Warning: this story contains spoilers for Marvel’s Eternals, now playing only in theaters. Harry Styles is Starfox. The first of two post-credits scenes ending Eternals reveals the Dunkirk actor and “Watermelon Sugar” singer as Eros, Eternal of Titan, and the brother of Thanos (Josh Brolin). Styles, who made his feature film acting debut in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk in 2017, was director Chloe Zhao’s only choice for the long-rumored role in Eternals. In an interview with Deadline, the first-time Marvel director reveals the origin of the secret Starfox cameo bringing the actor-musician into the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
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“Harry as Eros was very much a package deal for me,” Zhao revealed. “I pitched the idea of Pip the Troll [voiced by Patton Oswalt in Eternals] 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.”
Eros and Pip appear before Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), and Thena (Angelina Jolie) aboard their ship, the Domo, after the Celestial Arishem abducts the surviving Eternals. Styles steps out in style, wearing a red-and-gold cosmic suit and introduced as Starfox.
“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 said. “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.”
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Marvel Studios has not yet announced a sequel to Zhao’s “standalone” story spanning thousands of years across the MCU. Producer Nate Moore previously hinted the “contained” Eternals would “definitely have an impact in ways, hopefully, that feels surprising but earned.”
“Obviously, when you deal with characters like Eternals and Celestials and even Deviants, the ripple is quite beyond this film,” Moore told ComicBook during a visit to the set of Eternals. “So we have some ideas of how that can help be the spine of what Phase Four gets to be, but we always leave room for invention because other movies also may form where we go.”
Starring Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Barry Keoghan, Kit Harington, and Angelina Jolie, Marvel’s Eternals is now playing in theaters.
