Eternals Producer Breaks Down Surprise Harry Styles Casting (Exclusive)

Marvel’s Eternals is filled with plenty of surprises, but arguably the biggest arrives in the film’s first post-credits scene. Harry Styles made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the scene and, while we won’t get into the specifics of what he says or does, it seems safe at this point to talk about who he is playing. Styles has taken on the role of Eros, aka Starfox, the brother of Thanos, a part-Eternal whose seduction and influence are his superpowers. 

On the newest episode of ComicBook.com‘s Phase Zero podcast, Eternals producer Nate Moore talked about the process of approaching Styles for the role. According to Moore, Eros was a complicated role to cast, given his somewhat problematic history and powers, but Styles was the person who could make it all work in the modern era. It also helped that director Chloé Zhao is a massive fan of his.

“It’s interesting. Starfox, Eros, I like that character very much, but he’s super problematic in publishing, for reasons that even publishing kind of explores in the She-Hulk stuff, which I think is interesting,” Moore said. “But when we decided to lean into Eros, the notion of a guy whose power is seduction and emotion control, that’s a pretty specific ask for a piece of talent. And we talked about gender swapping, because really, Eros doesn’t have to be a guy, but he is a guy, but it could be anything. It really is, who is just by being around them seductive. And that’s a pretty short list and Chloé is admittedly a giant Harry Styles fan. And initially, we were like, ‘Really?’ But I promise you, if you ever get a chance to meet Harry Stiles, it’s true.”

“‘You’re just like, I love this guy. I love this guy. I don’t know what it is. I love him.’ He’s funny. He’s charming. He’s nice to everybody. He is kind of Eros,” Moore continued. “And so, it was an easy conversation. I think for him, it’s bigger risk for Harry Styles to be in this movie than for us to cast Harry Styles. Because he has such a specific fan base and he’s a musician, and now he’s becoming an actor, but that’s not necessarily his core thing. And to take a flyer on this really random character that he also knows is vaguely problematic, I think was sort of a bigger leap of faith for him. But I think the notion of Eros in the MCU going forward is so much fun. It’s totally worth it.”

Fans will now wait to see what’s next for Eros in the MCU. He doesn’t have any confirmed appearances on the docket yet, but he will certainly be showing up at some point in the not-too-distant future. We’re all just going to have to wait and see what he has in store next.

You can watch the full interview with Nate Moore in the video at the top of the page.