Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” may not look or sound like the conventional superhero film at first, it’s hard to deny that combination of Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao with the Marvel Studios name. Disney has just released the first teaser trailer for the film that not only feels gigantic in size and scope, but also features one of the most eclectic ensembles to be seen in a film since “Avengers: Endgame.”
The outstanding ensemble cast includes Richard Madden as the all-powerful Ikaris, Gemma Chan as humankind-loving Sersi, Kumail Nanjiani as cosmic-powered Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as the super-fast Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as the intelligent inventor Phastos, Salma Hayek as the wise and spiritual leader Ajak, Lia McHugh as the eternally young, old-soul Sprite, Don Lee as the powerful Gilgamesh, Barry Keoghan as aloof loner Druig, and Angelina Jolie as the fierce warrior Thena. With Kit Harrington playing the role of Dane Whitman, aka Black Knight.
The trailer makes great use of using Skeeter Davis’ “The End of the World” song ironically by juxtaposing it with narration and clips of the immortal beings known as Eternals watching and guiding humanity to a species that has accomplished wondrous things. And throughout the years, they have not interfered with human civilization, even during times of great natural disasters, bloody wars, and The Blip, until now, when the Deviants arrive. Apparently, they are even more powerful and a bigger threat than Thanos.
Since they’ve been around for so long, it will be interesting to see if “Eternals” will rewrite the history of the MCU. We’ve already seen Marvel toy around with the idea of time-travel during the time heist in “Avengers: Endgame.” And they are going to play around with that idea once again with “Loki” by having the title character act as a time-variant who escaped his fate.
What’s more, Marvel Studios isn’t building towards an ensemble of heroes by introducing them with individual standalone films. We are getting the team as is, already formed. So “Eternals” takes the page from films like “Guardians of the Galaxy” but is something that is larger in size and scope. In fact, this isn’t so much of a team of heroes as they are a family who has watched their human civilization baby grow into what the MCU is now.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for “Eternals:”
Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” welcomes an exciting new team of Super Heroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The epic story, spanning thousands of years, features a group of immortal heroes forced out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s oldest enemy, The Deviants.
“Eternals” opens in theaters on November 5, 2021.
