While Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be giving us films featuring previously established characters, such as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), it will also be carving out an exciting new path with THE ETERNALS. Based upon the series created by Jack Kirby, the comic "is set millions of years in the past, when the cosmic beings known as the Celestials genetically experimented on humans to create super-powered individuals known as the Eternals, along with the villainous Deviants. The two groups battled each other throughout history."
In an interview with Omelete at CCXP, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke about THE ETERNALS, saying that the upcoming film is something totally different from anything we've seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
[THE ETERNALS] is an epic that spans 7,000 years of human history, has cosmic connotations, and changes everything we know about the MCU, and that is what we wanted to do, along with Black Widow, for the beginning of Phase 4, to announce something totally new, totally different.
"It’s slightly ambitious, and takes place… from present-day to Mesopotamia to all sorts of locations and time periods and really feels like nothing we’ve done before," Feige continued. The Marvel chief also confirmed that the Celestials and the Deviants will play a big part in THE ETERNALS. "We will see the Celestials in their full, true, enormous power in Eternals, yes," Feige said. "Deviants are in the film. The Deviants in the comic book mythology were…extremely important plans of the Celestials…and we will see Deviants that look unlike anything we’ve seen in the comics. This is a new form of Deviants that we’re revealing in the movie."
Directed by Chloé Zhao, THE ETERNALS stars Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Barry Keoghan as Druig, and Kit Harington as The Black Knight. Given that many of the main characters in THE ETERNALS have been around for thousands of years, Kevin Feige teased that "The Eternals know about the existence of The Avengers, but the Avengers don't know much about The Eternals…yet," and Feige added that a master plan is already well underway to bring them all together.
THE ETERNALS is slated for a November 6, 2020 release.