How Thanos is related to the Eternals

Yesterday, we watched the first trailer for Eternals, one of the big tentpole films of the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie is about a group of immortal beings who have watched over earth for millennia without interfering…well, mostly. With a cast that includes Angelina Jolie (Thena), Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington and more, Marvel is swinging for the fences with this one:

It’s also a risk, because the Eternals are none of them household names. Then again, neither were the Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel made them work. And the Eternals do have some connections to Marvel characters we know, including the Mad Titan Thanos, the biggest bad the MCU has yet seen.

But how are they related? Let’s explore.

Thanos is basically an evil Eternal

In Marvel lore, the first Eternals were created by the Celestials, who are themselves powerful god-like cosmic beings, but even more powerful and god-like than the Eternals. One of the first Eternals the Celestials created was Kronos, who had sons named Zuras and A’Lars. Zuras had a daughter named Thena, who Angelina Jolie is playing in the movie. She has super-strength, super-healing, she can fire energy blasts and make weapons appear out of thin air…she’s got it all. Meanwhile, A’Lars got together with another Eternal named Sui-San, and together they had a son named Thanos.

So Thanos is an Eternal and he and Thena are first cousins. But he’s a special type of Eternal called a Deviant. When Eternals have kids, they other have other Eternals — perfect super-people — or Deviants — mutant people who are very very bad, like Thanos.

So will Thanos actually show up in Eternals, which looks like it spans thousands of years of human history? It’s certainly possible. Fans have also been wondering what the Eternals were doing after Thanos snapped away half of existence. Were they affected too? Did they not get involved because of how awkward the potential family reunion would be?

The recent Marvel TV series on Disney+ have addressed what happened to the world after the Snap, so perhaps Eternals will be up front with us when it comes out on November 5, 2021.

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h/t The A.V. Club