Even Doctor Strange Actor Benedict Cumberbatch Was Shocked by Harry Styles’ Eternals Debut

Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch could not believe that Harry Styles was in Eternals. The Marvel actor talked to ET Online about his general surprise at the reveal. Chloe Zhao and her cast worked very hard to keep a lid on the pop star’s inclusion throughout filming. But, the public would have to learn about it sometime. It sounds as if Doctor Strange ended up finding out at the same time as everyone else. (Which is probably fine by Kevin Feige and the decision-makers. The fewer people that know, the less the chance of a major leak ahead of the movie’s premiere.) Cumberbatch says that he was “out of the loop”, which isn’t hard to imagine with filming Spider-Man, finishing up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and completing Power of the Dog over at Netflix. There are only so many hours in the day, even for a superhero. 

“I didn’t even know he was, I’m so out of the loop,” Cumberbatch revealed before complimenting Styles. “He’s great, really great.”

Director Chloe Zhao previously explained how she hand-picked Styles for the role of Starfox. In a chat with Deadline, the filmmaker admitted a character with control over emotions was a little bit of a weird subject that they had to handle delicately.

“Harry as Eros was very much a package deal for me,” Zhao explained. “I pitched the idea of Pip the Troll and Eros to Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] a while back. I love the idea of exploring an Eternal who is beyond Titan and who may have influenced Thanos throughout the years the same way [the] Eternals influenced us, earthlings.” 

“It wasn’t like I suggested Eros, and let’s go find actors. I kept tabs on Harry since Dunkirk, I thought he was very interesting,” Zhao continued. “After meeting him, I realized he is that character—the same way I cast the rest of my cast. There’s so much of Eros in him. For me, if he says yes and Kevin says yes then it’s a go. And I’m very happy they both did.”

Marvel describes Eternals:

“Marvel Studios’ Eternals features an exciting new team of Super Heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants.”

Were you surprised by Styles’ MCU introduction? Let us know down in the comments below!