Eternals introduces 10 new superheroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but director Chloé Zhao revealed there were initially plans for two more characters to join the lineup.
In an interview with Fandom, Zhao said there were 12 Eternals when she first spoke to Marvel Studios about the film, but she and her production team "had to let two go along the way." The 10 Eternals that ended up on screen are Thena (Angelina Jolie), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Ajak (Salma Hayek), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and Druig (Barry Keoghan).
Zhao, who didn’t reveal which two Eternals from the comics were also in consideration, went on to say that juggling 10 central superheroes was enough of a challenge -- especially in terms of each one making an impression. "Some characters don’t need the most screen time, it’s about what they do with the screen time," she explained. "They have to be memorable. And when we looked at these 10 unique individuals, we thought about how they represent 10 aspects of human nature. They’ve been here for so long, who they become today is a big part of who we are. And so it was actually equally important that they remain memorable. All 10 of them had the same weight; not necessarily screen time, but the weight."
Although Eternals is part of the MCU and includes brief references to the Avengers and Thanos, producer Nate Moore recently noted that the film is one of the franchise's most self-contained installments. "We definitely have ideas of how things can cross over later. But this movie with 10 characters and Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) and the Celestials and the Deviants, there was enough for us to play with," he said.
While it’s possible that Eternals will kick off a new franchise within the MCU, Moore noted that sequels to the latest Marvel movie aren’t a guarantee. "It’s not something that is a must-have," he said. "Obviously, we have ideas of where we could go, but there isn’t a hard and fast rule where we have to have three of these things and this is the first."
Whether Eternals lands a sequel will largely depend on the film’s performance at the box office. As for critics, they've been mixed on the superhero epic. At the time of this writing, Eternals has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- making it the worst-reviewed film in MCU history and the only one to receive a "Rotten" score on the review aggregation site.
Eternals hits theaters Nov. 5.
Source: Fandom