Marvel revealed a set of new superheroes into the MCU through the movie “Eternals,” released on Nov. fifth.
The movie focuses on the Eternals, who they are, where they originated and why they are on Earth. Chloe Zhao, the director of the film, does a fantastic job of bringing in these new characters into the MCU as she takes a different approach from the way other Marvel movies are structured.
The movie opens up with the Eternals on Earth one million years ago full-filling their mission to defeat the Deviants, a race of monstrous near-immortal beings. There are ten Eternals, Ajak (Salma Hayek), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry).
Eventually, the team of superheroes go their separate ways until Sersi, her boyfriend, Dane Whitman, and Sprite get attacked by Deviants. This results in the Eternals reuniting with each other ultimately leading to them discovering the true reason of why they were sent to Earth.
“I thought the movie was pretty cool and that it was a hit or miss for a lot of people,” said sophomore Nikita Jadhav, “It was not your typical marvel movie and I really liked it.”
A diversity of characters and an introduction of basic superhero powers is what mostly makes the “Eternals” different from previously done MCU movies. The MCU’s first openly gay character, Phastos, is introduced and a deaf character by the name of Makkari is revealed as well.
Chloe Zhao had an interesting way of introducing a variety of new superheroes to the MCU, one that hasn’t been done before in previous MCU movies. She shows the characters chemistry with each other, how even though they were reborn and have no memories, they still think of each other as family. This is especially shown when Thena (Angelina Jolie) falls sick and has the tendencies to randomly attack the other Eternals, however Gilgamesh (Don Lee) stayed with Thena to take care of her even if she forgets who she actually is.
“Eternals” received negative reviews from movie critics. But, that doesn’t stop the general public from liking the movie. Many people who aren’t movie critics have watched the movie and genuinely enjoyed it.
“I went into watching “Eternals” with low expectations, but I found out that I really enjoyed how the story was told in a clear way that I could easily follow along with, with all the connections to the previous movies, and I also liked how the plot wasn’t entirely predictable and was able to shock me,” said junior Kayla Gonzales.
A critique for the movie that people had an issue with is giving more screen time to the supporting characters, such as Druig, Gilgamesh, and Makkari as people who viewed the film felt that they didn’t fully understand them by the end of the movie. Many people also want to see more of Druig and Makkari’s chemistry, since their little moments on screen furthered the audience’s interest in the two characters.
However, the Eternals was a well told story by director Chloe Zhao and had a theme revolving around family, that they could eventually betray one another for their own personal gain. The movie, “Eternals,” is just the start of their journey and the MCU has planned for a second movie. This movie sets up the future of the MCU for their phase four and five storylines as it introduces threats bigger than Thanos from ‘Endgame’ and ‘Infinity War.’‘Eternals” can now be seen on Disney+!