Eternals Trailer Tells Us Why They Didn’t Stop Thanos
The final Marvel Studios’ Eternals trailer was released on Thursday, August, 19th, 2021, and it shows more than ever before from the next Marvel Cinematic Universe cosmic epic, which will span the known MCU timeline. The trailer was released in anticipation of the movie’s November 5th, 2021, theatrical release date, and it places the action in a clearer spot on the MCU timeline, while setting a ticking clock for the film itself.
Eternals Trailer Final Roll-Call
Directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, we learned in the Eternals trailer that the film is set right after the events of Avengers: Endgame.
In a voice over for the trailer, Gemma Chan‘s Sersi explains that the Eternals first arrived on Earth 7,000 years ago to protect the humans against a ravaging alien entity known as the Deviants. However, in the wake of the Blip that returned half of the world’s population back to the planet, they only have seven days to stop “the emergence” (whatever that means).
Photo: Marvel Studios
“Why didn’t you guys help fight Thanos, or any war, all the other terrible things throughout history?” asks Kit Harington‘s Dane Whitman, who is born a human in the Marvel comics before becoming the Black Knight (fair question, and this is pure speculation, but his question could be the character’s motivation to steal an artifact and become the superhero he always knew he could be.)
“We were instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts unless Deviants were involved,” Sersi replies before the trailer cuts to a shot of what appears to be a huge red Celestial, possibly Arishem the Judge, according to The Direct.
Photo: Marvel Studios
In Marvel comics, the Celestials created the Eternals as well as their villainous counterparts, the Deviants. However, I guess the god-like beings that created the other god-like beings never told them to fight a third-party god-like being named Thanos, and inter-galatic genocide isn’t deviant enough to just interfere unless mommy and daddy tell you so, or something like that…
Though the trailer is loaded with action and CGI creatures, we also finally get to see some of the film’s sense of humor courtesy of Brian Tyree Henry‘s Phastos.
Photo: Marvel Studios
The Eternals
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige recently spoke about how the film came to be, as well as about his experience working with Zhao.
Chloé Zhao attends the “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” World Premiere at El Capitan Theatre on August 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney )
“The truth is, we would not have even attempted this if it weren’t for Chloé,” Feige told Entertainment Weekly. “We thought, here’s a filmmaker who is equal parts cinematic visionary and genre nerd. She can outtalk any of us when it comes to manga and Star Wars and Marvel comics. It’s quite an astounding combination. And this movie, I think, represents all of the immense multitudes of Chloé.”
Eternals is as star-studded a movie as a movie can get, which is something new for Marvel, which is somewhat known for turning unknowns into superheroes.
Photo: Marvel Studios
Also seen in the final Eternals trailer is the rest of the star-studded ensemble cast, which includes Richard Madden as Ikaris (a real DC New Gods-type), Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite (who looks young but is actually super-old), Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Ma Dong-seok as Gilgamesh (yes, that Gilgamesh), Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy.
Photo: Marvel Studios
Do you want to know more about Eternals before the movie arrives on November 5th? Then, check out Marvel Blog’s rundown (here) that we wrote back when the movie was initially supposed to come out over a year ago. Currently, Eternals is scheduled for theatrical release on November 5th, 2021.
