Eternals Producer Reveals Why Heroes Came to Earth

Marvel's Eternals is officially a month away from debuting in theaters, and there are a lot of questions still lingering about the upcoming blockbuster. First and foremost is the film's plot, and how it will canonize the ensemble of Eternals and their centuries-spanning lore within the existing canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During a visit to the film's set in early 2020, producer Nate Moore shed some light on that storyline, and particularly how the Eternals will have found their way to Earth. As Moore put it, the film is "a big cosmic crazy movie set on Earth over 7,000 years," and will show the Eternals at different points in their lives.

"In the past we see the Eternals, who, in our version of the mythology, are immortal aliens from a planet called Olympia," Moore revealed. "[They've] been asked by the Celestials to come to Earth to rid the Earth of creatures called the Deviants. The Deviants are these parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet, and as they kill the apex predators on a given planet, they sort of take the characteristics of those predators and wipe out intelligent life. Well, the Eternals are heroes, so they've come to earth to eradicate the Deviants and allow humanity to thrive. So, in the past, we see the Eternals as they come earth as they begin their mission. And over time, they begin to succeed in eradicating the Deviants, but at the same time, these ten characters start to fracture as a team, and they start to sort of split off and go their own ways. In the present, we meet a couple of Eternals, Sersi and Sprite, who now live in London, who are shocked when a Deviant arrives after not having seen a Deviant for five thousand years and they seem to have evolved somehow. So the present is very much a mystery of, 'Why are the Deviants back? Why are they different? And can we get the band back together — for lack of a better term — in time to stop this new threat?' That's the rough structure of the movie. It's epic in scope, we think."

"I think they all have a different idea and opinion of humans," Moore said of the Eternals. "And again, I think that's what gets to be fun when you have ten characters to give them distinct points of view and distinct also by their experiences. Some of the Eternals live amongst humans very freely. Some completely live removed from humanity, and I think that affects how they view humans. So when they interact with humans, they interact with humans very differently. Some see the evolution of humanity and societies and some of the ills that come with it as a tragedy, and some see it as just a necessary evil for any intelligent life to expand. So there is a bit of a range of emotions towards humanity. And I think, even though the movie's about these immortal aliens, thematically it is about humanity and what it means to be human. Are we stewards of our Earth, or is that somebody else's problem? Even though, these characters are not human, that's what the movie wants to tackle."

One character who will have a distinct opinion of humanity is Sprite (Lia McHugh), as the actress told reporters that she sees the other creatures on Earth as "very small and stupid."

"Sprite thinks humans are kind of stupid," McHugh revealed. "I mean, she thinks they're really dumb and they don't know things. They're really not advanced at all and yeah, the Eternals obviously are way more advanced because they're gods. And so, I see humans as very small and stupid."

Marvel's Eternals is set to be released only in theaters on November 5th.