It’s been a chaotic kind of run in the lead-up to the theatrical release of The Eternals for Marvel Studios. The film was set for a fall 2020 debut, the pandemic hit, things got moved around, and we spent a lot of time wondering how the ramp-up would go as Marvel still had a lot of things in production. It’s lead to 2021 having four Marvel films coming out including the Sony/Marvel Spider-Man film.
With the film set for a November 5th, 2021 debut, Marvel is making sure to handle all of these different projects. Shang-chi is just a couple of weeks away but now we have the final extended trailer for this film, which comes in at three minutes and delivers some fantastic moments. We do keep getting word that we’ll learn why this group wasn’t involved in Infinity War but I’m not sure that’s such a huge question in the minds of many.
Directed by Chloe Zhao, the film is set to star Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Kit Harington as Dane Whitman.
The comics were produced originally in the 1970s by Jack Kirby with some really neat designs and ideas behind it but they’ve never been heavily used in the comics continuity overall. We’ve had some references to them in brief in the cinematic side though so it makes sense to try and explore more of that.
The studio recently brought on some writers to put it into more formal development to see what can happen with Matthew and Ryan Firpo, who got some notice last year for the spec script Ruin that was quite well regarded on the 2017 Black List.
The film has Chloe Zhao directing it. Her most recent work was The Rider which like most of her projects sees her as the writer and director along with producing credits as well, though the majority of her works are short films. Check out the 2015 film Songs My Brothers Taught Me and the 2017 film The Rider.
There’s been a bit more of an embrace on the cinematic side for some of the more “outlandish” elements that made up a good chunk of what Kirby really worked on over the years, notably in Thor: Ragnarok, so it’s exciting to think more of his material will be coming out – and reinforcing the cosmic side that the next ten years looks to embrace.
Property Concept: Deep in the God Chamber, archeologist Daniel Damien and his daughter Margot learn from their assistant, Ike Harris (aka Ikaris, an Eternal) that he must activate the Cosmic Beacon deep within the God Chamber! But Deviants Kro and Brother Tode have another plan for Ikaris in mind…
Previous teasers and material:
The cast of Marvel Studios’ “The Eternals” takes the stage at #D23Expo. pic.twitter.com/1mvOxXJ8Dm
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) August 24, 2019
