The Eternals are an important part of the MCU’s upcoming slate of films poised to usher in the next phase of Marvel movies. Starring Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek along with a very distinguished cast, the pic will explore a group who are cosmic beings in nature and deeply tied into the very origin of the Marvel Universe.
In fact, during a panel at the CCXP this weekend, studio head honcho Kevin Feige revealed that the Eternals are already aware of the Avengers, though Earth’s Mightiest Heroes don’t really know much about them. At least, not yet.
“The Eternals know about the existence of The Avengers. The Avengers don’t know much about The Eternals…Yet. Celestials are a big part of it, you’ve seen a little of the Celestials in Guardians of the Galaxy. Nowhere is the severed head of a Celestial. We will see the Celestials in their full, true enormous power in The Eternals.”
This makes sense, since the Eternals are incredibly long-lived beings who are tasked with keeping an eye on all the important events taking place on Earth and other planets. Something like the Avengers battling Thanos to keep him from eliminating half of all existence would surely have alerted the Eternals to the presence of a band of Earth’s heroes capable of taking on godlike beings. The question, now, is whether the Eternals will be hostile to the Avengers or if they’ll see them as being on the same side of the war they’re fighting?
Of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy are already more familiar with the history of the Eternals since their’s was the film which first gave evidence of the presence of the group in the MCU in the shape of Nowhere, the head of a celestial, which is an immensely powerful being whose race created the Eternals in the first place.
According to Feige, the fact that most of the history of the Celestials and Eternals is shrouded in mystery right now is actually a good thing, with the producer saying:
“Your reaction about not being familiar with the Eternals is perfect, because most people weren’t familiar with Guardians [of the Galaxy] and believe it or not there were people that were not familiar with Avengers or with Iron Man,” Feige told Bionic Buzz last year. “So for us, its finding great stories whether people have heard of them or not and bring them to the big screen in as amazing a way as we can.”
In the absence of flagship characters like Superman, Batman and for a while at least, Spider-Man, the MCU had to build their franchise on the backs of lesser-known heroes, a strategy that’s been immensely profitable so far. Their future plans also appear to be following the same route, to mine Marvel Comics for all the obscure, fascinating characters that can be presented to audiences in fresh, exciting ways. Let’s just hope The Eternals is yet another successful addition to this masterplan.