Among the catalog of upcoming projects from Marvel/Disney is “Eternals” which is a standout project among new Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor movies. As well as “The Marvels”, “Shang-Chi”, “Black Widow”, and “Fantastic Four”. All of these stories will, of course, exist in the same universe and there will likely be overlap between characters and events. 

“Eternals” is directed by Chloe Zhao who won the Oscar for best director for the film “Nomadland”, which also won best picture. This points towards good things for “Eternals”, about a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years and must reunite to battle the evil Deviants. 

The movie is said to take place in both the present day and thousands of years in the past. “Eternals” will open the Marvel universe to it’s cosmic origins and is said to focus on many of the deeper more powerful forces at play such as the Celestial entities that created the Marvel universe and the Deviants. 

Originally made to defend evolving life from predators, the Deviants grew an intense blood lust and became genocidal, stamping out life before it could rise up. Thanos, the universe’s biggest villain to date, is descended from Deviants which is likely why he wanted to kill half the universe instead of double all the resources. To counter the Deviants, Eternals were created by the Celestials. 

The movie also sports a stellar cast with Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kit Harrington as The Black Knight, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Ma Dong-seok as Gilgamesh, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Barry Keoghan as Druig, and Lia McHugh as Sprite. 

For the Marvel universe, “Eternals” will mark an expansion into new and different themes that many long-time Marvel fans loved from the comics. The introduction of more cosmic characters and stories will pave the way for bigger villains and more diverse heroes. From all that Marvel has shown so far, they are up to the task.