The first trailer for the upcoming Dune adaptation has finally made its way to eyeballs of fans! Much anticipated, Denis Villeneuve’s film looks set to deliver on some fairly lofty expectations.
The film, which stars Timothy Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and many, many more big stars is set for a December 18, 2020 release.
This week’s episode was a tough one as Charles M. and Charles V. talked about the passing of Chadwick Boseman. One of the most charismatic and brightest stars of the MCU, Boseman’s death shook us all and created a lot of tough questions that we tried to discuss as well as we could. We also caught up on all the big production news as Marvel Studios resumes and gets started on projects all over the globe! Check it out below…
With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kiby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!
The speedster of the Eternals, Makkari’s comic book history actually predates any of his peers. A series of retcons allowed a Golden Age character named Mercury, who first appeared in 1940’s Red Raven Comics #1, to be reworked into Makkari. The character was introduced into the modern day in Eternals #5 where he joined fellow Eternal Sersi in a NYC battle against the Deviants, the bitter foes of the Eternals. Makkari played an integral role in Neil Gaiman’s 2006 run in which all of the Eternals fell victim to the machinations of Sprite and had forgotten who they were. Living in the city as Mark Curry, Makkari was visited by Ikaris who was the first of the group to regain his memories. Eventually regaining his memories and powers, Makkari was duped by Sprite into opening a path to the Dreaming Celestial, one of the great Space Gods whose act of defiance left him trapped beneath San Francisco for centuries. Unconscious, Makkari began to commune with the Dreaming Celestial, a job traditionally filled by Ajak, and eventually working as the prophetic mouthpiece of the entity.
Actress Lauren Ridloff will bring the speedster to life in Eternals, though with some significant changes to the comic book characters. Unlike the comics, Makkari will be presented as a female in the film (joining Ajak as gender-swapped members of the team); additionally, Ridloff is deaf and will be portraying the character as such. While it remains to be seen, it’s been speculated that Makkari will, as in the comics, communicate with the Celestials at some point, either sharing or taking the job from Salma Hayek’s Ajak.
With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kirby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!
Ikaris, who first appeared in Eternals #1, is one of the oldest and most powerful Eternals in existence. After tens of thousands of years of protecting humanity from the Deviant threat, Ikaris earned the title of Prime Eternal, making him the leader of the Eternals of Earth and responsible for the formation of one of the Eternals most fascinating gifts: the Uni-Mind. The Uni-Mind merges both the will and intelligence of each Eternal into a collective consciousness, something they typically only do to deliberate on matters on great consequence. Born a Polarian Eternal like Ajak, Ikaris, whose birth name is unknown, has lived all over the world during his life, including Greece where he married a human woman with whom he had a son: the Icarus of legend who flew too close to the sun. Ikaris took the name of his son in his memory and then spent a great portion of his life preparing for the coming of the Fourth Host of Celestials. More recently when all the Eternals lost their memories of who they were, it was Ikaris (using the name Ike Harris), who set out to help restore them. Like all the Eternals, Ikaris has the ability to reduce himself down to atoms and store them for long periods of time before reassembling himself or being reassembled. In this way, the Eternals are immortal.
Ikaris will be portrayed by the King in the North, Richard Madden. Set photos of Madden seem to show him facing off with Celestials on Earth, meaning we might just be seeing the Fourth Host, the group of Celestials who come to Earth to pass final judgement on the species they created, in the film! Madden’s Ikaris will be one of the film’s primary leads and his story will include a love triangle between Ikaris, Gemma Chan’s Sersi and Kit Harrington‘s Dane Whitman.
Eternals will hit theaters November 5th!
With the Infinity Saga coming to a close, Marvel Studios is preparing to launch into an all-new, all-different era beginning with Phase 4. While several properties are going to serve as deeper dives into already established characters and worlds, Eternals is going to introduce new characters and change what we think we know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Eternals were born in the mind of Jack Kiby as Marvel Comics “ancient aliens”: beings of immense power who had protected Earth since the beginning of time. Over the course of history, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants, worked their way into the religions and mythologies of many cultures gods and monsters, angels and devils and heroes and villains. Marvel Studios will certainly put their own spin on the characters, but we can still take an opportunity to get to know them here…in 400 words or less!
First introduced in Eternals #2 (1976), Ajak is one of the Polar Eternals, a group of the immortal beings who was born near Siberia. While he was mistaken for many heroes over the year, including the Greek warrior Ajax, he more importantly was believed to be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl and the Incan god Tecumotzin. It was in this guise that he made his introduction into the comics during the “Tomb of the Gods” arc that it is believed will serve as at least a partial inspiration for the film. Ajak has always demonstrated a deep understanding of the Celestials as well as being able to converse with them and, in his introduction, served as the expository device for the grand history and plan of the Celestials, including their return to judge their creations!
Salma Hayek will bring the character of Ajak to life in Marvel Studios Eternals. We know the character will serve as the spiritual leader of the group and, true to the comics, she will serve as the point of communication between the Eternals and the Celestials. Given the character’s comic book history with the Space Gods, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Hayek’s character given the honor of explaining the hidden history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the audience.
Marvel Studios Eternals is currently set to hit theaters February 12, 2021!
This piece was originally published on August 18th. That day, a decision was made to take it down after fans became aggressive in their disbelief of it. With Labor Day being today, we wanted to share the original information again.
As has always been the case, “What I Heard This Week” pieces should never be taken as more than rumors until they’re proven true or false.
As mentioned here, Marvel Studios production crews recently returned to Atlanta to prepare for filming to resume or begin on several projects. Crews for the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Solider, Loki and Hawkeye joined crew from the Untitled Spider-Man Sequel in constructing sets, getting the offices back up and running and preparing general pre-production routines in advance of the cast and directors heading back at an undisclosed date. Now, it looks like we might have a very good idea of just when they’ll roll cameras again and we should all be as hyped as this dude is when he high fives John Walker!
This isn’t one-size fits all info and, as I’ll detail after sharing the info, it could lead to two possible timelines, but it’s still worth a share. Cast members for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will begin arriving in Atlanta as early as this weekend (August 21st-23rd) to get ready to resume production. This doesn’t mean we should expect to see everyone in Atlanta this weekend because, as you probably know, the whole cast doesn’t always need to be everywhere all the time; however, this weekend will mark the beginning of their return meaning filming is just around the corner…though we can’t quite be sure how long it’ll take to round that corner.
Given the ongoing pandemic, a return to Atlanta does not mean an immediate return to set for the cast, so there are a couple of options here. Option one would be that the cast lands in Atlanta this weekend, clears a quick result COVID test, gets ready to roll and starts filming next week…and that would make us all really happy; however, that might not be how it works out. Option two would be that the cast lands in Atlanta this weekend, goes into a 2-week self-isolation period, and begins filming after the September 7th Labor Day holiday. Unfortunately, I was unable to get clarification on whether or not the cast will be required to self-isolate or not, so I can’t tell you which option we’ll see, but I can tell you that we are almost there and, if things go well, we might even get to see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in 2020.
In a previous episode of Murphy’s Law, Charles and I talked about our pitches for Captain America 4. The only thing we agreed upon was the setting: WW II. We never talked about them again until we recorded the podcast and, as it turned out, while wildly different, they would work out as companion pieces in a WW II Cap trilogy. For me, the pitch comes from one line in Captain America: The First Avenger (and the Fuher digs for trinkets in the desert) and the Nazis very real fascination with Atlantis. So while this movie takes place during the same time period as TFA, we see a completely different side of the Nazi effort to rule the world. Here it is-Captain America: The Serpent Crown.
At a small pub in Berlin, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson enjoy a few beers while going over their findings from a recent raid of an old Hydra facility. Rogers tells Wilson that he’s been impressed with how he’s handling himself in the field against what enemies that are becoming increasingly well-armed and well-prepared. As Rogers flips through a tablet containing their dossier and inventory of the items confiscated during the raid, Wilson replies, “Yeah, coming along great, Cap, but guns or no guns, these are just regular guys. You thawed out after 80 years and jumped right in against aliens and gods with a green monster at your back and never flinched. I don’t know how you did it, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that.” Rogers turns the page, pauses and says, “Well, it wasn’t my first time, Sam.” Before cutting to the title screen, the page in the dossier reveals a picture of the Serpent Crown.
An expedition led by Nazi Heimlich Himmler and supported by submarines and several war ships carves out a sweeping path of destruction in the ocean. Depth charges are deployed and as the water settles and as night begins to fall, hundreds of blue bodies begin to bob at the surface. The next morning, Himmler leaves his ship and boards the Hydra submarine the Leviathan and, accompanied by several other similar submarines, begins to descend into the depths of the Southern Ocean. More of the blue-skinned creatures begin to appear and attack the submarines but are quickly killed. Following the destruction of the warriors sent out to stop them, the Nazi submarines deploy several small pods of divers. Himmler smiles. He’s found it. He’s found Atlantis.
Word of the Nazi attack on Atlantis reaches the Royal Family who had relocated from Antarctica roughly 20 years earlier. For the first time, we see the full wonder of Atlantis. Emperor Thakorr and his daughter Fen discuss appropriate retaliation against the Nazis. Thakorr is hesitant to bring the full might of the empire to bear; he points out that the humans, who are so hateful of one another, will happily destroy themselves if given time. He fears that an attack on any humans would give them a reason to unite and destroy Atlantis, which has remained hidden for generations until Himmler’s attack. Their meeting is interrupted by an intrusion by Fen’s brash son, Namor. The pink-skinned prince has worked his way through several members of the Royal Guard and blown through the heavy doors to Thakorr’s war room. Though they are clearly disturbed by his behavior, Fen and her father know they cannot hope to keep him away any longer. The Avenging Son demands revenge on the Nazis but is denied by his grandfather. Namor leaves, the anger burning in his eyes, knowing not even the wrath of the Emperor will stop him.
Himmler, who has long believed the Aryan race to be descendants of Atlantis (this is not fictional, look it up) has returned from the lost city to a warehouse in Berlin where the spoils of his invasion are laid out before him. Surrounded by countless artifacts from the before the recorded history of man, Himmler finds himself drawn to one item in particular: the Serpent Crown. The crown speaks to Himmler and when he touches it, time becomes irrelevant. He finds himself in the past, present and future as his brain floods with visions of Serpent Men, ancient Lemuria, Nazi Germany and Nazi Earth. The crown promises him a totalitarian empire and dominion over the Earth. Though intrigued by the visions, Himmler releases the Crown as a reaction to the searing migraine it’s inflicted on him. It’s clear to him he has the ultimate weapon in the Nazi’s efforts to conquer the world: one that can win the war without firing a single shot; however, they need to find someone who can wield it. Returning to his Ahnenerbe headquarters, Himmler pushes the envelope on locating individuals they believe to possess latent psychic powers.
The World Exposition of Tomorrow has concluded it’s incredible run. Howard Stark and Phineas Horton are meeting to discuss Horton’s Synthetic Man, one of the great wonders of the show. Horton’s description of how he came to create the Synthetic Man, which he calls Jim Hammond, fascinates Stark. During his presentation, Horton indicated he had higher hopes for what he’d be able to share at the Expo, but that Hammond wasn’t complete yet and apologized to the crowd, promising a better display of his creation at the next Expo; his conversation with Stark went a bit differently. As Stark inspects the android from outside the chamber, Horton eagerly adjusts a couple of dials, allowing a small amount of oxygen into his android’s vacuum chamber. To Stark’s amazement, the android’s head and hands burst into flame! Horton, happy with demonstration, removes the oxygen extinguishing the flames. Horton explains that Hammond is an android and while he has a human-like appearance and gives the illusion of having a personality, he can only handle simple programming which can be swapped out. A second, more permanent internal drive allows him to record data (have memories) though he seems unable to learn from them which is something Horton hopes to fix. As the two continue to talk about Horton’s work, a crew carefully loads the vacuum chamber into a large cargo truck which Hammond believes is headed to his Brooklyn lab. After a couple of wrong turns, the truck arrives at the docks and loads the crate containing Hammond onto a ship headed for Nazi Germany (I absolutely imagine this scene playing out like so many have in the Indiana Jones films like when Indy boards the plane in Temple of Doom then the audience finds out whose plane he is on).
Inside a Nazi command room, officers discuss the destruction of what they believed to be a secret missile base in the Pacific. As we circle the room, we see Himmler growing in anger as the reports indicate that the base was destroyed by Atlanteans led by Namor. As Himmler leaves the room with his two assistants, he reminds them that a year prior, Hitler had ordered the destruction of the underwater kingdom and, if not for Namor, it would have been so. In that time, Namor’s legend, as well as his rage, have grown. His grandfather, Thakkor, was nearly killed in the attack and has been in a coma; during that time, Fen named Namor his temporary successor, meaning nobody stood in the way of Namor’s path of destruction. The trio arrive in Himmler’s lab, a room full of occult relics and writings and the empty vacuum chamber of Jim Hammond. Himmler grabs a file and moves through the compound to another room where we meet Paul Destine. Destine was living in France in June of 1940 when the Nazis invaded the country. A Nazi collaborator, Destine claimed to have had visions of the world that would be and chose to do everything he could to make that world a reality. When Himmler became aware of his “visions”, he began experimenting on him and soon realized that Destine had latent but weak telepathic powers. In the years that have passed, Destine has been trained by the Nazi psuedoscientists and gained control of his powers. For the past few weeks, Himmler has been preparing Destine to become the Nazis’ ultimate weapon as the man who wields the Serpent Crown. Destine puts the crown on and demonstrates his ability to control the minds of several concentration camp prisoners, forcing them to bend to his will. When Himmler has seen enough, he gives the order. From the prisoners’ perspective, we see what first begins as a glow, then the camera pans to Jim Hammond as we hear the screams of the prisoners. Phineas Horton’s Synthetic Man has been reprogrammed as a terrible weapon for the Nazis. As we cut back to Himmler, he leaves the room and heads toward a deeply secluded bunker room. Here he reports to Hitler that he is ready to win the war.
*NOTE* Keep in mind that originally, Hammond was a “monstrosity” of science fiction…sort of a warning of what happens when man goes too far. This is probably a little darker place than Marvel Studios would ever take the character, but in the comics he’s done some terrible things as well and had to “live” with them.
Several days later, Steve, Bucky and the Howling Commandos come upon a small village in France that has been completely incinerated. As they move through the village, Steve stops. As he looks more closely, he notices a pair of victims who he first believed to have died in an embrace actually died strangling one another. As he informs the team and they move through the carnage, other similarly strange instances become apparent. These people were killing each other before they were burnt to death. That night, he and Bucky sit apart from the team and talk about the horrors of war. The relationship between these two men before Bucky fell from the train could use some development and this is a great place for it. We know they raided a lot of buildings and beat up a lot of bad guys, but the horrors they witnessed together deepened their bond.
The following morning, Steve and the crew meet up with the Free French resistance. The resistance shares intel on the flying torch that destroyed the city and on the strange. cloaked man who accompanied Himmler to the village. As Steve and Bucky formulate a plan to catch up with the Nazis, the resistance shares on last piece of intel with them: they’re not the only ones chasing Himmler and his Torch. The Free French have an ally from the sea. A man of incredible strength and anger. A man who not only lives in the sea but also flies and has helped liberate small villages like the one Cap and Bucky saw burnt to the ground. They never know when he’ll appear, but they know the Nazis fear him and they know he will stop at nothing to destroy what he can in the time he has on land before returning to the water.
Two days later, Steve, Bucky and the Howling Commandos along with some Allied troops catch up Himmler’s squad thanks to the French intelligence. Himmler, Destine and Hammond are deep in the village where Destine continues to learn to command the Serpent Crown. As the battle grows, Himmler believes it’s time to unleash his ultimate weapon on the allies and sends Destine out to end battle. Through Bucky’s sniper scope, we see the Allied soldiers begin turning on each other as Destine works his way into their minds. Though he’s grown powerful, he finds himself unable to bend the will of Cap. As Cap makes his way through the crowd, Destine steps into the light for the first time. The Crown twists and deforms the man as he struggles with everything he has to slow Cap. Just as he finally makes a dent in the iron will of Rogers, he finds himself on the receiving end of Cap’s shield. However, before he can be taken off the board, a German tank falls from the sky and explodes: Namor has arrived! Wild with rage, Namor dispatches with the Nazi troops with extreme prejudice before catching a glimpse of Himmler. Namor, believing his revenge will be complete when he has Himmler’s head, flies off in pursuit of the Nazi as we hear, for the first time, his famous battle cry!
Namor crashes through the roof of the building into which he saw Himmler run. Several Nazis fire on the Avenging Son to no avail and Namor happily snaps their necks for their efforts. Himmler is cornered. Namor will have his revenge. He grabs Himmler by the throat, lifts him from the ground and as he closes his hand around his neck, we see a flaming hand grab the arm of the Sub-Mariner. Namor drops Himmler as the flame spreads and we see fear on the Atlanteans face as he turns to see the Torch in his full, flaming glory. Namor flies off aflame while Himmler and the Torch head to end the battle raging outside. From his perch, Bucky sees the flaming man take out a half dozen men but he also sees, Himmler, the target that would help end the war, running in the other direction towards Destine. Bucky aims and squeezes the trigger…the bullet ricochets off the android’s head as Himmler, Destine and the Serpent Crown get away. We see the android turn his head to Bucky’s location just before we see it separated from his shoulders by Cap’s shield. The Torch is down, but the real threat has escaped.
As Cap, Bucky and the Howlers regroup at one of the Free French compounds, James Montgomery and Gabe Jones insect the fascinating body of the android. As the duo pokes and prods at the marvel in front of them, a familiar voice chimes in from the background: Howard Stark is on the scene, accompanied by Phineas Horton. The professor is haunted by the horrors his life’s work has wrought. As he and Stark work on the android, Cap and Bucky walk the coastline. Cap explains what he felt as Destine worked to take over his mind: visions of him leading SS troops, wearing a green and gold suit and working as the Hand of Hydra.
As the two continue their walk, Bucky recognizes they are not alone, turns and throws a knife. Though its aim is true, the knife bounces off of Namor’s chest and the Prince of Atlantis continues on. Fill in a lot of pompous, pretentious Namor stuff here as he insults Steve and Bucky, including some typical backhanded compliments given to Steve. The trio returns to camp where we find that while the android Jim Hammond has been reprogrammed, his memories remain intact and expresses, for the first time, a desire: to make up for the horrors he has done. Charles de Gaulle of the Free French resistance delivers new intel from an intercepted message: Himmler and Destine are in Budapest and Himmler feels Destine has achieved his final from and is ready to end the war. Captain America, Bucky, Namor and the Torch rally the troops for what may be their last stand: the Invaders are born.
As Allied bombers conduct runs over the city, we find ourselves following a bomb as it approaches the ground. Just as it appears to be headed for a group of Allied soldiers, Namor flies in and redirects its course. We see an incredible and unrecorded battle take shape on the ground as the Invaders work towards the Nazi stronghold. As the battle turns in favor of the Allies, Destine makes his entrance. Noticeably changed physically, Destine no longer relies on turning the soldiers on one another; he’s grown so strong that he can now simply shut down the minds of those he targets and he can apparently do so to hundreds of soldiers at a time. As the battle rages on, we see Destine shut down Bucky and the Howlers, leaving Cap, Namor and the Torch on their own. As they approach the compound, the Torch’s memories begin to come back to him as he passes by the charred remains of soldiers…he glitches, taking him out of the battle. Cap and Namor charge Destine. Both men of steel reserve, they fight the control of the Serpent Crown before falling victim to Destine’s enormous powers. With no more heroes in his way, Himmler emerges from the compound, standing with Destine. Himmler notices the blood of the Atlantean flowing from his nose and, as a scientist, collects it carefully. As they overlook the carnage and the Nazis take the remaining soldiers prisoner, Jim Hammond approaches his former master. Himmler laughs as the machine he used as a weapon approaches him and he mocks the android. As he continues forward, Destine, glowing from his victory, attempts break into the mind of the android and shut him down. From the cameras perspective, the glow grows and as it pulls away, we see Hammond in full flame as Destine comes to the realization that he cannot control the mind of this android. While Himmler fully realizes the gravity of the situation and runs, Destine’s concentration is broken. Cap, Namor and Bucky find themselves coming to just in time to see Hammond rise into the sky and unleash his full flame on Destine. Destine, fully engulfed in flame, runs for the Danube River but, as he reaches its banks, he succumbs to them, falling dead just as he reaches the water. As he dies, the Serpent Crown falls into the river from his head (the Danube empties into the Black Sea which ultimately connects to the ocean).
As we close we find that while almost everyone has fully recovered, Namor has not. To their best guess, the Allied forces believe that Namor’s unique physiology made him more susceptible to lasting effects of the crown. Namor appears to not only have no recollection of the battle but also no memory of his past at all, including no ability to use any of the incredible powers he demonstrated: his battle with the Serpent Crown has stripped from him all that he was. Steve and Bucky receive a memo directly from the President: they are wanted to help plan Operation Overlord, tentatively planned for May 1.
Sam speaks to Cap who is clearly lost in thought, clearly somewhere else. Cap comes back to the moment and finishes his beer. “Sam, this crown in these files…it wasn’t at the base. It’s in these documents, but it wasn’t there. They had it at some point since then, but it’s gone now. Sam, if this crown is out there, nothing good will come of it. We have to find it.” Sam replies, “I’ll put in on the list.”
If you’ve read Secret Avengers, you know that we could, from here, tell a pretty interesting story about the Serpent Crown reappearing in the modern world! We’ll leave that for another time, perhaps between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
While listening to a record of Franz Schuber, Nathaniel Essex works in his lab studying the blood of Namor while Himmler waits for his results. Having been obsessed with the Theory of Evolution for the last 85 years, Essex knows he has found the next step in that ladder: the first mutant.
A bearded, amnesiac Namor runs through the streets of what remains of Sokovia. Terrified as objects fall from the sky, he seems to instinctively head for the sea. As he reaches the shores, a car falling from a bridge above crashes down on him sending him plunging into the sea. As his eyes reopen, we see the Sub-Mariner reemerge and as he flies up out of the water, towards the destruction, he sees shield of Captain America returning to Steve Rogers hand. Confused by the returning rush of memories, Namor flies off to the ocean, unseen by the Avengers.
This article originally appeared on That Hashtag Show.
Welcome back. In Part 1, we took a look at how the Celestial’s experiments on early man in Eternals could provide the MCU with a path to eventually introducing the Greek pantheon, Hercules, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell among others. Part 2 further explored the early history of the Eternals, their rivals the Deviants, their connections to two famed lost contients, Atlantis and Lemuria, and some potential pathways to bring characters like Namor, the Sub-Mariner and relics like the Serpent Crown to the screen.
The Eternals and Deviants, while intriguing and powerful, only make up two-thirds of the genetically engineered population of the Earth. Celestial experimentation also produced a branch of early man that held within them a dormant gene with the potential to unleash incredible powers at some point. Those latent genes were carried by all of mankind’s early ancestors and those who evolved and manifested that potential became known as Homo superior…the mutants of the Marvel Universe.
While Charles Xavier’s X-Men are the most well known mutants, they are not the only and were certainly not the first. While it’s up for debate as to just who the “first mutant” really, was individuals such as Garbha-Hsien, The Forever Man and Amahl Farouk, aka The Shadow King, are among the contenders for the title. The mutant External known as Selene claims to have been born after the Great Cataclysm which saw Atlantis and Lemuria lost to the oceans, and En Sabah Nur has clear ties to Ancient Egypt. Despite the inability to pinpoint the “first mutant” the focus can remain on the fact that mutants have always been among mankind in the Marvel Universe; however, beginning in the late 19th century, their numbers increased exponentially until modern times.
A total of 13 films (including Dark Phoenix and New Mutants) were made by Fox while they held the live-action rights to mutants. Of those 13, nearly half of them were Wolverine-centric to some degree and while dozens of mutants were introduced in those films, they’ve certainly left Marvel Studios plenty of new territory to cover. A future Marvel Studios film featuring a pair of scientists like Herbert Wyndham and Nathaniel Essex could go a long way towards helping viewers uncover and understand the history and science behind mutants and, as in the comics, the post-nuclear proliferation of the mutant population could be a sign (one picked up on in the comics by the Eternals) that the Celestials would soon be back to check on their work.
Of course Fox was gracious enough to have never utilized some insanely popular and interesting characters that have played huge roles in the X-Men books in the past. Fans of the comics know that the X-Men have been into space nearly has often as they have traveled through time and Marvel Studios will certainly not continue in Fox’s footsteps by shying away from the Cosmic side of things. The Starjammer, the Shi’ar and the Brood all provide a number of interesting stories for Kevin Feige to tell and you can bet that Feige has all kinds of ideas for how to fully integrate these characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While it may be a while before we see (or at least hear the word) mutants in the MCU, it sure seems like there’s a great chance that the seeds will be sown in 2021’s Eternals. The catalog of X-Men stories is enough by itself to sustain a cinematic universe, so what’s most interesting is how Feige and his team of executive producers will weave them into the pre-existing tapestry of the MCU. At this point, your guesses are as good as mine, so let’s hear them in the comment section. What stories would you like told when the mutants make their way into the MCU?
This article originally appeared on That Hashtag Show.
Welcome back. In Part 1, we took a look at how the Celestial’s experiments on early man in Eternals could provide the MCU with a path to eventually introducing the Greek pantheon, Hercules, Moondragon and Phyla-Vell among others. Part 2 will further explore the early history of the Eternals, their rivals the Deviants, their connections to two famed lost contients, Atlantis and Lemuria, and some potential pathways to bring them and their host of characters to MCU.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the Eternals stayed in the shadows, emerging only on occasion to war with the Deviants, or dealing with their own problems which were detailed in Part 1. The genetic manipulation of the Deviants DNA allowed to develop more rapidly than mankind and, as a result, they ruled over most of the world by 18,000 BC. Ruling from the fictional lost land of Lemuria, the Deviants terrorized the inhabitants of the Earth and warred with the one region they could not conquer: Atlantis.
Both Atlantis (located in the North Atlantic Ocean, between North America and Europe) and Lemuria (located in the Southern Pacific Ocean near Southern India, Madagascar and Australia) have made their way into pop culture in various ways over the years but Marvel Comics developed what is an absolutely fascinating treatment of the history of both lost continents. In the earliest times, Lemuria was ruled by Sligguth, the demon spawn of the Elder god, Set. The first cities of men were also built on Lemuria at that time and, eventually, mankind defeated Sligguth and his Dragon Kings and took over the continent. For nearly 100,000 years man thrived on the Lemurian Isles under barbarian kings such as King Kull and often fought with the Serpent Men, remnants of Sligguth’s reign, while the Deviants took control of continental Lemuria and the rest of this world, enslaving mankind, with one exception.
On the other side of the world, the kingdom of Atlantis grew from a land of barbarians (Kull himself was born there) into a one of exploration, trade and alchemy. They created trade routes and discovered new places such as the Savage Land and their alchemists were responsible for the construction of the artifact known as the Serpent Crown which was built as a vessel to house the power of the Elder God, Set. As the two great civilizations grew in power, they continued to come into conflict. After the Deviants overtook the Lemurian Isles, they launched a massive attack on Atlantis wielding the power of the Serpent Crown. To fend off the attack, the Atlantean King unleashed the power of Atlantis’s magma pits. While it defeated the Deviants, it also damaged the tectonic plates below and Atlantis was lost to the sea.
It was at this time that the Celestials, absent from Earth since their genetic experimentation created the Eternals and Deviants, returned to administer the Second Host. Unhappy with how their creations had behaved (the Eternals, for all their power, ignored humanity; the Deviants, in all their cruelty, enslaved it), the Celestials destroyed Lemuria, plunging it underwater and killing most of its Deviant inhabitants. In the comics, this series of events is known as the Great Cataclysm and the flooding of the Earth that followed was responsible for the Ark legend in which the Eternal Utnapishtim built an Ark to help save Earth’s species and his fellow Eternal Ikaris led the Ark to safety.
In the wake of the Great Cataclysm, the Earth was reshaped and man, once again, emerged as the dominant species and spread across the land. This period of nearly 8,000 years became known as the Hyborean Age and saw the likes of Conan and other legends come to life. It was also during this time that the species Homo mermani emerged (some believe through evolution, others believe they were genetically engineered and still others believe that they were survivors of the Great Cataclysm who were transformed either by sorcery or by the god Neptune). While they originally wandered the sea, Homo mermanus eventually found the sunken city of Atlantis and made it their kingdom. At some point, a group of Homo mermanus that worshiped the Elder god, Set, left Atlantis with the Serpent Crown, located sunken Lemuria, and made their home their. That splinter group, led by Naga, came to resemble the early Serpent Men, growing scales and turning green. The Lemurians and Atlanteans became great enemies and have fought against each other for centuries and the Serpent Crown was often at the center of their battles.
Homo mermanus of Lemuria
It doesn’t take a lot of creativity to see the potential here. While the comics present a long, detailed and fantastic story of ancient Earth, Marvel Studios really only has to pick and choose what it would like to show in Eternals in order to set up one of its greatest characters: Namor, the Sub-Mariner. While it’s a subject of speculation and sometimes we like to pretend we know, we truly don’t understand the hangups in the live-action rights that Kevin Feige has hinted at over and again. We do know, however, that Feige’s rhetoric on the subject has evolved over the past several years, culminating with his recent comments which indicated that Namor COULD appear in the MCU and that the studio was pondering the “ifs” and “whens.” While it doesn’t sound like much, that’s as close to confirming plans for Namor as Feige will come and while we don’t know how, we do believe we’ll see the Avenging Son sometime soon.
With a little hand waving here and there, Marvel Studios could establish a brief history of Lemuria and Atlantis, show the Great Cataclysm and the creation/evolution of Homo mermanus. Of course Namor is, at least in the comics, a Homo mermanus/Homo superior hybrid, meaning that his story could be the lynch pin between the story of the Eternals and the X-Men.
Given his age, Namor could appear at any time in the recent history of the MCU and move around as seen fit. While his stories, cast of supporting characters and fan support are worthy of a trilogy of films, it’s unknown exactly what hoops Marvel Studios might have to jump through to make solo Sub-Mariner films. However, should they be capable of going down that road, an origin story that would see Naga or Attuma come into conflict with Namor would be enough to make anyone shout IMPERIUS REX. While fans will be quick to point out that Marvel Studios would just be following the presumed success of DC’s Aquaman, fans of the comics know that while the characters share similar origin stories, they are vastly different men with different values and that Namor has often been the villain (which is probably when he’s at his best). While I’ve long wanted to see Namor square off against T’Challa, The Eternals does provide the opportunity for Marvel Studios to set up a much deeper story for the Lord of the Seven Seas should to be so inclined.
Atlanteans. Lemruians. The Serpent Crown. King Kull and Conan (not sure that Marvel Studios gets to include those characters but it’s still pretty cool). Just a few more potential future stories for the Marvel Cinematic Universe that could spin out of Eternals.
This article originally appeared at That Hashtag Show
When news broke that Marvel Studios was developing film around Eternals, most people were left wondering just who they were. Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige know they are playing with house money at this point, so their apparent willingness to gamble on yet another underappreciated property really isn’t a huge surprise because to this point, those gambles have paid off. Audiences trust the Marvel Studios brand and, for the time being, will continue to line up to see whatever they put on screen. However, as people look to find out more about the cast of characters we will be seeing when Eternals hits theaters on February 12, 2021, they may be surprised to find out that the film, which will likely have its root in the past, has the potential to be the epicenter for the future of the MCU.
When Jack Kirby came back to Marvel Comics in 1976, he created The Eternals and used their story to explore the idea that ancient aliens influenced the evolution of modern man. This is a theme he had played with before during his work on The Inhumans, but really doubled down on in The Eternals following the pop culture craze inspired by the books Chariots of the Gods? and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The theme has been repeated time and time again (Ridley Scott’s fascination with similar ideas certainly showed through in his Alien films and were followed through on in Prometheus), but now may be just the time for it to be fully explored in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While there’s no telling just what Kevin Feige and his team have planned, their love for Kirby’s work has been noticed more and more often over the past several films and it seems possible that they’ll be using one of his most compelling works to put gears into motion that could pay off for another decade. Marvel Studios doesn’t always closely follow the narrative spun by the comics, so anything written here is just my ideas about how Marvel Studios could apply Kirby’s ideas to the MCU.
In The Eternals, Kirby’s space gods were the giant beings known as The Celestials. We’ve already seen Celestials in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and so far, they don’t seem like they’re all that kind. Eson the Searcher wiped out a planet while Ego was set to take over the entire universe and happy to do so while killing all of his children.
Eternals, however, gives the Celestials a chance to redeem themselves a bit and is likely to stick pretty close to the story that Kirby laid over the first 19 issues of the comics and that was expanded upon over the past 40+ years. Created by the universe itself, the Celestials grew to become the great explorers and scientists of the Cosmos, visiting world after world and planting the seeds of evolution. On such a visit to Earth over 1,000,000 years ago, the Celestials encountered early man and as part of the First Host (the first of a series of 4 tests Celestials administer on all the planets where they meddle with evolution), and performed the experiments that would ultimately produce 3 offshoots of humanity: the Eternals, the Deviants and the Latents.
The Celestial known as Ziran the Tester created the Deviants of Earth (Homo descendus) by mutating their DNA, creating an unstable genome which caused each creature to undergo a unique mutation.The Deviants were sometimes hideous, often powerful and became villified throughout history as the monsters and demons of legend. The Celestial named Nezzar the Calculator created the Earthly Eternals (Homo immortus), beings of great beauty who would go on to become the heroes of legend and do battle with the Deviants for centuries. Finally, the Celestial known as Oneg the Prober experimented by adding a latent gene with the potential for mutation which would later manifest itself as the X-gene in Homo superior. Their work complete, the Celestials left Earth leaving the 3 offshoots of early man to fend for themselves. It would be somewhat surprising if we didn’t see the First Host at some point in Eternals or another film.
We know that we’ll be seeing the Terran Eternals in the 2020 film and though they were absent from the list of characters we mentioned, it would hardly be surprising to see their archenemies the Deviants in the film as well. The hatred and warring between them is reason enough to tell their story, a story which can lay the groundwork for many others. Of course Disney’s pending acquisition of the Fox-owned Marvel characters leaves open the titillating notion that Eternals could also provide the origin story for mutants in the MCU. Assuming that their deal is closed by the time the film begins production (tentatively scheduled to begin in London on September 4, 2019) it would take just a minor tweak to any existing script to tease their existence and thrill fans. While that’s far from certain, it’s also hardly the only interesting connection that can be made and so for now, we’ll put aside the enormous potential of mutants in the MCU and speculate as to how the rocky relationship among the Eternals and between the Eternals and Deviants can set up future films and also provide an explanation for some things we’ve already seen.
As the Eternals developed, they built a city called Titanos in Northern Asia. For a time Titanos was ruled by two of the earliest Eternals, the brothers Kronos and Uranos. Kronos was a man of science and philosophy whereas Uranos hungered for war and conquest. The two eventually went to war over Uranos’ wish to rule the planet. Kronos defeated his brother in single combat to end the war and exiled Uranos and his followers into the cosmos.
With Titanos destroyed and its population decimated, Kronos went about the rebuilding of the Titanos. Kronos carried on his scientific studies and fathered two sons, A’Lars and Zuras, whom he made swear an oath that they would never turn on each other the way he and his brother, Uranos, did. While experimenting with the cosmic energy that Eternals wield, Kronos accidentally caused the complete destruction of the rebuilt Titanos and vaporized himself. He later awoke, his mind having become one with the universe, and ascended to godlike levels eventually developing the ability to control and manipulate time. As those events unfolded on Earth, Uranos and his fellow exiles found their way through the cosmos, landing first on Uranus, where a small colony of Eternals remained, and then on one of Saturn’s moons, which they named Titan in honor of their former home. Titan developed for generations before the entity known as the Dragon of the Moon seeded mistrust between the colonists, mistrust that eventually grew into a war which claimed the lives of all but one of Titan’s inhabitants: Sui-San.
Back on Earth in the wake of Kronos’ death, the Eternals discovered the ability to create the Uni-Mind (they all meld together into one collective consciousness) and used it to determine which of Kronos’ sons should lead them into the future. The Uni-Mind chose Zuras as the leader and he lead his people to build 3 new Eternal cities: Olympia, in the Greek Mountains, Oceana in the Pacific Ocean and Polaira, located in northern Russia. From these 3 cities, many generations of Eternals were born. As for his brother, A’lars, kept his father’s dying wish and left Earth of his own accord. In search of a new home, A’lars eventually found the settlement on Titan and worked together with Sui-San to repopulate the colony. He and Sui-San had two children of their own: Thanos and his younger brother, Eros.
From these stories we can see a genealogy that has already influenced the MCU. A’lars, the father of Thanos, was name dropped in Avengers: Infinity War while Thanos was questing for the Soul Stone on Vormir. The early history of the Eternals which pitted brother against brother and ultimately led to the colonization of the cosmos by Terran Eternals certainly feels like something that could (maybe even SHOULD) come into play in the MCU. The character breakdowns we revealed indicated that the cities ruled over by the children of Kronos are both likely to feature in the film. Zuras and his daughter, Thena, are each set to be leads in the film as is A’lars other son, Eros, aka Starfox. In the comics Zuras and the Olympian Eternals were often mistaken for the gods of the Greek Pantheon (Zuras/Zeus, Thena/Athena, Makkari/Hermes) or as other legendary Greek figures (Sersi was the legendary witch Circe from The Odyssey). They made a deal with the Greek gods and it was all rather confusing in the comics. It would MUCH simpler, and not out of line with prior practice, for Marvel Studios to eliminate the confusion and just make the Eternals the Greek gods. If they were to do that, they could create a direct route to introducing the MCU version of Hercules, one of the most iconic Avengers yet to reach the big screen. We do know that they are looking for a male lead to portray a “Greek god” and that one of Herc’s pals, Gilgamesh, is set to appear in the film and are hopeful that means we’ll be getting to see Herc join the MCU in 2020 (and if we get Herc, can Ares be far behind?). We know that Feige has often said that one of the fun things about the Avengers is the rotating roster and if this movie introduces Hercules, Sersi and Starfox, they could join Monica Rambeau (set to be introduced as a young girl in Captain Marvel) as potential members of a future ensemble film.
As for the business on Titan, it’s safe to say that it’s a little more confusing and also a little more exciting. It’s important to remember that with a group of essentially immortal beings, this story can be told at any point, or points, in time. Starfox’s inclusion likely assures us of a trip to Titan and one that might well take place before the destruction described by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. Josh Brolin has stated he’d happily return to work as Thanos again and it would not be surprising to see it happen. Should we see a pre-cataclysmic Titan, we might be fortunate enough to see Thanos’ parents, A’lars and Sui-San, develop the sentient super computer known as I.S.A.A.C.. I.S.A.A.C. controlled almost all of Titan and created several artificially engineered Titanian Eternals to aid him in his duties. One such creation, Elysius, is set to appear in the film and while her comic adventures were brief, they are noteworthy: Elysius used the DNA of the Kree hero Mar-Vell and created two children: Genis-Vell and Phyla-Vell, the latter of whom became Quasar, the protector of the universe, and an integral character in the Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest story lines. Finally, there’s the business of the unknown character known as “Karen.” Described as being international with a timeless feel, “Karen” is set to be a powerful leader who is warm, intuitive and nurturing but also capable of kicking ass. Since there are no Karens involved with the Eternals, we’ve been left to speculate on just who this character might be and one of our favorite guesses is that this will be the MCU version of Moondragon. It would require some changes from the comics to be sure, but James Gunn’s decisions on characters in Guardians of the Galaxy has made those very possible. If we’re going to toss around ideas, we like the idea of adding one of Marvel’s most powerful females to the MCU.
As you can see the potential exists for several new characters and story lines to emerge from this film and that’s just part one. The Greek pantheon. The Dragon of the Moon. Phyla-Vell. The untold ancient history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sounds like the types of things that could set up another 10 years of stories.
