A great big announcement was made at Comic-Con where all the actors who feature in The Eternals, which replaces the Avengers universe, made an appearance. But, what we do know about the film so far?
Fans can finally say goodbye to Thanos as the villain who starred in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Unlike DC Comics Joker, which was based on an origin story, Eternals will take its cues from Jack Kirby’s comic series, which was first introduced in 1976. “The series imagines an evolutionary offshoot of humanity genetically engineered millions of years ago by the celestials.”
As an IMDB video notes further, “This experiment led to legions of super-powered beings and two divergent races: The Atlanteans, the ancestors of the mutants you and love, and The Deviants, who eventually spawned (Thanos) but none of The Eternals have yet appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), so the film will introduce fans to a brand new crew at once, which Marvel did so successfully with Guardians of the Galaxy.”
The Eternals is being built as an ensemble, confirmed Marvel chief Kevin Fiege but there have been indications that it could focus on Sersei, an Eternal known for co-habiting with the outside world aka humans and her attraction to Dan Whitman, aka The Black Knight. Nothing more has been revealed about the plot but leaked photos of Babylonian and ancient tombs sets confirm a 2018 comment from Fiege that with The Eternals, MCU may explore “ancient aliens sci-fi trope”.
Angelina Jolie will play Thena, a second generation Eternal; Sersei will be essayed by Gemma Chan; Salma Hayek will be seen as Ajak, the father of the Eternal (whose gender has been swapped for the film); Richard Madden will play Ikras, an Eternal who derives his name from the boy who soared too high in Greek mythology; Kit Harrington was added to the cast in 2019 as Dane Whitman as the nephew of the O.G. Black Knight and Kumail Nanjiani will play Kingo, an Eternal who is highly skilled with the sword.
Chloe Zhao will helm the film after beating a shortlist of directors including Bumblebee director, one of Watchmen director(s) and Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi. With the script written by cousins Matthew and Ryan Firpo, the film is scheduled to release in cinemas in November 6, 2020.
