Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige Explains Why ‘Eternals’ Is Perfect For MCU

Marvel Studios is set to bring the Eternals to the big screen and that fact that the characters are so obscure makes them perfect for a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

Speaking to Bionic Buzz, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shows that he’s aware of how few people know about the Eternals at this point, but points out that turning relatively unknown characters into mega franchises is kind of what Marvel Studios does.

“You’re reaction about not being familiar with the Eternals is perfect, because most people weren’t familiar with Guardians [of the Galaxy] and believe it or not there were people that were not familiar with Avengers or with Iron Man,” Feige says. “So for us, its finding great stories whether people have heard of them or not and bring them to the big screen in as amazing a way as we can.”

The Eternals were created by Jack Kirby in 1976 after he returned to Marvel Comics following a stint with DC Comics. While at DC Comics, Kirby created the New Gods, but the comics were canceled before Kirby could resolve all of the plots he had in place. The Eternals was thematically very similar to the New Gods but also failed to find its audience and was canceled before Kirby could finish his story.

While the New Gods found new life with Darkseid being introduced as a major DC Universe villain in stories like “The Great Darkness Saga,” the Eternals languished in relative obscurity. They were used in a 12-issue miniseries in 1985 that was plagued by drama behind the scenes and again when Neil Gaiman and Johyn Romiota Jr. crafted a new Eternals miniseries in 2006 that helped bring the characters into the modern age.

The Eternals are a long-lived, godlike race of beings that were created on Earth by the Celestials. The Celestials also created the Deviants, a more monstrous race that seeks to do harm to humanity while the Eternals seek to protect it.

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The Eternals does not have a release date but is expected to go into production in 2019.

Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019; Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019; Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th, 2019.