Marvel’s Phase Four is jam-packed with adventurous and bold characters, but the movie deserving the most hype is Eternals. A deep dive into the immortals who came to Earth to protect and build it, the audience will get to see the surface level war that has been going on between the title heroes and the Deviants for thousands of years.
Aside from a view of superheroes of god-like and alien origins, Eternals has what is arguably the most diverse cast in the MCU to date. Starring Gemma Chan, Brian Tyree Henry, Kumail Nanjiani, and Salma Heyak among others like Angelina Jolie, Kit Harrington, and Richard Madden (for House Stark!) the audience will enjoy extreme talent paired with a very realistic portrayal of society’s ethnic and racial backgrounds.
Need more information to fully feel the excitement? Marvel boasts the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and a promised on-screen kiss!) this go-around. Brian Tyree Henry is playing Phastos, and Haaz Sleiman will portray his husband. This is especially huge since the kerfuffle of Endgame in which Marvel bragged about having LGBT representation, which turned out to only be a small support group scene with a gay man discussing losing his partner in the Great Thanos Snap of 2018.
Speaking of Thanos, this is also the first time fans will experience the extraterrestrial and otherworldly without the omnipresence of the MCU’s biggest and longest-running villain. Though not featured in Captain Marvel, there was still the lingering expectation that it, as Marvel reminded us in Phases One and Two, is all connected. Now, however, fans can hunt for clues of the next Big Bads, and any returns from the grave in true Marvel Fan Conspiracy Theorist style.
Bringing back the zeitgeist of early MCU a decade ago, Eternals offers plenty of potential for the fan theories and Easter egg hunts lovingly placed in each film. While most of Phase Four consisted of characters the fanbase had familiarity with- Black Widow in her solo movie, Dr. Strange in his sequel, not to mention the various Disney+ shows expanding on the known universe- Eternals is brand new to casual fans and is a deep cut for the hardcore ones. This mix of what is known and unknown among the audience is similar to the original Iron Man days when no one could predict with any certainty what would be included in the films.
In some ways, Eternals feels like a reset button for the MCU. They have honored the surviving Avengers from pre-Endgame, and are now setting up for the second wind full of promising new heroes and villains to love, hate, and debate. The social impact within the universe of new saviors and threats is as exciting as the real-world social impact of diversity and representation already being seen by the Eternals cast and characters.