The first film announced at Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con presentation on Saturday was The Eternals. The studios also announced its cast which includes the likes of Angelina Jolie as Thena, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
All will play 35,000-year old aliens. In the comics, The Eternals were created millions of years ago caused by alien experiments on ancient humans. Despite resemblance with regular humans, they gained abilities like super strength, flight, teleportation, mind control, shape-shifting and energy projection. Similar in this regard with Deviants– another race of super-humans that were more destructive and deformed–Eternals lived in space cities and defended Earth from threats.
There are about a few dozens in the comics, but the movie will focus mainly on two of the most prominent ones, named Sersi and Ikaris.
In the comics, Thanos, the MCU’s ultimate villain, was an Eternal with Deviant genes. The purple skin was the most common Deviant factor. That backstory could be explored in the coming films. Also, The Eternals were created by the Celestials, and one of them appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 as Ego, the main villain played by Kurt Russel. Ego was a Celestial who fathered countless children across the universe in the hopes one of them would inherit his powers. He was defeated by his son Starlord and the Guardians of the Galaxy. If the origins of the Eternals were to be explored in the upcoming film, Russel might make a comeback.
“This movie will allow those who have never felt represented in movies, in this case superheroes, to be represented. I love my diverse family,” Salma Hayek said on stage.
The Eternals will be directed by Chloé Zhao and will release on 6 November, 2020.