The Harry Styles surprise may have been ruined almost as soon as the red carpet premiere was over, so we’ll extend a modicum of praise to those in attendance for not spoiling the second post-credits scene of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals.
Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman finds himself finally coming into possession of the Ebony Blade, setting him up for much bigger things in the future as the franchise’s Black Knight. If that wasn’t enough, we hear a disembodied offscreen voice that belongs to Mahershala Ali, with Blade having finally made his long-awaited debut, even if we don’t see his face.
Breaking his silence during an interview with Variety, Harington addressed how much he knew about his opposite number’s involvement, and why he’s so excited to continue down the path towards becoming the MCU’s latest supernatural addition.
“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. 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. Up until that point, all we’ve seen is a really good guy that we hopefully like. 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.
I had some inkling that there was going to be a kind of crossover there, from early conversations. I don’t know what the future is, and I have no idea. 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?”
From the sounds of things, we can expect Black Knight and Blade to meet again, possibly in the Daywalker’s in-development reboot. There’s really no such thing as a standalone MCU movie anymore, and while Eternals did tell its own story from beginning to end, the two stingers dropped bombshell after bombshell on the audience to put some huge pieces on the board.