Not only does the first Eternals footage released by Marvel Studios give us our first look at the central team and the general aesthetics of the MCU adventure, but it also marks the fierce debut of Angelia Jolie’s cosmic warrior, Thena. The Academy Award winning actress joins the world of Marvel as an Eternal who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy, a power teased in the footage as Jolie wields a mystical, and very powerful, looking sword.
Marvel’s Eternals is set to feature one of the MCU’s most star-studded ensemble casts, including Anglelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, and Barry Keoghan.
The movie will introduce audiences to the Eternals, a species of immortal aliens from a distant planet who arrived on earth thousands of years ago and have been protecting humans since the dawn of time. Created by the Celestials, a race of powerful extra-terrestrial cosmic beings who have secretly lived on Earth for over 7000 years, The Eternals must reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts.
Angelina Jolie, who of course is no stranger to action-oriented roles thanks to roles in the likes of Wanted, Tomb Raider, and Mr. And Mrs. Smith, recently explained what it was about this particular Marvel outing that convinced her to join the hugely popular franchise. “I love this cast, and that we all came together. I signed up to support Chloé [Zhao]’s vision and Marvel’s commitment to expand the way we see “superheroes”,” Jolie said of her decision to join the project. “Running around in a gold bodysuit was not how I imagined my forties. But it’s good crazy, I think.” No doubt that despatching alien bad guys with a golden sword is also something else the actress did not imagine she’d be doing in her forties, but this first footage proves that it’s never too late to become a golden-suited, energy-blasting superhero.
While Jolie may be one of the most recognizble names in Hollywood, the actress is not the lead of Eternals, with Marvel Studios Boss Kevin Feige recetly revealing that that honor actually belongs to Gemma Chan’s character, Sersi. “But then also it came down to casting. So for Sersi, for instance – and if there was a lead in this ensemble, it is Sersi, it is Gemma Chan – we looked at and read all sorts of women for that part,” Feige said. “And ended up really believing that Gemma was best for it. And thankfully, she’s proven that to be the case in the final movie.”
Eternals is just one of several upcoming Marvel Studios movies that will open up the Marvel Cinematic Universe to themes and ideas never before seen. While Eternals explores the outer reaches of the cosmos and the vast history of the Marvel world, sequels Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man: No Way Home will introduce audiences to the multiverse and all the comic book craziness inherent therein. Eternals is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 5, 2021, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.
