New Eternals Promo Confirms Superman Exists In The MCU

Marvel’s Eternals is beginning to ramp up its marketing and promotional campaign, following the film’s big Hollywood premiere. Obviously, as the first wave of critics and fans get to see Eternals (and learn its game-changing secrets for the Marvel Cinematic Universe), there are certain details of the film that will cause a big buzz. Marvel Studios has apparently chosen to give one of those secrets away for free, early, by releasing a new preview for Eternals that reveals that the characters of the MCU are all too aware of the existence of DC’s god-like hero: Superman. 

In the new Eternals featurette, we get a breakdown of each of the main characters in the Eternals ensemble. When it comes to the section on Ikaris (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden), we are treated to a scene in which Ikaris and his soulmate Sersei (Gemma Chan) are trying to reunite with their old teammate and master inventor Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry). Phastos has chosen to live a more humanesque life, settling down in the suburbs with his family. In the scene included in the video above, it is Phastos’ son Jack who seems to recognize Ikaris from a TV broadcast of the Eternals warrior doing battle with a monstrous Deviant (as seen in trailers). According to Jack’s assessment of Ikaris: 

“Dad, that’s Superman with the cape and you were shooting laser beams out of your eyes!”

Obviously, the line is a throwaway joke (Ikaris responds by saying “I don’t wear a cape”) but it’s also yet another MCU Easter egg acknowledgment of pop-culture figures and events that are part of the MCU lore. We seen DC get the nod from Marvel before – primarily in shows like Netflix’s Luke Cage (which was heavy on Superman references, or Iron Man 3 with its “Super Friends” reference from Happy Hogan. Then there have been the winking comedic characters of Marvel like Deadpool or Spider-Man, who have each made reference to DC, whether its Deadpool openly cracking on the franchise, or Spider-Man doing his best Bale Batman voice in that Homecoming “Interrogation Mode” scene. 

That all said, Eternals is pretty much the last place that we thought we’d find Marvel/DC jokes being tossed around. It’s just one more hint that we actually know so little about what director Chloe Zhao and Marvel Studios have done with this film – but we’re getting more eager to find out! 

READ: First Eternals Reactions Now Online

Marvel’s Eternals will be in theaters on November 5th.