Marvel Studios has been home to many talents who have gone on to craft a career for themselves. For the first time in 2020, there was no theatre release from Marvel due to the pandemic. Thankfully, that’s about to change.
A fresh new host of superhero films will be releasing this year in 2021, and one of them is the “Eternals”. One thing we love about origin stories is the fresh storyline and “Eternals” has a relatively unknown cast of characters. So let’s dive into some fun facts beforehand.
1. Lauren Ridloff will play Marvel’s first deaf hero
“Eternals” is filled with some great talent, such as Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Dong-Seok Ma, and a few other amazing cast members. One of them is Lauren Ridloff. Other than being part of the popular television series “The Walking Dead”, Ridloff is a former Miss Deaf America for her Tony-nominated performance for Broadway’s, “Children Of A Lesser God”. Yes, Ridloff is indeed deaf in real life.
She wasn’t chosen solely for the purpose of inclusivity and representation sake; this lady is already an established celebrity in her own right. Ridloff was involved in 3 movies and multiple appearances in television shows. The deaf actress certainly can pull her own weight and is independent among the other cast members.
2. Thanos Is An Eternal
The Eternals were created by powerful and strong beings called Celestials so that the human race can be protected from any threat. That sounds easy to comprehend, but there is still more in store for us. The Celestials also created the Deviants who play as the evil counterparts of the Eternals. Additionally, both the Eternals and the Deviants are basically genetically modified human creations, but due to the Eternals tasked with protecting humanity, they were given human-like features to make them blend in. The Deviants, on the other hand, are fixated on ruling over the Earth.
Supervillain Thanos is technically an Eternal but is mixed with Deviant heritage. Thanos could manifest many types of superpowers and was able to use the Infinity Stones. He was also born and raised by Eternals’ A’lars and Sui-san. But because of his Deviant blood, Thanos developed the “Deviant Syndrome” that him a threat to the universe.
So why couldn’t the Eternals stop the Mad Titan from decimating half of all life?
3. The Celestials
From all the imagines we’ve seen so far, it’s evident that the Celestials will play a big part in the “Eternals” movie. But if you recall, a few celestials had already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” series. The first Celestial from “Guardian Of The Galaxy” came from Knowhere. Remember the head of a Celestial? The second Celestial was Peter Quill’s dad Ego from “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2”.
4. Spanning thousands of years
The Eternals are unaging, immortal beings. It’ll be interesting to see how the movie skims through each era on the big screen. Having said that, the trailer indicates that the bulk of the scenes will take place in the present day.
5. Set photos
set is still being built in the Canary Islands, but this features massive gates. Decorated with lions and snakes. Apparently the valley is standing in for Persia: the entrance to Babylon. The world’s first empire that featured GODS. pic.twitter.com/Bky9TVkYGa
— Eternals Updates (@UPDATESETERNALS) September 28, 2019
Speaking of thousands of years, these set images from 2019 look like the entrance of Babylonia. Because of their superpowers and their duty to protect humanity, many of the Eternals were treated as gods. Babylonia was one of the first civilizations that worships gods. These ancient civilizations are an influence of the alien race, who were the Eternals based on the comics. It won’t be surprising to see more historic realms besides Babylonia.
6. Gender bend
While gender-bend has been done before, like how Tilda Swinton’s character was suddenly a woman when the Ancient One has always been portrayed by a male in the comic books. This time Marvel is going all out with not one, but three gender-bend characters in one movie.
The three Eternals in question, that will get their gender swap are Sprite (played by Lia McHugh), who possesses the body of a child even though he/she is an immortal. Next, Ajak (played by Salma Hayek), who was worshiped by the Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl, is an archaeologist with a deep interest in the history of the Celestials. And lastly, Makkari (played by deaf actress Lauren Ridloff), a speedster that is obsessed with being the fastest being in the universe.
7. Ship of Arishem spotted in Thor: Ragnarok
Two celestial beings have both appeared in previous MCU entries as stated previously, but that is not the end of it. A die-hard Marvel fan on Reddit presented a screenshot of an airborne ship seen in the comics behind Valkyrie. And this was before “Thor: Ragnarok” even came out. The ship itself seems to be one of Jack Kirby’s designs based on the Eternals comic. It appears to be the spacecraft of a Celestial being named Arishem – a character who might play a major role in the upcoming “Eternals” movie. Arishem is said to be the most powerful entity in the Marvel Universe and is the leader of the Celestials. He makes his judgments on whether worlds showcased any indication of growth or evolution. Civilizations that are judged strictly by Arishem will face elimination.
This scene occurred when Thor and Valkyrie were being pursued by other alien-like vessels. It is even more obvious when taking a closer look at the ship in the screenshot. The circular-shaped windows on the ships are comparably similar. It is, however, uncertain if Arishem really did make an appearance in “Thor: Ragnarok” as the spacecraft was probably just merely chosen from the comic books and put in the film for the sake of aesthetics.
8. An openly gay couple
Marvel will also present an openly gay character in the film as well. Feige previously teased, “He’s married, he’s got a family, and that is just part of who he is”. Haaz Sleiman revealed last year that his character and Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos will show Marvel’s first gay kiss.
“It’s a beautiful, very moving kiss,” Sleiman said. “Everyone cried on set. For me it’s very important to show how loving and beautiful a queer family can be. Brian Tyree Henry is such a tremendous actor and brought so much beauty into this part, and at one point I saw a child in his eyes, and I think it’s important for the world to be reminded that we in the queer community we’re all children at one point. We forget that because we’re always depicted as sexual or rebellious. We forget to connect on that human part.”
Bonus:
A “Game Of Thrones” reunion
Both Richard Madden and Kit Harrington portrayed members of the Stark family.
https://twitter.com/TheRealAshKlein/status/1396862964129488898?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396862964129488898%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fmcu-eternals-best-twitter-meme-reactions%2F
In addition, “Game Of Thrones” composer Ramin Djawadi is also contributing to the film.
