Who Is Kumail Nanjiani Playing in The Eternals?

As Marvel’s The Eternals draws nearer to beginning production, there is still relatively little officially known about the project. While Kumail Nanjiani and Angelina Jolie are reported to be slated for lead roles in the movie — not officially confirmed, but basically true — nobody has yet come to a real consensus on who the two are playing. There are some obvious choices, of course, but that does not mean much. After all, before the movie came out, who would have thought that the Guardians of the Galaxy were an obvious follow-up to The Avengers? Or that the short-lived Abnett/Lanning lineup was the obvious lineup for a Guardians of the Galaxy movie?

Nanjiani and Jolie will be joined by Richard Madden, Dong-seok Ma, and possibly Keanu Reeves. The film will be helmed by Chloe Zhao, the first time a woman of color has helmed a Marvel Studios film. Since Madden is reported to be playing Ikaris — a role that would have seemed unlikely for Nanjiani anyway, except that they turned the schlubby guy from Parks and Rec into an action hero, who whatever — we will leave him off the list, but since there are a whole lot of characters in the Eternals corner of the Marvel Universe, that still leaves a lot of places to go for the film.

With a little help from the internet (and those casting breakdowns that gave us a pretty good sense of what characters might appear in the film), we’ve run down the most obvious choices for Nanjiani to play in The Eternals — assuming that he doesn’t get an original-to-the-movies part or something like that. You can check out our ideas below.

Starfox

Given Nanjiani’s good looks, sense of humor, and general screen presence, Starfox has to be the odds-on favorite, right? The character, who is an Eternal from Titan (and Thanos’s brother), has the power to control the emotions of others.

He is one of the most familiar of the Eternals to mainstream Marvel superhero fans. Created in 1973 by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin, Eros was a fun-loving, carefree womanizer who bore little resemblance to his omnicidal brother or even most of the rest of the Eternals, most of whom have a more serious tone due to the larger-than-life nature of their stories.

In recent years, Starfox was a client of Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk), after being accused of sexual assault when someone claimed he used his powers in order to seduce her.

Hercules

This one feels unlikley, since in all likelihood, Herc is going to be a more physically intimidating person. He has to “look” right in the context of a universe that already has Chris Hemsworth as Thor, the Incredible Hulk in play, and of course Ikaris in this very movie.

That said, never put it past Marvel to subvert expectations and do a new take on a character like this. Certainly, as with Wonder Woman, you can argue that somebody does not have to be physically massive in order to be strong when their powers are magical in nature.

Druig

This is a distinct possibility if only because Nanjiani was cast so early, and the earliest names we saw associated with The Eternals were Sersi, Ikaris, and Druig. 

Druig, Lord of Flames and Nightmares, is rumored to be the film’s central antagonist. In the comics, he was the Polarian Eternal son of Valkin, and cousin to Ikaris. A power hungry schemer, Druig’s ties to some of the film’s most significant characters make him a logical choice for a villain, and certainly it could be fun to see Nanjiani channel some of the same fun, sinister energy that Tom Ellis has on Lucifer. That said, the look of his more modern, less Kirby-inspired take (seen above) has led some to suspect that if Marvel really is circling Keanu Reeves, it would be for this role.

The Forgotten One

The Forgotten One is a truly old Eternal, which could tie into Kevin Feige’s remarks that the film could span thousands of years. Born during the Neolitic Age, The Forgotten One has gone by a number of names. Around 3000 BC, he became Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in Sumeria.

Per the Marvel Wiki, “In ancient times the mighty Eternal roamed the Earth aiding ordinary human beings by overthrowing tyrants and slaying dangerous beasts. Somehow unaware of his membership to the Eternals, he quested for eternal life. He was often mistaken with (and consequently known as) Samson and Hercules.”

Makkari

A speedster who boosts his natural powers with superior technology, Makkari could be a good fit for Nanjiani because, like Grant Gustin or Ezra Miller, he has a build that is believable as that of a runner. 

Makkari is the son of Veron and Mara, born in Olympia in Greece. He is a member of the Eternals’ Technologist’s Guild who learned engineering from his parents and, because of his passion for speed, applied the sciences to design various high-velocity transport vessels. As Thoth, he taught math to the ancient Egyptians.

Zuras

Zuras and A’Lars were the eldest sons of Kronos, the leader of the first generation of Eternals. This would give Zuras a direct tie to Thanos without having to be as intimate as being his brother like Starfox.

In the comics, Zuras and A’Lars together initiated the first creation of the Uni-Mind, a collective melding of the Eternals’ bodies, shortly thereafter. While in the form of the Uni-Mind, the Eternals determined that Zuras should be Kronos’ successor as the leader of their race. To avoid disunity among the Eternals, A’Lars left for outer space and eventually settled on Titan, where he fathered the race of Titanian Eternals and became known as their leader, Mentor.

Domo

Domo, who hung out in a hoverchair not unlike the one Metron used in Jack Kirby’s New Gods stories, was the administrator of affairs on Olympia. He answered directly to the elder Eternal Zuras and dispensed Zuras’ commands to the other Eternals.

This is getting into the less-likely areas, since Marvel casting a major star and an actor of color only to make him a glorified servant feels like bad optics, and a waste of Nanjiani’s talent. Still, there is no guarantee that the character could not be updated in some way to make it work, and certainly if there was a sense of humor attached it could be fun to see a comedian playing the role of someone who is basically speaking truth to power for the audience’s benefit.

Uni-Mind

Very much like Annette Bening playing the Kree Supreme Intelligence, it would not be entirely surprising to see Marvel decide to put a face (and/or a body) to the Uni-Mind, a being made of light, mind, and pure energy, which is created when several Eternals come together and join their will and intelligence. And we could totally see Nanjiani playing that role — again, likely with a smirk and a swagger…but that’s not entirely unlike how Bening played the first half of Captain Marvel.

Ajak

A meaty role that would require some beefing up and working out, Ajak is another Polar Eternal and a close friend of Ikaris who has played prominent roles in Greek and Norse mythology during his many years on Earth. Ajak is a particularly dominant hand-to-hand combatant and one of the most steadfast warriors throughout the entirety of the Eternals pantheon.