Marvel Studios’ THE ETERNALS is one of my most anticipated films of 2021, but it’s also a huge question mark. We really don’t know what the story is, who the antagonist is, how the characters will act and interact, or even what the movie really looks like – beyond some character sketches. In other words, it’s the perfect time for “Just A Theory” at popofthehour.com.
So why am I so excited? Mostly because of its potential. I think one of the reasons that THE ETERNALS has the ability to expand the MCU in the same GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY did back in 2014. We don’t know what to expect, it feels like Kevin Feige is introducing not just new characters but a new corner of the universe in the same way he did when The Guardians were introduced back in 2014 in their eponymous film. Much like we finally saw the cosmic in GUARDIANS, in THE ETERNALS, MCU fans will get the story of The Celestials, The Eternals and The Deviants – all at the crossroads of science-fiction and mythology through the use of cosmic power.
As with most characters in the MCU, The Eternals will probably not be carbon copies of their comic counterparts. In the comics, the Celestials visited earth one million years ago and performed genetic experiments on early humans creating The Eternals and The Deviants. They imbued them with cosmic power – bestowing them with immortality and amazing abilities and power far surpassing most Avengers-level heroes. They also performed experiments on other planets including the Kree and Skrull home-worlds. Thanos was in fact a “Deviant”, born to two parents who are Eternals. Like Thanos, Deviants are essentially an “Eternal” with the Deviant gene which modifies their look. The Eternals still look like humans whereas The Deviants look more alien or even monstrous some might say. And the Eternals and Deviants have used these subtle differences to fire their differences over the millenia.
I would imagine that The Eternals vs The Deviants will be the main story of the film. Maybe Thanos will be addressed or referred to or will cameo. In fact Thanos might not be the only familiar part of the story. Some of the background story of The Eternals and The Deviants was mirrored by the Kree in both the comics and in the TV MCU. If you watch “Agents of SHIELD” (or read Marvel comics), it was revealed that the Kree experimented on humans and created Inhumans (via “terragenesis” in SHIELD) from these experiments. Although this idea has been largely ignored by the film side of the MCU, its existence is undeniable and probably not something Feige would run back in large chunks of narrative again. Instead of it being positioned as an experiment on an entire race, I’d imagine that The Celestials will instead be experimenting on a very select group, realize their folly as some become Deviants, and once realizing it’s a mistake, The Celestials will leave them and will move to another planet, abandoning them (only to return in the third act – or maybe another movie). [Side note: does some of these feel familiar from the film Prometheus? It does to me and I see you Damon Lindelof and Ridley Scott. I know you read Jack Kirby.]
Anyway, I also imagine that the Eternals will be significantly distanced from Inhumans or even Avengers-level heroes because they have been imbued with cosmic power. Cosmic power is a lot stronger, and a lot more multi-dimensional than the power of Inhumans who largely have just one or two special abilities, like many Avengers-level heroes. Although Eternals have developed and used their powers in various ways and to various ends, they are all immortal beings, that alone will also differentiate them from Inhumans and Avengers-level heroes. Introducing the idea of Eternals brings this idea of beings and powers that are even more of a threat than Thanos into the MCU – and who have been around for MILLIONS of years and seen so much. But it’s just a theory.
Perhaps the Celestials themselves will just cameo at the beginning or end – or perhaps they will be the equivalent of the Nova Corps in GOTG or even the Kree in Captain Marvel and ultimately be positioned as “the real bad guys” should The Eternals and The Deviants eventually decide to work together.
If we look to Guardians of The Galaxy as a way that the influence of “The Eternals” might be patterned, we see GOTG enter the MCU after 2012’s The Avengers, opening the audience up to the cosmic side of the MCU. This was critical for the world and canon-building that would be required to introduce Thanos, The Black Order and especially The Infinity Stones without having to rely on massive info dumps in INFINITY WAR and ENDGAME. In the same way, I believe The Eternals, and their background with The Celestials, and specifically their use of cosmic power will set up something else, which will be the ultimate “Endgame” for the MCU in Phase 4 and 5:
GALACTUS, THE SILVER SURFER and THE FANTASTIC FOUR
So then, The Eternals would set up a world-building payoff to introduce some of the bigger antagonists of Phase 4 or 5, the real REAL bad guys or bad guy: Galactus. Whereas The Celestials were essentially a race of mortal beings who used their tech to tap into cosmic power, eventually using it to create The Eternals and The Deviants, Galactus is a being created OF cosmic power, born directly from the energy source and able to use that power to not just augment himself but augment others – most famously Norrin Radd who became The Silver Surfer, indebted to service for Galactus to save his planet and becoming his herald throughout the universe.
Perhaps Galactus is positioned as the being which eventually destroys the Celestials in THE ETERNALS, setting the Eternals and The Deviants on their own path – kind of like Surtur in THOR RAGNAROK – eventually becomin a being with a larger presence in the MCU. Or he could be introduced in the post-credits reveal in The Eternals or even its eventual sequel, as some have already speculated. Remember it’s just a theory.
Galactus could even eliminate The Celestials or The Deviants and/or become aware of Earth because of them, thereby putting the earth in danger. I could see then The Silver Surfer showing up on Earth in a post-credits sequence in a future film, perhaps letting Doctor Strange or Captain Marvel know that “Galactus is coming”. This would then be, in Phase 5 the perfect time to introduce Fantastic Four as Reed Richards has proved to be one of the few mortals that can stop Galactus and even flip The Silver Surfer to the side of the mortals/humans.
When Endgame was over, some fans wondered if the MCU was out of gas. How do you get a bigger threat than Thanos? How do you get a Macguffin bigger than The Infinity Gauntlet? If anything, the Avengers’ victory in Endgame should answer that question: quite easily. Thanos was a real and huge threat who did major damage. But he was not all powerful and certainly defeatable (especially without the Infinity Gauntlet). Now don’t worry, we’ve gone up the hierarchy of power quite a bit here from Thanos/Eternals/Deviants to The Celestials and eventually to Galactus. But there are still larger players at the top (specifically The Beyonder) but that’s speculation best left for another edition of “Just A Theory”.
No Scoops Club 