DC Comics Exist in the MCU
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… the Distinguished Competition! A clip from Eternals has confirmed that DC Comics exists within the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Blog True Believers!
Eternals
The clip was released on the official Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel. In it, a child mistakes Ikaris (Richard Madden) of the Eternals for Superman.
The child, who is mostly like the son of Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and his husband (Haaz Sleiman), says to Ikaris that he believes he is Superman because he shoots lasers out of his eyes and wears a cape.
Christopher Reeve as Superman
While Ikaris quickly corrects the child by pointing out that he does not wear a cape, the comparison proves that the child had that frame of reference to begin with… thereby confirming that Superman is a pop culture icon in the world of the MCU, just like the Kryptonian is on our Earth!
This isn’t the only pop culture that’s been confirmed to exist in the MCU. For one thing, we saw several movies appear on the theater marquis in downtown Westview during WandaVision (not to mention the show’s direct connection to decades worth of sitcoms, which Wanda herself watched).
Photo: Marvel Studios
Plus, many MCU characters, like Peter Parker (Tom Holland), have referenced the Star Wars movies (no surprise, since the same parent company owns Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm).
But now that we know DC Comics is a thing in the MCU, we just have one question: which one of the Avengers is the biggest Archie fan?
The Long-Standing Big 2
It’s not likely to be a mistake that Superman is being referenced in this movie: for one thing, Jack Kirby, the creator of the world and characters of Eternals, did significant work for both publishers.
Photo: Marvel/DC
Furthermore, the “immortals living among humans” angle adopted by Chloé Zhao’s film heavily evokes the approach taken by Zack Snyder in his DCEU movies, which depicted superheroes as more similar to Classical mythological figures than denizens of “the world outside your window.”
“You write it on the page, show it to Kevin, if he doesn’t say anything, that’s a go,” Zhao told Variety in a recent interview. In explaining why she chose to include a reference to Superman in the MCU, Zhao also said that these DC characters are just fictional characters, designed to delight audiences and readers, in the MCU. I guess that means that DC comics won’t act a precedent in the upcoming legal comedy She-Hulk on Disney+!
She-Hulk. Photo: Marvel Comics
Instead, in Eternals, the stories from the pages of DC Comics are used to highlight the humanity of the characters. “Gilgamesh and Phastos, they all got into certain aspects of human life, whether it’s cooking, pop culture, movie loving,” Zhao added. “So they pick out the things about humans that they love the most — aspect of us that are quite extraordinary. And for Gilgamesh, he watches ‘Batman.’ So when he sees someone’s valet, he goes, ‘Ah, I know!’ Because he loves Batman, like so many of us.”
Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow
Have you secured your tickets to see Eternals in theaters? We want to know what you’re thinking, Marvel Blog True Believers! Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
