Chloe Zhao’s Eternals comes to theatres on November 5th, but what is the film about?
For those who may be unfamiliar with the comic book origins of this film or if you are simply curious to learn what to expect in the film, we have an official press release from Disney, a breakdown of the trailer and some theories of what will be coming in this film.
The Trailer Breakdown
The final trailer for the Eternals was released on the 19th of August and it provided a stunning look at the beautiful visual effects and a star-studded cast of the upcoming film.
Fans of Richard Madden and Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones will be delighted to see them both reunited here as members of the ancient race known as the Eternals. Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani will also be playing as part of this family along with several lesser-known actors.
In the trailer, we learn that the events that restored half of all life to the universe from Endgame have also sparked the return of the Deviants, a counter race to the Eternals who were also created by the Celestials, more on them later.
Ajak (Salma Hayek) can be seen outlining these events to Ikaris (Richard Madden) early in the trailer where she refers to this event as “the emergence”.
Ikaris goes on to ask how long they have before Ajak responds “seven days”, from this, we can expect that there is a doomsday level threat approaching.
Later in the same trailer, we see an ominous-looking crimson giant. This is Arishem the Judge and he appeared as early as the second issue of the Eternals comics back in 1976.
Arishem, being the celestial highlighted in this trailer provides us with a lot of context, because he was actually the Celestial responsible for choosing whether a civilisation gets culled in the process of the Celestial experiments on the rest of the universe around them, or if they would allow them to live.
It is therefore highly likely that the 7-day countdown is referring to Arishem’s imminent arrival and the possible complete extinction of humans.
Disney Press Release
Disney has sent out an official Press release saying “The story takes place across two time periods. One storyline is set in the past when they operated as a formidable team and a close family unit. The second storyline is in the present when the group has fractured and split apart, content to live among humans, hiding in plain sight. The prevailing threat of the Deviants, which once again threatens the existence of mankind, means the Eternals need to put their differences aside and regroup.”
This focus on two distinct periods of time was hinted at in early trailers as we saw the initial arrival of the Eternals on earth and their interactions with some ancient civilizations, but it is worth pointing out just how much this film is intending to cram into its allotted time.
The official runtime hasn’t yet been released but we are following a large superhero team, exploring their origins and then continuing on to see their individual lives and the reformation of a team in order to save the Earth. It is highly likely this will be amongst the longest MCU films to date.
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Ben Gibbons