Marvel Studios has selected indie film director Chloé Zhao to helm their upcoming movie ‘Eternals’. Zhao directed the western/Native American-themed, ‘Songs My Brother Taught Me’ and ‘The Rider’ and has been on Marvel’s radar for some time, as she was considered to tackle the ‘Black Widow’ solo film. Zhao won the gig over Nicole Kassell (‘Watchmen’, ‘Castle Rock’, ‘Westworld‘), Travis Knight (‘Bumblebee‘), Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (‘Birds of Passage’).
The Eternals were created by the great Jack Kirby after he returned to Marvel after working for DC in the early 1970s. ‘Eternals’ was Kirby’s attempt to complete the story he began at DC on the various ‘New Gods’ books, before they were cancelled. In the Marvel book, the Eternals were an offshoot of humanity created by the alien Celestials, meant to serve as Earth’s defenders. Their main enemies were the monstrous Deviants, also accidentally created by the Celestials.
In 2006, Nail Gaiman helped revamp the characters for a new age. This version of ‘Eternals’ was adapted into a ten-part limited animation “motion comic” which was released on DVD.
The Eternals were explained as being the ancient beings whose exploits were chronicled in ancient Greek and Roman myths. This conflicted with Marvel’s history in which the ancient Greek and Roman gods were real, most notably the Avenger Hercules. It was later explained that they had an agreement with the gods, to impersonate them in front of humans.
The Celestials also performed similar experiments on other worlds. Thanos is actually an Eternal from his native planet (which is actually a moon), Titan. Is it possible that the ‘Eternals’ movie will also involve the Mad Titan, who has reached new popularity thanks to ‘Infinity War’?
Though there are many Eternals, the most well-known include their leader Ikaris (Icarus), Makkari (Mercury), Thena (Athena), Sersi (Circe) and Gilgamesh the Forgotten One. Nearly all of them possess super strength, invulnerability, flight, telepathy, matter transmutation, and other abilities. Any combination of three or more of them can channel their power to create a “Uni-Mind.” (Think Captain Planet.) Reportedly, part of the movie will involve a romance between Ikaris and Sersi.
‘Eternals’ doesn’t have a release date, but is one of the few movies known to be in the works past next year’s ‘Avengers 4’. The script is by Matthew and Ryan Firpo.
Are you a fan of the ‘Eternals’? Are you excited that they are zooming onto the big screen?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
