Marvel has released another trailer for Eternals, showing more of the team’s powers, and asking some major overhanging questions. Really, where were they when Thanos was attacking the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Well, the simple answer is, they were instructed not to do anything unless their enemies the Deviants were involved. “By who?” Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman shoots back, while we get a lovely big shot of a celestial, one of the cosmic beings that created Eternals and Deviants. In any case, the Deviants are here now, and Richard Madden’s Ikaris leads the charge in bringing the heroes out of retirement for battle.
Angelina Jolie’s Thena, Barry Keoghan’s Druig, Bryan Tyree Henry’s Phastos, they all get a moment or two to emphasise the band getting back together. There’s some superpowered battles against giant lizard monsters, Ikaris taking flight for one encounter in just his regular t-shirt and jeans. One of the Deviants manages to capture Thena and tells her, in typically foreboding manner, that the Eternals can’t save any of us. It’s all very sinister.
According to Salma Hayek’s Ajak, the second snap from Avengers: Endgame is what’s kicked off the ‘Emergence’. We don’t get any more elaboration than that, but the celestial screentime suggests this maybe a new name for Host Events, where the celestials come down and evaluate the progress of a planet’s species.
Perhaps the Eternals have to defend humanity from Deviants and Celestials, all at once? No pressure. Chloé Zhao, whose movie Nomadland won the Academy Award for Best Picture this year, is directing, from a script she’s co-written with Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Matthew K. Firpo.
Eternals is part of Marvel Phase 4, arriving after Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it’ll be in theatres November 5.