Marvel's Eternals will follow two separate storylines.
According to a press release from Disney, as reported by The Direct, the plot of Eternals takes place across two different time periods. One storyline will follow the Eternals' early days as a "formidable team and a close family unit," while the second storyline shows the team in the present, now separated and fractured, living amongst the humans. As the threat of the Deviants looms large, the Eternals are forced to reunite once again to fight this impending threat.
"We want audiences to discover a corner of the Marvel universe they've never seen before," said Marvel executive producer Nate Moore. "We want them to discover a mythology that is a challenging sci-fi movie but also has a human heart. And we want them to meet ten heroes who they hopefully can relate to."
Directed by Chloé Zhao, the superhero epic will have a lot of ground to cover with one of the MCU's longest runtimes, clocking in at two hours and 36 minutes long. Based on the trailers, the two storylines will encompass a large portion of humanity's time on earth, stretching eons into the past to the modern-day. While the film itself is intended to be a standalone story, it will have major ramifications on the Marvel Universe as a whole moving forward.
"I think we stand alone as a film for sure," Zhao said in a previous interview. "But I do think we will have a very big effect on the future of the MCU with what happens in this film. Which, you know, as a fan, is really satisfying for me! I geek out."
Last year, Marvel announced that Eternals would be delayed from its original Feb. 12, 2021 release date to Nov. 5, 2021. However, it was recently reported that the film's release date depends on Shang-Chi's box office performance; if the Simu Liu/Awkwafina led film underperforms upon its Sept. 3 opening, Eternals could move to later in 2021 or beyond. Directed by Zhao from a screenplay by Matthew and Ryan Firpo, Eternals arrives in theaters Nov. 5. Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently confirmed that Eternals will maintain its originally planned fall 2021 release date and will premiere exclusively in theaters, like other upcoming MCU film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Eternals arrives in theaters Nov. 5.
Source: The Direct