The MCU's Eternals Deserves More Love & Here's 5 Reasons Why

It’s been four years since Marvel Studios’ Eternals polarized audiences, but Chloé Zhao’s Marvel Cinematic Universe movie actually deserves more love than it received back then. Hot off an Academy Award win for 2020’s Nomadland, Chloé Zhao made her Marvel directorial debut with Eternals, which premiered on November 5, 2021. Eternals released amidst other heavily-criticized projects in a time when Marvel was falling out of viewers’ good graces, which harmed Eternals, too. More recently, however, Eternals has thankfully been earning more retrospective admiration.

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Eternals introduced the titular characters from Marvel Comics into live-action for the first time ever. First seen in Marvel Comics in 1976’s Eternals #1, the Eternals were the product of Celestial experiments on early humans, giving them immortality and the ability to harness cosmic energy for a variety of speciality purposes. Marvel Studios changed the Eternals’ origin story, making them synthetic creations of the Celestials, and while this was a controversial choice, there are many reasons to love Eternals, and giving it the praise it actually deserves could lead to the development of a possible Eternals sequel.

5) Eternals’ Cinematography Is the Best in the MCU

One of the most impressive aspects of Eternals is the movie’s remarkable cinematography, which is something of a departure for the MCU. Zhao has become well-known for using innovative and visually-striking images in her movies, specifically in Nomadland, and it was great to see this brought into the MCU. Eternals filmed extensively on location around the world, used wide-angle lenses, and an interesting use of light to deliver an authentic, beautiful, and immersive narrative. Marvel hasn’t always put a focus on delivering such interesting and striking cinematography, but this is an area where Eternals excelled.

4) Eternals Takes Bold Risks and Has an Epic Scope

Eternals was one of the MCU’s riskiest projects yet, and while these didn’t pay off for some, the fact that Marvel was willing to try something new was actually brilliant. The Eternals were far from Marvel Comics’ most popular characters, and were little-known and quite underdeveloped, which made their live-action debut perhaps more difficult to pull off. The intensely character-driven narrative, its sense of maturity and grounded themes – including its exploration of dramatic real-world events – and its epic, cosmic scale were entirely new for the MCU. Marvel would benefit from trying more new things and including more varied directors.

3) Eternals Has a Truly Diverse Cast

Representation has been a hot point of contention in the MCU for the majority of the franchise’s history. A Black hero didn’t lead an MCU movie until 2018’s Black Panther, while a female hero didn’t headline until 2019’s Captain Marvel. Eternals dashed all these criticisms, however, by including the most diverse cast in the MCU’s history. Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie portrayed characters representing all backgrounds, including the MCU’s first openly gay and deaf superheroes, which more Marvel projects would benefit from replicating.

2) Eternals Breaks the Typical Marvel Movie Formula

Criticism aimed at Eternals and other experimental projects in the MCU’s Phases 4 and 5 was interesting when considering that Marvel had come under fire for repeating the “Marvel Formula” time and again. Eternals is perhaps the biggest departure from the Marvel Formula the franchise has ever seen, focusing more on philosophical questions, exploring cosmic lore in more detail, and sticking to Zhao’s directorial vision rather than being too swayed by the studio’s wishes for the movie. Eternals is like nothing the MCU has seen before, and there are hopes that Marvel will include more uniqueness and originality in future.

1) Eternals’ World-Building and Exploration of MCU History Is Incredible

Eternals may have tried to do too much, which made it feel rushed, crammed full of content, and underdeveloped. There’s a flip side to this, however, as this was just a symptom of Chloé Zhao and Marvel Studios trying to world-build more than ever before, exploring various historical periods in the MCU’s timeline, dating back 7000 years, and expanding on the lore of Celestials and their purpose in the MCU’s cosmos. Eternals became a mythological event for Marvel Studios, implanting the titular heroes into the MCU’s entire history. This could have led to them appearing in any number of subsequent projects, so it’s a shame that Marvel has instead swept them under the rug.

Do you want to see the Eternals return to the MCU? Let us know in the comments!