We’re three weeks away from the release of Marvel’s Eternals. That’s the third MCU movie of the year, and it should easily be the most exciting Marvel movie of 2021. So far, at least. Alas, that title probably goes to Spider-Man: No Way Home, thanks to that enormous spoiler that keeps leaking left and right. Despite all that Spidey excitement, Eternals is tracking to beat the opening weekends of Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. That’s certainly quite a feat for a team of superheroes who have been dormant in the MCU so far. Rather than using their powers to defend the world, the Eternals have been absent from the public eye.
We know from the trailers they’ve been living quietly in the shadows as the Avengers were fighting everything fate threw their way. And that will make it more complicated to keep track of them. Unlike other Marvel movies, Eternals debuts ten distinct superheroes, with an eleventh hero who isn’t an Eternal but is also part of the story. So if you haven’t read the comics, you should watch the following introductory videos that Marvel released.
Eternals has an impressive cast
Most Marvel movies tell standalone superhero stories. We have one important hero and their entourage, and we get to learn everything about them before crossovers. Guardians is an exception to that rule. It’s the kind of movie where you have to meet all the heroes at once. Eternals will be an even bigger exception than Guardians because the team is a lot bigger.
We have ten Eternals, each featuring distinct powers that Marvel will soon put on display. They’re divided into two categories. Five are fighters — Ikaris (Richard Madden), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Thena (Angelina Jolie). The other five are thinkers. We have Ajak (Salma Hayek), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Sersi (Gemma Chan), and Sprite (Lia McHugh).
Since we did mention the eleventh superhero in Eternals, that’s Dane Whitman (Kit Harington). He will become the Black Knight in future MCU adventures.
Eternals members and their superpowers
If it already seems too complicated, you’ll soon get the hang of it. The more you repeat their names and associate them with the spectacular cast of actors playing them, the easier it’ll get. To help with that, Marvel released short introductory videos to explain the Eternals and their powers.
They’ve all been uploaded on the Marvel HQ YouTube channel to familiarize us with these new heroes. The clips follow the same script, telling us that the Celestials created the Eternals, giving them distinct powers to fight the Deviants. These are some of the film’s villains whom we have seen in the trailers.
The Eternals’ mission on Earth might be protecting humans against Deviants, but they don’t have to intervene in anything else. That’s actually the premise of the movie. The team will finally stand up to fight for the human race in a scenario they would have ignored before.
With that in mind, let’s explore the Eternals:
Ajak – the Eternals leader
Ajak (Salma Hayek) is the Eternals’ spiritual leader. She can communicate telepathically with the Celestials, and she can heal the Eternals. But she doesn’t use her healing abilities on humans. She’s the mother figure of the group, as we’ve seen in the trailers.
Ikaris – the powerful fighter
Marvel describes Ikaris (Richard Madden) as the strongest Eternal. He appears to be another team leader, especially when it comes to some of the fight sequences. His powers include flying and shooting lasers out of his eyes — well, they’re actually cosmic beams. The clip also tells us that Ikaris is kind and takes pride in keeping the Eternals safe.
Kingo – the performer
Another fighter, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), shoots cosmic energy out of his fingertips. We already saw that in the trailers. He grew to love adoration from humans, and that’s why he became a performer. Kingo used the Eternals’ stories as inspiration.
Sersi – the heart of the Eternals
Sersi (Gemma Chan) is a thinker, and she’s the movie’s protagonist if you can say that about a film that features ten big heroes. Sersi’s power is transmuting matter or changing objects into different materials. We see her turn a bus in London into flower petals in the trailer.
Thena – amazing weapons power
Perhaps one of the most exciting members of the Eternals is Thena (Angelina Jolie), and that’s because of her powers. She can conjure weapons out of cosmic energy, so every fight scene involving the character should be very exciting to watch.
Phastos – the chief inventor
Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) is the group’s inventor. He’s a technopath, which means he can build and take apart machinery with ease. The clip tells us that he has used his power to protect the humans and help them evolve their technologies at their own pace throughout their existence.
Sprite – the illusionist
Sprite (Lia McHugh) has been roaming the planet in child form for thousands of years. She’s the group’s illusionist. Like the others, she uses cosmic energy for her powers. She can create grand illusions, which can trick foe and friend.
Marvel has only uploaded these five clips on YouTube, and it’ll continue to release more videos as we approach the November 5th release date. We’ll update this post accordingly with the upcoming clips, so make sure to bookmark it.
