plan and vow to stop it from happening. (Some possibly minor spoilers ahead.)
But then something truly interesting happens when Kumail Nanjiani‘s character, Kingo, a fan favorite throughout the movie (at least he was at my screening), decides not to fight. He believes they should complete the intended mission, which would sacrifice Earth. But he also will not use violence to defend his position. So, he simply leaves. A scene in the movie that seems like something very personal to Zhao herself. Which, as she confirms, it very much is personal and she doesn’t know what side she’d be on if put in this situation.
Another scene we discussed (which, in reviews, has caused some controversy) is that of Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), an emotional wreck while lamenting about the part he played with the mass destruction at Hiroshima. It is a very pointed decision for Zhao to use this particular moment in human history and, ahead, she explains why.
And then there’s Star Wars. Before this interview, I was told by a friend of Zhao’s that she’s a huge fan of Star Wars. With emphasis on the word “huge,” while extending the “U” sound. “Huuuuuuuuge.” I, innocently, bring this up to Zhao who, once I did, well, she had that look on her face like, “something might be up and I’m sure as heck not going to tell you about it right now.” Could the Oscar-winning director be interested in helming a Star Wars movie?
A scene I’m curious about, there’s a battle about to start and Kumail Nanjiani’s character, Kingo, says he doesn’t agree with what they are fighting for, but won’t try to stop the rest of the Eternals. This felt like something personal to you. Is there anything to that?
Oh, man. Thank you. First of all, three days of press, thank you, you’re the only person ask me about that.
Really? I thought you’d be like, “This question again?”
I really, really thank you for that, because that is one of my, personally, most important moment in the film. Because we would like to, through this film, the idea to challenge some of the foundations of this genre. We really do feel like we’re entering the revisionist stage of superhero genre – I think at the edge of it. And the idea of black and white morality, the ideas of humans are automatically worth saving, things like that. What does strength look like? And also, the idea that you have to always punch your way through everything. You have to be violent physically to be heroic, as long as you’re on the right side. So we’re trying to have a movie where there isn’t… I mean, obviously, we want Earth to survive, but it’s going to be a tough decision and Kingo is an extremely complex character.
He loves Earth. He’s having a good time.
He loves Earth, but he has strong beliefs, just like Ikaris. He’s no different than Ikaris in terms of his faith for the Celestials and believing in the greater good: The fact that human beings and Earth doesn’t have the right to break out of the natural order. He believes that. However, the big difference between him and Ikaris is that he might believe something personally, but he does not believe that he should hurt other people for his beliefs.
That seems like you saying that, too.
I think if we give humanity the choice, how many of them would choose? I’m curious, because it would be a tough one for me. It would be a tough decision for me, personally. And I think a lot of us might sit this one out. We might be like, “You know what, I’m not going to play God. Maybe we should sometimes humble ourselves and let nature take its course.”
See, that’s the thing I can’t figure out, if you’re on Sersi or Ikaris’s side? I honestly don’t know.
It’s a tough one. And I have friends around me who have different opinions about it and they change. Sometimes they would go, “Actually, today because of what happened in the world, I’m more with this person now.” So, it was a decision, not easy to make. A lot of discussion went into it. We also talked to Kumail about it. It is a brave decision for superhero film character to take.
And you said there were discussions. How serious did those discussions get? Because I could see some difference of opinion there.
Very serious, because we are putting a character at risk, for the audience, a beloved character at risk. Because we have 10 characters, we have to try to do something different, give each of them a different perspective. And I would say this is personal. I think it’s one of the bravest things someone did in this movie is decide not to fight, not to hurt people for their beliefs.
Right. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I’m glad there was something to that.
Thank you. There’s a first sex scene, first this and that, but there is also this first. I’m glad, I’m so happy you recognized it.
When I talk to directors of Marvel movies and ask if they want to do another one, I kind of already know what the answer is going to be, I’m just curious how they’re going to word it. with you, I have no idea. You just won an Oscar. Maybe you’re like, “I’d like to do one and then do something else.”
I’ve been a fan of the MCU, and this process. I loved working with the team at Marvel. So I’ll be back working with them in a heartbeat with the right project. And with Eternals, we really were encouraged to leave everything on the table. Don’t think about the future. Don’t plan everything out. Make the best film we can make. Don’t leave anything. Everything out of my sleeves. It’s all here. So, now in this very moment, this film is more yours than mine.
No, it’s not. It’s yours.
No.
I saw the credits, you’re in them. I’m not in them.
I know, but this is yours, because the film is going to grow with you, with the audiences, and it’s going to find its own identity. It’s out of my hands now. So we will see how things go. And then there’s no need to plan the future until we see this child’s new growth period and how things turned out.
I’m also curious how you picked the eras and places for the flashbacks. Like Hiroshima, a very interesting choice that I feel was a very pointed choice.
Wow. You are really on point. You’re the first person asking me that.
That’s very surprising.
No, it’s very surprising to me as well. I think, again, the weight of it, I think people might even feel uncomfortable asking, because there’s so much. And then that is also a discussion we’ve had many times, and including in post-production, in the edit. Personally, I do think it’s a crime against humanity. It’s not about which side you pick. It’s also a turning point in the psyche of us as a species. And after that moment, we’re never the same again. So for Phastos – who had this big belief and faith and positivity about who we are, of humanity – he believes as long as they advance, advance, advance, advance, they would be perfect. They would be fine. And that was a big wake-up call for him.
And then, from that disappointment, he has to focus on the smallest thing about humanity: not the biggest accomplishment, but the love of a family, the love of a lover, of his husband. And that’s when he can regain our humanity. It’s similar to us today. We turn on the news, we look at the big, clear picture, it could get pretty bleak. But if you go home, you look into the eyes and your parents or your child, your lover, you might regain some faith in humanity. And that’s sort of Phastos’ arc, and why Hiroshima was in the film.
On a lighter note, someone who knows you said you are a huge, and put a bunch of u’s in the word “huge,” Star Wars fan. I did not know that.
[Laughs] It’s true.
You should do one of those. I’d be in for one of those movies too from you.
[Laughs] Would you? I love how you buttered me up with those questions for the first 10 minutes? No, just kidding. No, look, I’ll be lucky if I get to play in the Star Wars universe. But, as you know, again, just like the MCU, the universe is so grand with so many incredible characters. And I think if I ever get the chance, it’s got to be the right story, the right character.
Well, obviously I would have liked to see a take from you in Star Wars anyway. But now knowing that you’re super into it, even more so now.
We did Comic-Con for Eternals, the first time they announced the project. And I went on the stage with this T-shirt and Kevin, first thing he said once I got on stage was, “Tell them what’s this on your T-shirt.” And it was, “I had friends on that Death Star.” It was a very sad Stormtrooper sitting in a chair, crying.
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Variety How ‘Eternals’ Pulled Off Those Wild Post-Credits Scenes: ‘I Still Can’t Believe It Happened’
The first post-credits scene follows the movie’s cliffhanger ending. After Sersi (Gemma Chan) successfully leads the Eternals to stop the emergence of a Celestial from inside the Earth — which would have obliterated the planet — the lead Celestial, Arishem (David Kaye), arrives on Earth and yanks Sersi, Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) into space. As he looms over the Earth, Arishem announces he’s putting them on trial for the death of a Celestial, and their experiences with humanity will decide whether the planet will ultimately survive. End of movie!
The mid-credits scene opens on the Eternals’ spaceship, where Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) and Druig (Barry Keoghan) are traveling to find other Eternals to tell them of the Celestial’s deception. Unaware of Arishem’s wrath, they’re worried that they haven’t heard from their compatriots on Earth in weeks.
Suddenly, a small, swirling vortex appears in their ship, and out pops Pip the Troll (voiced by Patton Oswalt), who, with a rhetorical flourish, heralds the impending appearance of Eternal — and brother to Thanos — Eros, a.k.a. Starfox.
Wearing a similar uniform to his fellow Eternals, out steps Eros, as played by music superstar and budding actor Styles, who warns Thena, Makkari and Druig that their friends are in danger — and he knows how to help them.
“The idea of Eros and Harry came to me at the same time,” she said. “It wasn’t like I created this character and I think about different people [to cast].” Zhao says she’s been following Styles’ nascent acting career ever since he made his feature debut in Christopher Nolan’s 2017 World War II epic “Dunkirk,” playing a morally questionable British soldier desperate to escape the invading Nazi army. Given Styles’ willingness to explore less-than-honorable behavior on screen — and his gender-bending music persona as an omnisexual object of desire — Zhao thought the 27-year-old was a perfect fit for Eros, whose ability to stimulate and control the emotions of others makes him the ultimate galactic Lothario.
“Seeing his career, where he’s going, what he’s representing, him as an individual — he’s very interesting, unique,” Zhao said of Styles. “And I thought that is Eros. That’s that character. He just happened to be Thanos’s brother. I had this whole thing made up in my head, what their backstory is. I just was very, very excited when Kevin [went], ‘Let’s do it.'”
According to the filmmaker, it did not take much convincing to get Styles to sign on to the play the role. “I think everyone loves working with Marvel,” she said. “He was game, yeah.”
Zhao shot the scene in one day, with Styles hiding his face in hoodie when he was walking to and from set. “And then to see him come on set and just bring Eros to life, it was great,” she said.
Eros wasn’t the only major new character Zhao introduces in “Eternals” through a post-credits scene, either. When looking for a contemporary love interest for Sersi in the film, Zhao says she gravitated to one of the character’s historic boyfriends in the comics: Dane Whitman, a.k.a. the Black Knight.
“I go, ‘Who’s that? Black Knight? Oh, there’s an actor who’d be great to play that!'” she said.
The actor was Kit Harington, who at the time was just concluding his eight-season run as the sword-wielding warrior Jon Snow on the HBO behemoth “Game of Thrones.” Similarly, Dane Whitman has a rich and complicated history in the Marvel Comics, with a lineage that dates back to the medieval legend of King Arthur and a legacy as the superhuman warrior the Black Knight — whose abilities come from a cursed sword called the Ebony Blade.
None of that, however, is in “Eternals” until the end credits scene. When Harington was approached by producer Nate Moore for the role, he was told upfront that Dane would not play a sizable role in “Eternals” beyond a stand-in for Sersi’s connection to humanity.
“I was a big fan of that character,” Zhao said. “I thought he would be very interesting to have a human character also with his own complicated [history]. You can sense he doesn’t know what’s going on [with the Eternals], but there’s something special about him. It’s fun.”
It’s not until the very end of the film that Dane begins to hint to Sersi about that “something special” — but he’s cut off when Arishem appears and snatches Sersi from the face of the Earth.
Cut to the “Eternals” end credits scene, with Dane warily regarding an ancient looking box that holds an even more ancient looking sword with metal that undulates and whispers as if it’s alive: the Ebony Blade. Dane paces back and forth, trying to psych himself up to pick up the sword — which Marvel comics fans know will bestow him with great power and long life, but at the cost of Dane’s eroding sanity and innate goodness. (Hence the ominous carving on the inside of the box, which Dane reads out as “Death is my reward.”)
Just as Dane is about to touch the Ebony Blade, however, Dane hears someone else in the room, who we hear but never see, say “Sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?”
As some fans have already surmised, that voice belongs to Mahershala Ali, who Feige announced in 2019 will play Marvel’s favorite half-vampire, Blade, in a reboot of the franchise originally headlined by Wesley Snipes.
“I knew the line that was being said, because it was said out loud and it was in the bit of script that I got,” Harington told Variety the day after the “Eternals” premiere. “I only knew that was Mahershala’s voice just about three weeks ago. Chloé texted me saying that’s what they were doing. It really excited me, hearing that. He’s one of my favorite actors out there at the moment.”
Harington said that he hoped to allude to Dane’s fate as the Black Knight in the scene with how he regarded the Ebony Blade. “Up until that point, all we’ve seen is a really good guy that we hopefully like,” he said. “I like the idea that this thing is not good for him. With that sword, and what I’ve read about it, what I wanted to capture in that moment was this idea of addiction.”
But the actor is loathe to make any pronouncements about the future of the character. Dane and Blade do have a history in the Marvel comics, something Harington said was broached when he was first talking with Marvel about the role.
“I had some inkling that there was going to be a kind of crossover there, from early conversations,” he said.
But if it seems like this scene means Harington will costar with Ali in a “Blade” movie, or that Ali will appear in a “Black Knight” movie, that is going much further than Harington is willing to say out loud.
“I don’t know what the future is, and I have no idea,” he said. “There’s nothing written. Nothing I’ve been told. I haven’t got a clue. Honestly, genuinely. It’s funny, isn’t it? You say these things, and people are like, ‘You do! You know!’ And I have no idea. I’m assuming that that would be the case. But who knows?”
For her part, Zhao is also tight-lipped about her knowledge of where the cliffhanger ending and post-credits scenes in “Eternals” are leading.
“All I can say is it does have a very big repercussion on the future of the MCU,” she said. And what about her future with Marvel Studios?
She smiled. “I would be back working for Marvel if they want me any day.”
NY Times: ‘Eternals’ Review: When Super Franchises Walk the Earth!
A pleasing cast and the director Chloé Zhao, who won a best picture Oscar for “Nomadland,” give Marvel’s latest a steady heartbeat.
By Manohla Dargis
Nov. 4, 2021
Updated 12:29 p.m. ET
Throughout “Eternals,” the latest — though certainly not the last! — from Marvel Studios, you can see the director Chloé Zhao fighting to cut this industrial-strength spectacle down to human size. Her efforts are mostly evident in the sincerity of the performances, and in the heartfelt moments that punctuate the movie, creating pinpricks of warming light. But it’s a titanic struggle. And as Zhao keeps lubricating the machinery with feeling and tears, her efforts seem to mirror the battle that her likable superheroes are waging against a force seeking to thoroughly control their destinies.
Created by the comic-book seer Jack Kirby, the Eternals first swooped onto the page in 1976 (“When Gods Walk the Earth!”) and have been resurrected a few times since. With Marvel bringing the Avengers movie cycle to a close (for now), it was a given that it would dust off another group of potential super-franchisers. To that end, Marvel brought in Zhao (“Nomadland”) to start the engine with a cast culled from across the entertainment world. Angelina Jolie is here, with sad hair and glamour-puss makeup, and so are Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Don Lee, Kumail Nanjiani, an indispensable Brian Tyree Henry and two dewy heartthrobs from HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
Among Kirby’s lesser-known creations, the Eternals are godlike humanoids primarily borrowed from Greek mythology but with oddball spellings: Thena, Ikaris, Sersi and so on. They have an elaborate history and a charge to safeguard humanity. (To judge from the wretched shape we and the planet are in, they haven’t done a very good job.) As a character explains in the movie, they interfere in human conflicts when need be, a role that evokes that of the United Nations Peacekeepers. But since humanity keeps getting attacked by snarling enemies called Deviants, the Eternals keep stepping into the fray, an interventionist habit that more strongly suggests that of the United States.
Written by Zhao with several others, “Eternals” follows the Marvel house style visually and narratively. It’s busy, borderline clotted, and by turns works as a war movie, a romance, a family comedy and a family drama. It’s best categorized, though, as a getting-the-band-back-together flick: A group of former playmates reunite — warily, eagerly — to make music again or, in this case, kick cosmic butt. Unfortunately, the movie spends an inordinate amount of its two-and-a-half hours revisiting the group’s greatest hits, all while the Eternals explain a lot of stuff. The flashbacks interrupt whatever momentum Zhao builds, while the yammer only further muddies an already convoluted story.
As the potential first installment in a new series, the movie serves as an extended meet-and-greet, so it’s heavy on introductions (who are they, what do they do?) that delineate the powers, sensibilities, histories and relationships of the 10 Eternals. It’s a crowded marquee but, as in the Hollywood star system, some lights shine brighter than others. The headliner is Sersi (Chan), a caring, somewhat reluctant champion who’s living in London and dating Jon Snow, a.k.a. Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman, when Deviant trouble roars into that dirty old town. The enemy incursion instigates the reunion and the amusing entrance of Jon Snow’s bro, Robb Stark, a.k.a. Richard Madden, who plays Ikaris. He and Sersi have history; it’s not complicated.
The actors are the movie’s great superpower and give it warmth, even a bit of heat, and a pulse of life that’s never fully quelled by the numerous clamorous action sequences. Henry, Lee and Barry Keoghan (the terrifying kid in “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”) are particularly crucial to keeping your sympathies engaged. Henry’s character, Phastos, is the most vivid, partly because his superhero has an identifiably real side, but primarily because of the actor’s unforced sense of empathy and delicate expressivity. Lee offers some much needed comedy and makes a surprisingly effective foil for Jolie (inspiring visions of a Mr. and Mrs. Eternal spinoff), while Keoghan adds some prickly menace.
Zhao’s three previous features are all modestly scaled dramas about disenfranchised characters whom the commercial mainstream tends to ignore. She likes to engage old forms and new ideas, and is interested in issues of identity and in foundational American virtues like self-reliance. In “The Rider,” the lead character is a Native American who’s a cowboy; “Nomadland” tracks a woman in her 60s who, in the aftermath of the Great Recession, travels the open road. The intimacy of her earlier work, its scope and relative quiet, may have made her seem like an unusual choice for Marvel, but her movies steer clear of overt politics, in the way of most American indies, which makes her a fine fit for a global company that’s interested in alienating exactly no one.
Mostly, Zhao has one of the most important qualifications for this gig: she’s good with actors. For all their special effects and endless brawling, Marvel movies are as character-driven as any Bond movie and they need charismatic performers and appealing personalities to hold their many prefabricated moving parts together. (There’s a reason so many Marvel directors are Sundance Film Festival alumni.) “Eternals” also benefits from Zhao’s feel for natural landscapes and her love for wide open spaces. It doesn’t happen enough, but sometimes, when the movie quiets down, the Eternals and their worlds converge, and the larger questions of existence percolating through this story — why are we here, who am I? — finally resound more strongly than even its branding.
How director Chloé Zhao made ‘Eternals’ epic, intimate and unlike anything else in the MCU | Los Angeles Times https://t.co/dElYfGoZFo
— Asad Ayaz (@asadayaz) November 5, 2021
See the #Eternals in theaters November 5.
— Ramin Djawadi (@Djawadi_Ramin) November 4, 2021
Listen to the full soundtrack available on streaming platforms now: https://t.co/DiAV9PPP4M@MarvelStudios @TheEternals pic.twitter.com/Vebx0MLw57
First day of openings for #Eternals at intl #boxoffice - $7.6M WED from 14 mkts. Disney estimates this is +85% vs #ShangChi in same mkts and +20% vs #BlackWidow.
— Gitesh Pandya (@GiteshPandya) November 4, 2021
Korea $2.6M
France $1.6M
Italy $700k
Taiwan $600k
Germany $600k
HK $500k
Sweden $300k
Other $700k
🚨 Marvel's #Eternals has become our number 2 pre-seller of the year, behind only #BlackWidow. 🚨
— Fandango (@Fandango) November 3, 2021
See for yourself, tomorrow!
In theaters only: https://t.co/501VqGBv3I pic.twitter.com/fm2YNwaiAM
