The creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are coming, the Celestials, as Eternals explores the origins of this fictional universe. After some brief teases throughout the various space-themed films, we’ll finally get to spend some time with these mystical beings alongside their creations. Guardians of the Galaxy offered us not just one but two glimpses, such as the floating remains of Knowhere and a brief look at Eson destroying a planet through the Power Stone.
Of course, there was also Ego in the sequel that redefined our understanding of these mystical beings. The upcoming Eternals film will add one more layer to it, as shared by producer Nate Moore. During ScreenRant’s set visit, he discussed that the upcoming film by Chloé Zhao will introduce “true Jack Kirby Celestials.” He went on to compare them to the previously mentioned characters, as:
In the Collector’s lab, they’re frankly not as big as they would be in our mind, and obviously Ego was a much different version. So this gets to be the giant monolithic space gods and you get to see them, which is exciting.
Nate Moore
As the franchise continues to expand, we’ll get introduced to many interpretations of these characters that were popularized in comics. Kirby had some visually stunning visions of these creators of everything, which will finally come to fruition in the upcoming film. It also opens up the possibility of us meeting Death or the Living Tribunal, who had a recent cameo as a statue in Disney+’s Loki series. The franchise is continuing to embrace every aspect of the comics while still building a coherent world. Perhaps we’ll finally learn whose head ended up as Knowhere all those millennia ago.
Will Poulter’s casting as Adam Warlock dominated the afternoon news cycle yesterday, but earlier in the day, multiple sites published Eternals set visit reports and disseminated quite a few interesting tidbits. Key among them and certainly the one that produced the strongest reaction on our social media was the revelation by Executive Producer Nate Moore that Kit Harrington’sDane Whitman was going to be “just a dude” in Eternals rather than the Black Knight. To sum it up, people were angry. Angry that this news seemed to slight both Harrington and the character, who has a rich legacy in the comics; however, it’s possible that everyone is jumping the gun a little bit and possible that while Kit won’t be swinging the Ebony Blade in Eternals, Marvel Studios might have even bigger plans in store for him. In short, you know nothing, angry fan.
Marvel Studios has plans for the Black Knight. They have for the better part of a decade. Barry Gibbs, longtime Marvel Studios prop master and not Bee Gees falsetto, once told the tale of how the Ebony Blade, the cursed weapon of the Black Knight, was originally set to appear in 2016’s Doctor Strange (presumably in the room in the Sanctum Sanctorum where other artifacts are seen) but was taken out of the script for unknown reasons. They didn’t take it out for no reason. There’s been buzz about the Black Knight in insider circles for several years, so while WHERE they chose to introduce him might have been a little surprising, it wasn’t surprising that they did. And when it’s all said and done, introducing Whitman through his relationship with Sersi-which is comic accurate, by the way-will leave all kinds of stories to be told down the road, something Marvel Studios is very keen to do with new characters on Disney Plus.
You won’t see the Ebony Blade in this movie. He’s not going to be Black Knight necessarily, but that is something that we get to play with down the road.
Nate Moore
Moore’s quote above says as much but it seems that, in anger, fans may have overlooked the last part. Marvel Studios didn’t cast Harrington, a face that is both instantly recognizable and associated with swinging a famous, fictional sword, to have him be Sersi’s man candy. We will see Whitman pick up the Ebony Blade (a long-circulating rumor claims that will be a part of one of the film’s two post-credit scenes) and explore the legacy of the Black Knight. In the comics, it’s a long and dark legacy. A recent merch leak indicates that we’ll see part of that legacy teased (maybe explored a bit) through a ring worn by Whitman bearing the Raven crest worn by all iterations of the character over the years. They pulled the Ebony Blade from Doctor Strange for a reason; they cast Harrington for a reason; they are using the ring to tease the legacy for a reason. I would be absolutely shocked if shortly after Eternals premiers there wasn’t some sort of announcement about a Black Knight series being in development for Disney Plus (perhaps this is the project that goes with the recently formed Speyside Productions LLC: Harrington’s wife was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the starting point for most Speyside Whisky tours).
A Black Knight series has the potential to change the narrative fabric of the MCU in much the same way as Loki has done. If Eternals is the portal through which Whitman enters the MCU, his series could serve as the portal through which the King Arthur, Merlin, Mordred and Morgan Le Fay join him through their connections to the original Black Knight and Dane’s ancestor, Sir Percy of Scandia. An introduction to those characters could set the stage for Pete Wisdom, MI13, Captain Britain, Excalibur and more…all because Harrington likes Sersi in Eternals. The series could also introduce Whitman’s uncle, Nathan Garrett, and explore the dark side of the nature of the Black Knight, something that will surely be explored as Whitman’s character grows over the years-and make no mistake, the 34-year old Harrington didn’t sign on Marvel without a vision of what he might do over the next decade. At his age, a steady job with Marvel Studios sets him up for life.
So don’t despair, fans of Whitman. While he might take a back seat in Eternals, he’s going to get his time to shine.
Paddington‘s Paul King is tackling the film for Warner Bros. and it’s currently eyeing a release in March 2023. Chalamet will be joined by Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, and Sally Hawkins as they explore the early days of Wonka. The adaptation will see the time when Willy Wonka built his famous chocolate factory long before the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory took place. The actor has paid tribute to GeneWilder‘s famous line in his last post and his design does seem to take inspiration from the 1971 version of the character. As the Tim Burton version of the character also explored his origin, it’ll be interesting to see how this story stands out in comparison.
Here’s a rather curious casting, as James Gunn‘s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has found its Adam Warlock. After getting a brief tease in a post-credit sequence in the last entry, Will Poulter will bring the character to life in the upcoming sequel. He’ll join the returning cast of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff. There have been rumors reported in the past that may have hinted at his inclusion and it seems it came to fruition. Borys Kit added some more information on who was included in the earlier shortlist:
Since at least August, it's been the role "every one wants." At least for young male Hollywood, which read and met on it. Rege-Jean Page was considered for it, 1917's George MacKay was on the shortlist. https://t.co/dwmJ2QGZFB
It’s probably the last name one might’ve expected connected to the character, but Poulter has proven he’s got acting chops in the past to take on this role. The plot still remains under wraps, but his inclusion does mean the Sovereign are definitely returning in the sequel. So, we can also expect Elizabeth Debicki to reprise her role. There’s also the question if he might have a first appearance in the upcoming Holiday Special heading to Disney+, which is confirmed to be canon. Still, the confirmation is quite an interesting one as James Gunn publicly discussed a piece by Illuminerdi back in March where he seemed to confirm and deny his inclusion.
Deadline goes on to highlight that Gunn and Marvel Studios have been eyeing an actor since the end of August. They’ve had quite a few auditions, which includes the above-mentioned actors, but Poulter‘s performance put him on top of the list. He’s worked on various projects such as The Revenant and Detroit. Though he’s also had some more TV-oriented projects in the works like Hulu’s Dopesick alongside Michael Keaton and Amazon’s The Underground Railroad.
It looks like a Russian promotion for Skittles may have once again added fuel to the fire that is the mystery surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home. Twitter user @SpiderMan3news noticed a promotion that ties into the upcoming Marvel Studios-Sony production. Yet, the bigger surprise is that the image involved in it isn’t of Tom Holland‘s titular webhead but rather Andrew Garfield‘s. He is only seen on the billboard on the promotional website, but it mainly plays the trailer we saw release in August. It’s quite a curious slip-up, or potentially just a promotion that accidentally leaked online earlier than expected.
If you go on to the Russian skittles website and follow all the instructions you will see a billboard with Garfield's Spider-Man that plays a trailer saying "there is no way home"
While Eternals is being described as Marvel Studios’ most ambitious project. It’s a tall statement after the insanity that was Avengers: Endgame. Of course, it also opens up the floodgate of questions if they could ever truly top the last entry as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come together once more. There still hasn’t been an announcement for the fifth entry in the franchise, but ComicBook.com used the chance to discuss it while visiting the set of Chloé Zhao‘s new film. In an interview with producer Nate Moore, he had the following to say on it:
I think you can, or you can not, you know what I mean? And I think, Avengers 4 was called Endgame for a reason. We haven’t really talked in a real way about what an Avengers 5 would be even. We could build towards it or we could just say, ‘Hey, here’s a standalone Avengers movie.’ And I think as long as the story was strong and interesting enough people will come and see it.
Nate Moore
Moore does go on to say that while they could make a standalone project, they love leaving breadcrumbs and letting these crossover storylines grow throughout the films.
We’re kind of nerds so we like to build towards things and we like to spread bread crumbs and see where they come… But yeah, and I think audiences also kind of want to be surprised. So, to some degree, we don’t want to say, ‘You saw that trick, let’s do that trick again.’ What’s the new way to surprise people if, and when we did an Avengers movie, what would be the funnest version of that?”
Nate Moore
When discussing the potential of Jonathan Majors‘ Kang the Conqueror becoming the franchise’s next main antagonist, the Marvel Studios producer didn’t give a clear answer but teased that the world is their oyster with this new film.
It could be anything. Do you go the opposite and make the stakes really personal and small, because what’s bigger than Endgame? You know what I mean? How do we make the stakes bigger than that?” The universe is going to collapse? I don’t know. Or is it there another way where, ‘Oh, here’s a really clever Mission: Impossible style Avengers movie that gets to be smaller. Again, all ideas we can play with, but I do feel like the door’s a bit open and audiences will be kind of game to follow us
Nate Moore
The potential of a smaller story to bring together the Avengers is an interesting idea. The team has a revolving door of members. So, not every story needs to introduce every single character we’ve met along the way. Of course, they could also do what they did with the first entries by building up throughout various films before the true big bad shows his face.
The upcoming film Eternals takes place across 7,000 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe history. There are many unique corners of that timeline to explore, but we’ve been wondering where the main portion of the story will take place. We could be spending a lot of time with this alien race throughout history, or could the main storyline focus on the post-Avengers: Endgame timeline teased in the trailers. Luckily, the set visit by ComicBook.com offered some insight.
Producer Nate Moore discussed where the film takes place and it seems to be around the same time as Spider-Man: Far From Home. He does keep it a little vague, which might be a lesson they learned when giving Homecoming a definite time window between its opening storyline and the first Avengers film, but it helps solidify the story’s place within the franchise. Moore confirms that 60% takes place in the modern-day with the rest exploring different times in history. He goes on to say that:
It could be concurrent [to Spider-Man: Far From Home]. Again, they sort of operate on a different system. Although, Far From Home does take place in London, ironically. So it’s sort of an undefined time. I don’t think it’s, years have not passed, I will say that.
Nate Moore
We’ve still been hoping for Marvel Studios to reveal an actual timeline for the MCU. As it continues to expand with more films and Disney+ series, it’s going to be difficult to keep an overview. There’s also the challenge surrounding the multiversal expansion that kickstarted in Loki, which might add quite a bit more complexity. Plus, Sony might always be actively trying to connect their franchises as much as possible.
We’ve known since the announcement of Eternals that we’re about to see a new group of aliens arrive on Earth. The trailer gave us a tease of their spaceship and when they first arrive, millennia before the Avengers were even a thought. Still, we know very little about their backstory outside of their ongoing war with the Deviants. Looks like a set visit by ComicBook.com may have given us an interesting reveal. Marvel Studios producer Nate Moor has unveiled that this group of heroic aliens are from the planet Olympia.
In the past, we see the Eternals, who in our version of the mythology, are immortal aliens from a planet called Olympia. The group has been tasked by the Celestials to come to Earth and eliminate creatures known as Deviants
Nate Moore
This reveal is quite interesting as they are commonly known to live on Titan, the planet we visited in Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos is an Eternal in the comics with the Deviant gene, which made us wonder if he has any connection with the upcoming group. In the trailers, they seemed aware of his existence but not of his potential origin. So, we’ll see if this opens up the possibility of other Eternals and their existence across the galaxy. Plus, the Olympia name is a nice play on the fact that some of the alien races were mixed up with the actual Greek gods. In the comics, Olympia was the name of a city. So, they might’ve given each race their own planet.
The moment that we found out Kit Harington will play Dane Whitmore, many of us believed that we could see the Black Knight join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Surprisingly, he hasn’t had a large role in any of the trailers and mainly seemed to fall into the background. He also seems to primarily be the love interest for Sersi in the modern-day rather than a knight from the past. Still, we had some hope that he’ll wield the Ebony Blade at some point in the story. Yet, producer Nate Moore confirmed he won’t be wielding the blade in the film but it’ll act as a set-up for the future.
You won’t see the Ebony Blade in this movie. He’s not going to be Black Knight necessarily, but that is something that we get to play with down the road
Nate Moore
Sadly, it seems we’ll have to wait a bit longer until the Black Knight joins the franchise. Harington is quite the name for a small role in this film. So, we can expect a lot more of him in the future. He seems like a likely candidate to get his own Disney+ spinoff at some point, but we’ll see how his role unfolds in the film when it drops in early November. There’s also the ring that connects the character to his past with a raven insignia on his ring, as revealed through merchandise. They are planting the seeds.
By all accounts, Eternals is set to be quite the stand-out film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Phase Four movie showcasing relatively unfamiliar characters from Marvel comics and introducing dramatic new mythology to the MCU. Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao has also teased how Eternals will stand out visually.
Zhao, who is well-known for her work on Nomadland, said that she believes Marvel Studios hired her for Eternals because of her ability to make the movie immersive enough for audiences to believe the premise that these superheroes have been around for 7,000 years. In an interview with Fandango, she highlighted that:
[T]here’s what I like to call an anthropological way of capturing things. The cameras are very grounded, and the movements are very natural. Shots are longer — we use wide angle lenses, and deep focus. Very similar to the thing you and I did together for Nomadland… it’s about giving the audience the space and the time to be able to explore what’s within the frame, and therefore come to their own conclusion of the relationship between the characters and the space they’re in.Chloé Zhao
Overall, the director emphasized that one of the most important goals of the visual process was the make the otherworldly story of Eternals feel grounded. The key to that, according to Zhao, is consistency:
In this case you’re going throughout history and 7,000 years, [and so it’s] even more important to make us feel like this world feels real and grounded. I wanted to apply that same digital style to everything from action, visual effects, to also capturing the grand mythology of the Celestials in the cosmos, and the consistency of that. I wanted it to feel grounded yet fantastical.
Chloé Zhao
If her work on Best Picture-winner Nomadland and the footage of Eternals released so far is any indication, the upcoming installment of the MCU will be a visual experience unlike what audiences have seen so far from Marvel Studios.
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