The Eternals, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest superheroes, have arrived with one of the most adventurous chapters in MCU history.
It includes a creation story featuring all-powerful beings called Celestials, cosmic adventure, beautifully weird villains called Deviants, themes of colonialism, and a whole host of new heroes, who have spent millennia just sort of saving Earth all by themselves with no Avengers to be seen.
But there are some major reveals for fans of what is to come in the next few years.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
The Movie
Eternals has introduced a new set of characters to the MCU – a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years.
Leading the cast are Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, and Brian Tyree Henry. The film is directed by Nomadland’s Chloé Zhao.
The mid and post-credits scenes attached to the movie have some answers about what comes next for the Eternals and our first hint of some characters that are on the way. While also raising other pressing questions, including who, exactly, the Eternals ticked off when they bucked orders from their commanding Celestial.
Credits scenes have become a Marvel tradition to either tease new characters or plug future movies, or some combination of the two, and these scenes are no different.
Writer and director Chloé Zhao has revealed a highly anticipated Marvel hero made his first MCU appearance in the last post-credit scene of Eternals — which, as it happens, turned out to be the second cameo for a character brand-new to the Marvel universe.
While the mid-credits scene unveiled one newcomer to the Eternals themselves as they met up in space, the second post-credits scene taking place back on Earth only gave us the sound of a voice to go on, and now thanks to Zhao, we know whose voice that was.
Mid Credit Scenes
The first tease comes midway through the credits with a scene featuring Thena (Jolie), Makkari (Ridloff), and Druig (Keoghan), who have no idea where their fellow Eternals have “disappeared” to.
During a discussion, they are surprised by the arrival of two new characters – Pip the Troll (voiced by Patton Oswald) and Starfox, also known as Eros, and in tone with the comic canon, he is introduced as the brother of Thanos.
Eros is played by none other than Harry Styles who has been confirmed to have signed a five-film contract deal with Marvel Studios.
Upon his arrival, Eros explains that he knows where Sersi (Chan), Kingo (Nanjiani), and Phastos (Tyree Henry) have been taken thanks to a yellow sphere similar to the one used to communicate with Arishem. And as is shown in the closing moments of the film, it is Arishem that has taken them away.
So, who is Eros?
Unlike his brother Thanos, Styles’ character is a force for peace within the Marvel universe and, in the comics, has regularly worked alongside the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Meaning there is a high chance that he will be showing up in other non-Eternals films and not just its sequel, which is seemingly confirmed at the end of the film.
Post Credit Scenes
In the post-credit scene, we see Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) admiring the Ebony Blade, a powerful weapon that belonged to the original Black Knight, King Arthur’s most powerful warrior.
While Dane contemplates the sword and wonders about using its powers to become the next Black Knight, a mysterious voice speaks to him from outside the frame saying: “Sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?”
As revealed in an interview for Fandom, the mysterious voice belongs to none other than Mahershala Ali, who’s set to play vampire hunter Blade in an upcoming solo film.
In Zhao’s words, “That was the voice of one of my favourite superheroes, Mr. Blade himself. Blade, Blade, Blade, yeah!”
So, it’s official; the Daywalker is officially part of the MCU. Let the vampire hunting begin!
Helmed by Mogul Mowgli’s director Bassam Tariq, Blade will give Ali the part of Marvel’s vampire hunter, made famous by a trilogy of films with Wesley Snipes in the lead role.
Reviews
Early reviews from critics have been mixed, pointing to the epic scope of the movie sometimes getting in the way of a narrative focused on human relations.
But since it has officially released to the public, the score on both Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB have shot up, receiving an audience score of 81% and 6.9 out of 10 respectively.
But we recommend audiences make up their own minds.
Will you be seeing Eternals in cinemas, or are you waiting for it to debut on Disney+ around December 19th?
By Esther Akinbola
Twitter: @ennyswit_lamar