While Marvel revealed a lot of huge things at their return to Hall H in San Diego this weekend. This included Mahershala Ali as Blade, Natalie Portman as Thor and that there are plans in the works for the Fantastic Four and X-Men. But something all too easily overlooked is the completely new cosmic quarter of the MCU opened up by the confirmation that The Eternals are getting their own movie, to be released on November 6th, 2020.
An offshoot of humanity, the Eternals are a group of powerful beings created by the Celestials to protect the Earth. They wage war against their counterparts, a group called the Deviants, who worship the Sleeping Celestial, a darker being than most of that group, who the Deviants seek to give dominion over the Earth. We’ve got a whole new team made up of amazing stars, something we’ve not seen on such a scale since Guardians of the Galaxy was announced. We’ve got a huge cast playing amazing roles, check out the full list below!
Richard Madden As Ikaris
The Eternals are closely linked to many myths and legends we have on Earth, particularly Greek Olympian Gods. Ikaris is the father of legendary figure Icarus and adopted the name Ikaris after his son was killed on Earth. His body is greatly augmented by cosmic energy, making him possibly almost as powerful in many ways as Captain Marvel in the MCU, with the ability to fire cosmic energy, teleport himself and fly at incredible speeds, as well as read the thoughts of beings less developed than him. Interestingly, in the comics, Ikaris challenged Thena and defeated her to become the leader of the Eternals, something I can definitely see being explored in the MCU.
Angelina Jolie As Thena
Strangely enough, though, we aren’t maybe going to see that story directly adapted in the first Eternals film, because the character descriptions we got do not list Thena as the leader of the team. Often mistaken for Athena and linked to the Olympians, she is a powerful warrior with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and reflexes. If that wasn’t enough, she’s also got an incredible intellect, though after becoming Prime Eternal in the comics she was influenced and controlled by the villainous Kro, and had to relinquish the title to Ikaris.
Salma Hayek As Ajak!
Most normal fans and even many die-hard fans won’t be aware of the exploits of the Eternals, and therefore may not realize there’s been a bit of sneaky gender-bending going on here, as Ajak is a man in Marvel Comics. However, this is an exciting prospect, as Salma Hayek is an excellent actress, and the character descriptions unveiled at SDCC name her as the leader of the team, which presents interesting potential conflicts with the sure-to-be leadership contenders in Ikaris and Thena. We don’t know much about the specific powers that Ajak will have, but much like the other team members she has incredible strength and is immortal, and she may have the ability to communicate more directly with the Celestials than the other members.
Lauren Ridloff As Makkari!
Talk about gender-bending, this time not only is Makkari being made from a man in the comics into a woman, but a deaf one to boot! An intriguing move by Marvel, they’ve cast Lauren Ridloff, who is deaf in real life, as the Eternal who focused all of his cosmic energies in the comics into his speed, enabling him to achieve near-light speed but weakening some of his other attributes from the average Eternal abilities. I’m really excited to see Marvel bring this character to the screen in such a unique way, although it is marginally confusing that one of the Eternals, a race of beings meant to not suffer any of the “faults” of humanity, could turn out to be deaf.
Brian Tyree Henry As Phastos!
Phastos is an Eternal who is often mistaken for the Greek God Hephaestus and is the master technologist for the Eternals. He creates their powerful weapons and armor and carries a hammer which can manipulate energies in ways the Eternals cannot on their own. He also hates war greatly, but still followed Ikaris into battle when called upon.
Lia McHugh As Sprite!
Lia McHugh is an up-and-coming actress who is going to be the youngest Marvel superhero in the MCU. Though not the youngest in-universe, as she’ll be something in the region of 35,000 years old. This could be quite an amusing thing for McHugh to explore with her character, especially as Sprite is known in Marvel Comics for being a trickster, taking part in “playful” behavior that often turns rather deadly. I wouldn’t bank on Sprite being entirely trustworthy in the film.
Don Lee As Gilgamesh!
This is another interesting casting choice, as there is no character called Gilgamesh that appears in any of the comics. Interestingly though, there is a character known as the Forgotten One, who is an Eternal that has also been a member of the Avengers. He has been mistaken for the ancient hero of Mesopotamian Mythology called Gilgamesh, so it is possible that Don Lee’s character is the Forgotten One and this moniker is a tease towards his true role. Either way, he’s likely to be someone quite deadly indeed.
Kumail Nanjiani As Kingo!
Kingo Sumen is a master swordsman and samurai, while also posing as a film star and producer on Earth. Kumail Nanjiani is likely to bring his hilarity to this role. Somebody a bit cocky and Hollywood, while being the master of swordsmanship when it comes down to the fighting.
That’s everything we know so far about the cast of Eternals. Though we don’t have anyone here that seems to be playing one of the Deviants, we could see some of these ones turning on the team and becoming part of that evil group. Nevertheless, after exploring these characters further, I’m hugely excited to see what this film brings next year!
