Exclusive: The Eternals Movie Can Play With MCU History

Kevin Feige is excited to possibly explore the history of the MCU through The Eternals. Everyone at Marvel Studios is keeping the future plans for their universe close to the chest, but none are as protective as Feige. They're waiting until after Avengers 4 to announce the future and be less reserved about the MCU's future. While they have yet to officially announce anything beyond Spider-Man: Far From Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, plans are in motion for the future. One of the properties that looks to be a big part of their plans is The Eternals.

Rumors of Marvel Studios developing The Eternals began earlier this year, and while there was initially skepticism that it was true, the project has continued to gain momentum. Marvel unofficially hired a writing duo to get a script ready for the film in May, but they have yet to confirm what their plans are for the Jack Kirby creations.

Screen Rant spoke to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige during the Ant-Man and The Wasp press junket and we couldn't help but ask for some news regarding The Eternals too. As far as the potential of the property goes, the possible ability to explore the history and mythology of the MCU is a big point of interest.

Screen Rant: Jack Kirby tied Eternals a little bit into the Greek mythology. I didn't really realize that until recently with Hercules and a few of the other characters. Is that something that you would kind of like bring to the table with that film?

Kevin Feige: Well, one of the cool things about that property and what Jack Kirby did with it and what's been done with it in recent years is it does tie into they're called Eternals, they've been around for a long time. You know? There's this notion of all of these myths and legends that we know from ancient times, were they inspired by the Eternals?

Screen Rant: Right.

Kevin Feige: Were they Eternals? It's a very ... you know, it's an ancient aliens kind of sci-fi trope that we think would be fun to explore someday.

Jack Kirby created The Eternals in 1976 as a group of god-like beings who've been around for ages. They had deep connections to the history of humanity and Earth back then, as they fought for control of the planet thousands of years before. When Neil Gaiman revived the concept in 2006, he kept those roots but with an updated take. From the way Feige talks about their comic portrayals, being able to do the same is something they appear to be keen on exploiting as a way to grow the MCU.

Thanks to the thousands of years of backstory Marvel could decide to explore, The Eternals could be the latest in what looks to be a growing list of films that take place in the past. Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s and current reports point to Black Widow also being a prequel. Even if Marvel doesn't take that route with The Eternals, they can still retroactively reveal their presence by making them part of legends and myths. Kenneth Branagh's Thor did this in small ways, as did Black Panther's prologue that taught the history of Wakanda.

Even though the actual Eternals movie is still years away at this point, Marvel's already been laying the foundation. Thanos himself is an Eternal and his father was name dropped in Avengers: Infinity War too. Josh Brolin even said he's down to play Thanos again in The Eternals, so the film could explore his rise to power or the fallout of Avengers 4. As these plans become solidified, its only a matter of time before we know more about this property could explore the MCU's history.

Tags: the eternals

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