Marvel’s new direction with Eternals (No Spoilers)

Who are these so-called Eternals, and where were they during Marvel’s cosmic climax of Endgame? We all wondered, and if you’ve seen the film, you’ll know the answer.

Chloé Zhao introduces us to a team of immortal cosmic warriors with all sorts of abilities from superspeed to mind-control, who were sent to earth thousands of years ago to protect humanity from supersize lizard-like predatorial monsters called Deviants–except that wasn’t their only purpose, and you get to know more about it throughout the film.

The Eternals are led by Ajak, played by Salma Hayek, who communicates with the Host and can regenerate. There is also your Superman-type figure Ikaris (Richard Madden), who flies and has laser eyes but a questionable morality; Thena (Angelina Jolie), the fiercest warrior yet mentally unstable; her helpmate and protector Gilgamesh (Ma Dong-Seok); comic-relief Kingo (unsurprisingly, since he’s played by Kumail Nanjiani); deaf speedster Makkari (Lauren Ridloff); mind-controller and outcast of the family Druig (Barry Keoghan); inventor and openly gay superhero Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry); shapeshifter Sprite (Lia McHugh); and finally Sersi (Gemma Chan) with transmutational abilities, and who the story truly revolves around.

If you’ve got a bit overwhelmed by the number of characters presented in the previous paragraph, you’ve pinned down the problem that audiences and critics seem to be having with Eternals: It forcefully introduces a bunch of superheroes that were completely missing from the MCU up to now. We know absolutely nothing about them, and their story goes back to the dawn of mankind, spanning over 7,000 years. This is all cramped into two-and-a-half hours of back-and-forth flashbacks and globe hopping, along with the main plotline, resulting in a convoluted, clunky, and overstuffed narrative.

Not Oscar-winner director Chloé Zhao could save Eternals from becoming the lowest-rated MCU film to date, mainly because the source of the problem lies in the execution of the story. It took Marvel more than a decade to get their characters to confront Thanos. This time, it took them little over two hours to face humanity’s biggest threat. Hence, character development left much to be desired.

Despite short shrifts, we must consider that Zhao went out of her comfort zone and took over a very ambitious and visionary blockbuster project like no other. Behind all the jumbles lie important messages, and if you listen carefully, you’ll pick them up: Friendship and family, colonisation and genocide, questions of morality…Is the human race worth saving? After all, it has been proved through our history that we are our worst enemy, beyond Deviants and giant purple cosmic tyrants.

With empathy and compassion at its core, Zhao managed to capture the fragility of humanity and superheroes alike. Despite lack of development, each of them fits a different archetype. Much like us, they are flawed, and only by working together they can succeed. These heartfelt themes are what made Zhao the best fit for directing Eternals. Additionally, her visual trademark with vast eye-capturing landscapes and natural lightning added a dreamy feel to it that just felt right.

We must also take into account that, by current Hollywood superhero standards, the Eternals are the most diverse superhero team on-screen. Casting is not forced as it makes sense in the scheme of the story. They represent all aspects of humanity. Although the characters have no nationality, they are very representative of different ethnic backgrounds, as well as disability, sexual orientation, and ages–all coming together in “a family that’s made of people that society often tells us don’t belong together”, as Zhao said herself. While much remains to be done on the grounds of diversity, this only proves how far inclusion has come in the past few years and will hopefully pave the way for representation in the future, especially in a very straight, able-bodied white superhero world.

So… what comes next? Despite shortcomings, the Eternals are set up for joining Marvel’s Phase 4 down the line. If you’ve been following the previous phases of the MCU, you probably wonder how this team of superheroes will fit in, and so do I. With key releases like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (May 2022), Thor: Love And Thunder (July 2022) and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 2023), anything can happen. The ending of the film leaves a door open for endless possibilities, and a post-credit appearance that might give us a hint… Regardless, if there is something to take from Eternals, is that the MCU is expanding with forward-thinking progress, taking new directions, and preparing the ground for something bigger, within their universe and our reality–and we are here for it!