Eternals arrived to a plethora of bad reviews but hasn’t flopped, and now won’t go down in history as the lowest-grossing MCU movie. The movie is long, slow-paced, and more philosophical than your average popcorn-munching superhero smash, which to be fair is exactly what Marvel Studios promised.
Aside from its cosmic 7000-year spanning story, the movie also set up many characters coming to the MCU over the next few years. We got introduced to Harry Styles’ Eros, Patton Oswalt’s Pip the Troll, Mahershala Ali’s Blade, and Kit Harington’s Black Knight, all of whom will be popping up in future phases.
But there was also a quick reference to a key Marvel artifact that will likely lead to big things. During the scene in which the Eternals return to their ship, Thena discovers the legendary sword Excalibur amongst Makkari’s collection. She first mistakes it for the Ebony Blade, but the warrior goddess is clearly impressed by the quality of the blade.
Excalibur has a long history in Marvel Comics and has been in the possession of Beowulf, King Arthur, the first Black Knight, and Doctor Doom. But the most prominent hero to have wielded the blade in recent years is Dr. Faiza Hussain. She was judged worthy by the sword and drew it from the rock, going on to become a key member of MI-13, joining the Defenders, and fighting alongside the Black Knight.
Hussain is a trained Doctor, and her medical skills seem to have influenced her Excalibur-granted power of ‘Psionic Bio-Deconstruction’. This means she can take people apart on an atomic level, alter their bodies and reassemble them. This can be used to heal others’ injuries, though obviously also has offensive applications in battle.
The MCU has spent a lot of time in the U.K. already over various movies, but with the Black Knight on the way, it’d be great to see more of the British superhero contingent. And hey, maybe we’ll even get a full Captain Britain and MI-13 team out of it?
Eternals is in theaters now.