Last week, we heard a rumour that we honestly thought was too weird to be true– Marvel was planning to bring Jack Kirby’s cosmic superbeings, the Eternals, to its Cinematic Universe. It’s no longer a rumour – Marvel’s officially putting the Eternals into consideration.
When Gods Walked the Earth! Cover art for The Eternals #13. Image: Jack Kirby and John Verpoorten (Marvel Comics)
Speaking to The Wrap at an Avengers: Infinity War press event (which we’ll have more on later today), Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige confirmed the rumours that the Eternals were being considered as part of the studio’s “Phase 4” plans – not going as far as to confirm an actual movie is definitely on the way, but stating that the studio is currently looking at the series to see if they “believe” in the characters enough to turn them into movie stars:
Eternals is one of many many many things that we are actively beginning to have creative discussions about to see if we believe in them enough to put them on a slate.
Created by Jack Kirby in 1976, after he returned to working at Marvel following a stint at DC where he created the cosmic Fourth World and the New Gods (which are, funnily enough, also getting their own movie from Warner Bros., helmed by Ava DuVernay), the Eternals are an offshoot of humanity, evolved by the space-bound, godlike beings known as the Celestials (like Star-Lord’s dad Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2) millions of years in Earth’s past, granting them powers and the ability to manipulate cosmic energies themselves.
It’s definitely a very odd choice – but then again, Marvel has made a name for itself in picking some oddball comics to turn into multi-million dollar box office successes, so who knows?