While AVENGERS: ENDGAME carried a certain finality to it, audiences were fully aware it marked a new beginning for the MCU. Kevin Feige and crew already have the next decade of Marvel films all planned out including the upcoming Phase IV slate. The docket for the MCU includes a DOCTOR STRANGE sequel, Black Widow's first solo venture, and a third SPIDER-MAN film. However, while the aforementioned movies are known properties, two forthcoming films – THE ETERNALS and SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – are not.
November will introduce the world to the Eternals, an immortal alien race who have secretly lived on Earth for 7,000 years and reunite to save the world from the Deviants. Among this new band of heroes is Kumail Nanjiani who plays Kingo, an Eternal possessing cosmic powers. The film was Nanjiani's first exposure to the MCU and he hit the gym a few times to get in shape for the role. Although THE ETERNALS has not quite finished principal photography, Nanjiani felt comfortable enough giving some sage advice for fellow gym rat and SHANG-CHI actor Simu Liu in a recent interview with etalk:
"Well, Simu was already in really good shape. Not that I wasn't- Simu is already in great shape, and he's going to get in better shape. We met him, we met him at Comic-Con, he was very, very nice. I would suggest, have fun, just enjoy it. It can be very hard when you're doing a big thing like that to really like- you want to focus, but it can be hard to sometimes not enjoy it while you're doing it. So that would be my advice to him, just have fun."
Now I know the advice "just have fun" comes off rather obvious and banal, however sometimes in life we have to be reminded of the most fundamental and basic tenets of our existence. Playing the lead in a major film is daunting. Playing the lead in a superhero movie – an MCU film to boot – increases the difficulty exponentially. Compound that with the fact that this is the first MCU film where the lead superhero is Asian and you've got a recipe for intense pressure. There's a certain weight of responsibility that's associated with the part and actors like Liu probably can't help but ponder that responsibility. Consequently, one can forget how important it is to have fun with the role. After all Liu is getting the chance to play a beloved superhero on film, a part most people only dream of. As an actor it's important to step back occasionally and appreciate how awesome that fact really is.
THE ETERNALS descends from celestial heights November 6, 2020 and SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS is slated to begin principal photography shortly with a planned release date of February 12, 2021.