Marvel’s Eternals will be “part of the fabric of the MCU”

After taking 2020 off, Marvel is having a huge year. Not only is it expanding on to Disney+ with hits like WandaVision and Loki, it’s also debuting some huge new movies, including Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in September and Eternals in November.

Eternals sounds like one of the most ambitious movies the studio has yet made. It’s about a group of ageless aliens — called the Eternals, naturally — who have watched over Earth for thousands of years, protecting it from malevolent counterparts known as the Deviants. That’s a big canvas to paint on, but producer Nate Moore is excited about it. “I think we bit off as much as we could chew on this one, because we did want to make a film that felt urgent and present and had [a fast] pace, but also took time to reflect back over the centuries,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

"It’s a little bit like being on a road trip with nine of your closest friends for 7,000 years. In development, we joked that it’s like if Tony Stark and Steve Rogers lived together for that long. That friendship will turn into frenemies, and then turn into enemies, and then come back to friendship because you have that common bond. It’s like a family."

And the family is pretty big: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani and more play the Eternals, all of them bringing unique takes on their characters. To marshal it all, Marvel tapped Chloé Zhao, who recently became the first woman of color to win an Oscar for directing, for her work on Nomadland. “The truth is, we would not have even attempted this if it weren’t for Chloé,” said Marvel boss Kevin Feige. “We thought, here’s a filmmaker who is equal parts cinematic visionary and genre nerd. She can outtalk any of us when it comes to manga and Star Wars and Marvel comics. It’s quite an astounding combination. And this movie, I think, represents all of the immense multitudes of Chloé.”

Zhao is mostly known for smaller-scale dramas with unknown actors. This is about as far away from that as you can get, but she brought her indie sensibility to the film, shooting as much on location as possible and getting down and dirty during the shoot. “I thought, I can go as big and as epic as our meaning in the cosmos, but I can also go intimate and explore all of the internal struggles we have as human beings,” she said. “Because these characters have lived among us for so long, [they have] the same struggles like identity, purpose, faith, personal freedom versus greater good — all the duality and flaws that make us human.”

What is Marvel’s Eternals about?

But what is the movie with this big a scope actually about? Like, what happens? Well, for one thing, we’ll learn why the Eternals — who are supposed to safeguard the Earth, remember — didn’t intervene when Thanos was terrorizing the planet. Long story short: they’re more about observing than intervening directly.

There will also be a love triangle of sorts between Ikaris, the leader of the Eternals played by Richard Madden; Sersi, his on-and-off partner for the past few thousands of years played by Gemma Chan; and Dane Whitman, aka the Black Knight, the human man she’s dating. “You’ve got to have this huge compassion for the human beings you’re with, but then also, you’ve got this huge disconnect from them because you’ve lived through all of this time,” Madden said of the situation. “That’s what is so good about Sersi and Ikaris together, that they are two opposing sides of how they connect with the world. That’s what balances them.”

Also, Whitman is played by Kit Harington, who acted alongside Richard Madden on Game of Thrones. Look for the former Stark brothers to reunite under somewhat awkward circumstances.

As for how Eternals will play into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe, that has yet to be seen, although Moore promises that the film is “part of the fabric of the MCU,” and that storylines introduced in the movie will pop up later.

Meet the Eternals

EW also released several snazzy character posters! Let’s take a look, starting with…

Gemma Chan as Sersi

“She’s interesting because she is this immortal being, but she’s very grounded as well,” Chan told EW. “She’s a little bit of a free spirit and just loves being amongst humans.”

Richard Madden as Ikaris

“I had to work out, how do you play someone who’s seen everything and done everything?” Madden said. “How do you play them to not be bored of everything because you’re seen it and done it?”

Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo

“He loves fighting,” Nanjiani said. “He loves being a movie star. He can shoot beams out of his hands. There are no downsides to Kingo’s life.”

Lia McHugh as Sprite

Sprite is as old as the other Eternals, but is played by the 15-year-old McHugh. “I sort of related to her in the way that I’ve lived my whole life because I look younger than I am,” McHugh said. “I really related to her in that way and in wanting to grow up a little bit, but being stuck in a way.”

Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos

“I never in a million years thought I’d be a part of the MCU,” Henry said. “I have always been a huge fan. I’ve been obsessed with the concept of superheroes and the concept of mankind needing saving. And I think that when you get these group of people together, who just have these intimate senses of super powers and saving humanity, it’s something that we all kind of need. It literally brings everyone together regardless of where you’re from. I’m still freaking out that I’m a part of it.”

Lauren Ridloff as Makkari

Makkari is the speedster of the Eternals. “The ironic part about this is when I started training for the role, I was told to stop running,” Ridloff said. “I was like, excuse me, stop running? Really what they wanted to do was focus on building the symmetry of somebody who looks like a sprinter, and they tend to be a bit more muscular. So I focused mostly on building muscle, especially my legs.”

Barry Keoghan as Druig

“I was the last one to get into costume,” Keoghan recalled. “When I arrived and put it on for the first time, it was kind of nice to walk out and see the rest of the cast’s reaction. They were like, ‘Whoa!’. It’s a weird feeling to see yourself like that. As soon as you put the boots on your posture transforms. You definitely notice how your whole demeanor and everything just changes.”

Don Lee as Gilgamesh

“He’s protective over his family and humans, and he has a solid, dependable character that serves his team in battles,” Lee said of his character. “At the same time, he’s a funny guy and has a sense of humor.”

Salma Hayek as Ajak

Hakey was another of the cast who didn’t think she would get a role like this. “I was shocked. Imagine in your 50s you get a call from this director that you’re crazy about, who says, ‘You’re going to be a superhero.'”

Angelina Jolie as Thena

“It’s certainly the biggest thing I’ve ever done,” Jolie said of the movie. “As somebody who’s directed, to watch the production try to manage it, it was a huge thing to take on.”

Zhao is delighted to be working with such a diverse group of actors. “That really impressed me, how diverse the cast was [in early drafts],” she said. “Not just in terms of gender, race, age, but overall, I could see the desire to reflect the world that we live in, as much as possible. That is great, but what was most important to me was actually to be able to tell a story and to craft characters to be as individual as possible, and to really showcase what’s underneath the surface of what they look like and what they represent. These are unique, flawed, and complicated individuals, just like you and I. That’s what drew me to these actors. That’s what drew me to the story of each of the characters.”

Eternals lands in theaters on on November 5.

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