Eternals

Even though it was known that Marvel was working on an ‘Eternals’ movie with Chloé Zhao attached to direct, and many names surfaced in connection to the cast, it wasn’t until this weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con panel that Marvel officially confirmed the film and paraded out its cast: Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Brian Tyree Henry, Don Lee, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Kumail Nanjiani, and Lauren Ridloff.

If you missed out on seeing this troupe all together, Entertainment Weekly has snapped a group shot of most of the cast.  (Hayek is not pictured.)

Eternals cast
ERIC RAY DAVIDSON FOR EW

Hayek will portray Ajak, the leader of the Eternals.  During the panel, she discussed playing this lead role:

“I take my inspiration from our leader Chloé. It takes a strong woman to do a movie like this. The way she approaches leadership as a strong woman, she sees them as a family. There’s a lot of mother instincts in the Eternals…I feel honored to be part of a movie which will show people who aren’t represented (on screen).”

(Clockwise from top left) Ridloff (‘The Walking Dead’), one-time Miss Deaf America, portrays Makkari, who will be the first deaf Marvel Studios character.

Madden, who won a Golden Globe for starring in Netflix’s ‘Bodyguard’, portrays Ikaris:

“His lifeforce is augmented with Cosmic energy and he has total mental control over his physical form and bodily processes even when he is asleep or unconscious. He has low-level psychic abilities, enabling him to scan the superficial thoughts of any mind, less adapt them to his own. He can mentally create illusions as to describe himself.”

Jolie will play Thena:

“Thena became a scholar and a warrior as she grew. Like all Eternals, she has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes. Thena also possesses the ability to manipulate cosmic energy to augment her life force, granting her virtual invulnerability and immortality, the ability to project cosmic energy from her eyes or hands in the form of heat, light, or concussive force and possibly other powers.  She also has the ability to levitate herself and thus fly at superhuman speed, the psionic ability to rearrange the molecular structure of objects, the ability to cast illusions to disguise her appearance and that of others from the perceptions of normal human beings, the ability to teleport herself and others with her, and the ability to initiate formation of the Uni-Mind.

“She carries a bow that fires arrows that release “cold energy”, and she carries an energy spear that surrounds victims with a ring of intense heat and light or bombards them with anti-gravitons.”

Nanjiani portrays Kingo.  In the comics, Kingo Sunen was a Japanese Eternal and a samurai.  In the present, he uses his abilities as an action star in the movies.  Obviously, this character has been altered for the film.

Lee (a.k.a. Dong-seok Ma) portrays Gilgamesh, the Forgotten One.

“Gilgamesh became an outcast from his fellow Eternals when their ruler, Zuras, decreed that he had been too proud a meddler in the human world and confined him to a sector of Olympus. He was eventually convinced to come out of exile and journey to the mother-ship of the Fourth Host of the Celestials to assist the Eternals in the battle against the Deviants by the Eternal called Sprite. He possesses a number of super-human abilities common to the Eternals, but has trained some of them far beyond the norm. The Forgotten One is one of the most accomplished hand-to-hand combatants among the Eternals and usually arms himself with simple hand weapons such as an ax, spear or club.”

McHugh plays Sprite, a character that is male in the comics.  When the studio was casting, they sought someone who fit this bill:

“Strong, charismatic presence with a magnetic personality. Wise beyond her years, articulate and quick-witted. Natural acting ability and some type of athletic background a plus.”

Finally, Henry portrays Phastos, the weaponsmith of the group: “Phastos is more reticent than his others, having a melancholy spirit and an ambivalence toward fighting.”

The Eternals were created by experiments by the Celestials.  These same experiments created the equal but opposite race of Deviants.

As a bonus, here is some concept art for ‘Eternals’, which appears to depict the Celestials:

‘Eternals’ is scheduled to open on November 6, 2020.