Wait, Who Are the Eternals?

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The 2021 MCU entry is finally streaming on Disney+. Here’s what you need to know before hitting play. Art: Marvel

When contract disputes and creative differences sent veteran Marvel comics artist Jack Kirby — the man who co-created Captain America, the Avengers, and the X-Men, among others — into the arms of DC Comics in 1970, New Gods was born. It constituted a thematic continuation of the stories he’d been crafting for the Asgardians in Thor, featuring an original pantheon of characters powerful to the point of godhood. The New Gods were divided into two planets: Genesis, a world of peace led by the Highfather, and Apokolips, a planet of cruelty ruled by the despot Darkseid. The two opposed civilizations had struck a deal: The sons of Highfather and Darkseid would be traded, so Apokolips-born Orion would grow up on Genesis and Genesis-born Scott Free (better known as Mister Miracle) would be raised on Apokolips. The arrangement was part treaty and part experiment; neither world would wage war on the other with a prince in the way, and it could settle the question of the nature versus nurture debate, too.

But the series didn’t perform well at the time and was canceled in 1972, leaving a climactic battle between Orion and his father Darkseid unresolved. There are no New Gods movies currently streaming on HBO Max, although Ava Duvernay nearly adapted it and several of Apokolips’s villains feature in Wonder Woman and Justice League. Still, the story proved to be an influential property in DC’s superheroic canon, with Darkseid going on to fight Superman numerous times and become the central antagonist of the Great Darkness Saga over in Legion of Super Heroes and the Final Crisis miniseries decades later.

More than that, New Gods proved influential across the comics aisle. The story of the Eternals, who feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2021 entry named after them (which is currently streaming on Disney+), owes a lot to the demise of New Gods. After its end, Kirby bounced around various DC projects before once again growing creatively dissatisfied and jumping ship. By 1975, he was back at Marvel, and one of the first things to spring from his pen was 1976’s The Eternals. Having previously drawn on Norse mythology to build his deities, Kirby drew from Incan history this time around; the gods once worshipped by Incans, he suggested, were in fact a divergent evolution of the “Dawn Ape” — mankind’s progenitor. The Celestials, gigantic and inscrutable ur-gods, created both the Eternals and their nemeses, the Deviants, alongside humanity but distinct from it, from a prehistoric ape. The Eternals were “few in number” and “immune to time and death,” and each of them possessed unique powers, while the Deviants were “ever-changing and destructive,” an unstable species that mutated in new and monstrous ways with each new generation, prone to constant warfare. The Deviants sought out the depths of the Earth to hide, and the Eternals took to mountaintops, forming vast cities like Olympia in Greece and Polaria in Siberia. Eventually even these peaks would prove lacking, and the Eternals took to space, only visiting Earth occasionally to check in on humanity’s progress.

Kirby’s original Eternals story isn’t set in the time of the Inca, but centers around the Eternals’ return to Earth in modern times. His lead is the golden-haired and golden-eyed Ikaris, who, under the alias Ike Harris, leads a father-daughter pair of explorers into an ancient underwater Incan ruin and reignites a beacon that leads the Eternals back to Earth — and right behind them, their creators. The impossibly old Celestials stand in judgment of all intelligent life; if the Eternals (and New Gods and Asgardians) reflect the enormity of polytheistic pantheons, the Celestials rise above even that, with the power to end entire planets. Moviegoers have seen at least a few Celestials on the MCU screen — the colony of Knowhere, featured in Guardians of the Galaxy, exists in the skull of a dead Celestial. Later in the same film, the Collector (Benecio Del Toro) views footage of the Celestial Eson the Searcher. And while he is definitively not a Celestial in the comics, the cinematic version of Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russel) claims to be a Celestial in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The Celestial Arishem, with the power to judge humanity in the palm of his hand. Art: Marvel

The Celestial Arishem the Judge is the first to appear in the comics. Massive and encased in red armor, he does nothing when he arrives but stand atop a rock and judge Earth’s progress (according to metrics known only to the Celestials themselves). The set-up: If he judges in Earth’s favor, the planet lives, and if not, Earth is to be destroyed. More directly interested in the Earth’s destruction are the Deviants, who are eager to expand an empire, as they once did in the days of pre-history. To this end, they’re ruled by a squat, green Deviant named Tode, who commands an underling named Kro. Kro, a largely human-shaped creature with reddish skin and the ability to manipulate his own atomic structure, would go on to become a central antagonist in the Eternals’ saga. Within the first few issues, he uses his powers to grow a pair of horns, so that he might resemble the Devil and play on humanity’s fears.

After Ikaris, Kirby introduces Ajak (named after the Greek hero Ajax), Sersi (after the Greek figure Circe), Makkari (after the Roman god, Mercury), Zuras and Thena (after Zeus and Athena), and more. While each Eternal’s powers vary — for instance, Ikaris can levitate and shoot energy beams from his eyes, while Makkari has super-speed, and Thena is a masterful hand-to-hand combatant and scholar — all Eternals generally have the same abilities. They include invulnerability, longevity, and immunity to disease, as well as teleportation, some low-level telepathic ability, the ability to project illusions, and complete molecular control over their entire bodies. In crafting their individual and collective storylines, Kirby wove in not just fantastic fiction, but his own ideas about religion and humanity, his feelings about global politics, and even elements of his time serving in World War II. For example, in recounting the ancient history of the Eternals and Deviants, he describes a pre-emptive strike akin to Pearl Harbor followed by a mushroom cloud retaliation that is roughly analogous to his perception of U.S. involvement in World War II. Here, Kirby not so subtly equates his gods with American forces, and the monstrous deviants with the Japanese.

Art: Marvel

But the lines between the Eternals and Deviants did get blurry; within a few issues, two Deviants are shown living under the protection of the Eternals, away from their own kind. Kirby leaned on the idea of “good” people and “evil” people, but he also repeated the same trick he pulled with New Gods, placing paramount importance on a given character’s moral choice in a moment. A character could be born a Deviant, but choose the path of good, and vice versa. Take Druig’s betrayal of his fellow Eternals, culminating in his attempt to destroy one of the Celestials in the book’s final issue.

Unfortunately, like New Gods before them, The Eternals was canceled after 19 issues due to low sales, leaving plotlines unresolved once more. Marvel revived the series a few times throughout the years, and each revival was shorter than the last; as of this writing, there are a grand total of 56 issues starring the group. The second volume of The Eternals was a 12-issue series started by Peter Gillis, finished by Walt Simonson, and released in 1985. It continued the group’s story, with Thena leading the Eternals following the demise of Zuras. The Deviants’ loyalties are split between Kro and a new character, the leader of a religious sect by the name of Priestlord Ghaur. But Ghuar’s ambitions, like Druig’s in the original series, result in his own annihilation. By the end of the series, Ikaris, arguably the main character all along, assumes leadership (after Thena began a love affair with Kro). There wouldn’t be another Eternals series for 20 years, though some of the characters kept busy in the meantime. Several joined the Avengers in various capacities, and a story arc from Avengers #246-248, by Roger Stern and Al Milgrom, established that there were Eternals offshoots known by different names. The most notable of these is familiar to moviegoing audiences: His name is Thanos.

Art: Marvel

So the story goes, Thanos is one of two sons of the Eternal known as A’lars, or Mentor. A’lars was a brother to Zuras, who left Earth to form a civilization on Titan, the moon of Saturn. There, with another Eternal named Sui-san, he fathered both Thanos and his brother, Eros. Thanos and Eros were originally created by Jim Starlin in 1972 for the pages of Iron Man, and were not originally intended to be Eternals, though they were based on Greek myth. It was not until the pages of Avengers nearly a decade later that the link between the Titanians and Eternals was established. By then, Thanos’ brother Eros was known more widely as Starfox, and was a card-carrying member of the Avengers right alongside Sersi.

Marvel finally began publishing a third volume of the Eternals in 2006, penned by Neil Gaiman with art by John Romita Jr. Internecine squabbles were common, resulting in multiple betrayals. For example, Sprite, an Eternal who lives forever in the body of a child, hatches a scheme to kill his fellow Eternals and to render himself mortal so that he might finally age. His plan fails, but not before another Celestial known as the Dreaming Celestial nearly ends the world. In one of the third volume’s final and most disturbing scenes, Zuras catches up with the pint-size trickster turned murderer and quietly snaps his neck aboard a train.

Death, of course, is rarely the end — for Sprite or any of the other Eternals. If Kirby presented the characters as a kind of space-faring, exploratory people, deity impersonators who shaped the course of human history, Gaiman codified the idea even more clearly. He ritualized the idea of Eternals not as simply immortal, but as extremely long-lived super beings who are resurrected by ancient Celestial-designed machinery to continue their work of standing in preservation of Earth. He built on the initial cyclical ideas presented by Kirby’s original work; the Eternals live to defend, maintain, and preserve Earth, then eventually die, only to rise again and repeat the process.

Ikaris explains the Eternals’ role in the grand scheme of things. Art: Marvel

A new Eternals, penned by Charles Knauf with art by Daniel Acuna, began in 2008 focused on continuing Gaiman’s modernization of the franchise. Though it was canceled early, it prompted the Celestials move toward the forefront of Marvel lore. After the Dreaming Celestial of the 2008 volume awoke and stood above San Francisco, he was often seen in the background of X-Men comics set in the Bay Area. Celestials featured prominently in Uncanny Avengers, a mixed team of Avengers and X-Men designed to heal tensions between mutants and superheroes in the aftermath of a large-scale conflict that pitted the two groups against each other. (X-Men-Celestial history goes back further; it was the Celestials who created the Life and Death Seeds, artifacts with the power to jumpstart creation and extinction, and a common tool of the villain Apocalypse.) Most notably, an entire army of Celestials appeared as the antagonists of Jason Aaron’s 2018 run of Avengers, a conflict that once again resulted in the Eternals dying, this time without even the benefit of a book of their own.

But last January they returned with a fifth volume, written by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic, the story’s rise and fall forever reflecting the cyclical nature of its narrative conflict. If the post-credits scene of the new Eternals movie is any indication, the Marvel world and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are hardly done with Kirby’s invention.

Eternals Is Just the Plot of Steven Universe

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Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Cartoon Network and Walt Disney Studios

There are a lot of reasons Eternals, Marvel’s most recent phase-launcher now streaming on Disney+, falls short; the brilliant Angelica Jade Bastién has already laid out a number of them. There’s the Richard Madden–shaped charisma hole at its center, the jokes that sink like cement shoes, and oy, more weightless CGI monster fights. But here’s one more indictment against the MCU’s latest: Steven Universe did its plot first, and better.

Spoilers ahead.

Rebecca Sugar’s animated series Steven Universe ran on Cartoon Network from 2013 to 2019, and if you spend a lot of your online life in queer nerd spaces, you probably already know its whole deal. If not, it follows a (half-) human kid named Steven being raised by the Crystal Gems, powerful members of an advanced alien race of immortals who have lived on Earth among its people for around 6,000 years. Some are homesick for their Homeworld, but all of them have grown to love Earth and the imperfect people who inhabit it.

This is more or less the Eternals’ deal, too: They’re a group of superpowerful, immortal emissaries from space, living on Earth among its people for around 7,000 years. Like the Crystal Gems, they’ve occasionally crossed paths with and influenced human development. The Eternals introduced certain technologies like irrigation and the plough. The Crystal Gems’ presence impacted human life so that the show’s universe differs in small but notable ways from ours (the U.S. only has 39 states; the film industry is based in Kansas instead of California). Some characters are homesick: The Eternals’ speedster Makkari stays camped out in their spaceship, dreaming of when they can return to their home planet Olympia, while SU characters Pearl and Peridot fixate on returning to Homeworld. Others, like SU’s Amethyst and Eternals’ Sersi, enjoy the company of humans and the indulgences of human culture.

When Steven Universe begins, the Crystal Gems are unambiguously presented as good guys who spend their days saving Earth from monsters. They battle these monsters with unique weapons that only they can manifest: Garnet can summon giant, powerful fists; Pearl uses a sort of spear; and trickster younger-sister type Amethyst shape-shifts.

When Eternals begins, the Eternals are unambiguously presented as good guys who spend their days saving Earth from monsters. They battle these monsters with unique weapons that only they can manifest: Gilgamesh can summon giant, powerful fists; Thena uses a sort of spear; and trickster younger-sister type Sprite shape-shifts.

I acknowledge that the characters and mythos of the Eternals comics are far older than Steven Universe, and that many of these science-fiction and superhero tropes were established by Marvel and 20th-century American comic books in the first place. But here is where things begin to overlap in a way that doesn’t flatter Eternals by comparison.

We soon learn that the Crystal Gems’ position on Earth is more complicated than the show first let on. For one, the monsters they’ve been fighting are actually Corrupted Gems, and they’re more intelligent than their animalistic forms let on. Turns out, the Gem race was sent to Earth by a small group of massive, powerful space deities called the Diamonds to exploit a lesser planet. The Diamonds planted a massive cluster of fused Gems at the center of the Earth’s core, and this cluster, which has been dormant and incubating for millennia, will soon awaken as one gargantuan being and burst out of the Earth, destroying it.

Thus sums up both the A- and B-plots of Eternals. The action is sparked by the death of the group’s leader, Ajak, much like how Steven Universe begins with the death of the Crystal Gems’ leader, Steven’s mother Rose Quartz. The Eternals believed they were put on Earth to fight monsters called Deviants, but they soon learn that the Deviants are more intelligent and advanced than they used to be. They also learn that the only reason that the massive, powerful space deities called the Celestials (led by the one named Arishem) sent them to fight Deviants was to preserve Earth long enough to incubate a giant, dormant Celestial at the Earth’s core, which will soon awaken and burst out of the Earth, destroying it.

So the Gems/Eternals must defy the will of the Diamonds/Arishem and stop the Cluster/Celestial at the Earth’s core from awakening and busting the planet to bits. Both situations seem hopeless, but Steven Universe’s Steven and Eternals’ Druig both use an amplified psychic power to reach and subdue the sentient threat in the center of the Earth.

Where the two stories differ is in what themes these extremely similar plots are used to explore. When the Eternals learn that they’re essentially space robots who cannot evolve, it’s bittersweet, but only within the framework of the film’s Randian obsession with themes of evolution and progress. Director Chloé Zhao told Variety that she intended for Eternals to be infused with a Taoist philosophy similar to Steven Universe’s, saying, “In our society, in the stories we tell about ourselves, we often emphasize and celebrate masculine strength — the strength of constant action, of winning, of innovating and expending. In Eternals, we wanted to explore the feminine strength in all of us — the strength that comes from vulnerability, love, forgiveness and ‘actionless action.’” These are beautiful ideas that are not reflected in the film’s chilly, bird’s-eye view of humanity. It only zooms in on actual people at moments of productivity and industriousness: the agrarian economy, the efficient film set, the American suburban home.

Meanwhile, when the Crystal Gems marvel at humans’ un-Gem-like ability to grow and change, it’s more about the freedom to err, learn, accept each other, love each other, and live as one’s honest identity. In Steven Universe, when two gems fuse, it’s an act of trust and love that is stigmatized and forbidden on their home planet. In this way, fusion is queer-coded, and this fantastical device is used to introduce nonbinary characters like Stevonnie and gay relationships like Ruby and Sapphire, whose existence is central to the show’s plot and worldview. And because fusion is introduced to the viewer as such an intimate and meaningful act, the Cluster is terrifying not only because it threatens to destroy the Earth, but because it was made by force, without its composite gems’ consent. Eternals’ Celestials, meanwhile, are just an inversion of Marvel’s stale old Act Three threat of “giant hole in the sky.” A generous reading could cast the final rift between Sersi and Ikaris as a pro-choice allegory, with the unsympathetic zealot Ikaris bullishly insisting that it’s worth carrying the Celestial to term and destroying the beings of Earth without their consent because it will create potential, future life. But that’s, like, a galaxy-brain stretch; it takes some squinting.

And while the cast of Eternals is admirably diverse, that diversity has been used as a shield by MCU fans against genuine criticisms of the film. Brian Tyree Henry’s character Phastos gives a small, impassioned speech toward the end of the movie about how he cherishes his son and his husband, and how he lives for himself and not for any Celestial. But the kiss he shares with his husband earlier in the movie is the sort of thing that a homophobic censor could cut out, with the rest of the film remaining largely identical. In fact, this has already happened in certain film markets. Queerness, identity, and diversity of bodies in Eternals are not as thematically, explicitly crucial to the plot as they are in Steven Universe. The Gems of Steven Universe all fight for Earth because it’s a place where they can make chosen families, find euphoria in the fullest expression of their identities, and dance and transform and kiss whomever they want. It’s what makes us care about all of these characters, not just one out of ten. If Marvel had the courage of its convictions, Eternals could have been something special. Steven Universe is a taste of what it could have been.

Also, Steven Universe has more interesting color palettes than just “all golden hour always,” and the jokes actually land. So.

What to Watch podcast: Cheer season 2 premiere on Netflix, Eternals lands on Disney+

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Hear about the Netflix docuseries’ second season and from the Marvel movie cast on EW’s What to Watch podcast.

After a long delay because of the pandemic, Netflix’s hit Emmy-winning docuseries Cheer is back for season 2, following national champs Navarro College — as well as those sexual abuse claims against fan-favorite Jerry, who’s in prison awaiting trial — and their rivals; Marvel’s Eternals starring Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, and more makes its streaming debut on Disney+; and after tackling her beef with Shannon, Heather now has her sight set on Noelle on the Real Housewives of Orange County.

Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules star Taylor Hasselhoff — daughter of Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhoff — tells us about the other ranch-set series she’s watching and loving (hint: it rhymes with fellowbone). Plus, entertainment headlines — including the role Sharon Stone will be playing on season 2 of The Flight Attendant, Dexter: New Blood’s huge finale, and what our cover star Ben Affleck learned from Gigli — and trivia about Eternals star Gemma Chan.

‘Sing 2’ Sweeps VOD Charts as ‘Don’t Look Up’ Loses Netflix #1 to Alyssa Milano Thriller ‘Brazen’

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“Dune” dropped to $19.99; Sony released “A Journal for Jordan” on PVOD less than three weeks after it opened in theaters.

Between thundersnow and Omicron, it was a good weekend to check out movies at home. Amazon Prime debuted Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania,” skipping theaters to become (per the site) its #1 viewed movie (Amazon doesn’t provide a top 10). Meantime, Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” arrived on Apple TV after three weeks of limited theater play.

“Sing 2” (Universal/$24.99) is still the #3 film in theaters this weekend and placed #1 at iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu. “Ghostbusters: Aftermath” (Sony/$19.99) took second place at all three.

Marvel Studios

The charts showed little variance, with 15 titles total on the three lists and a record seven films making all three charts. Two new films, both $19.99 PVOD releases debuted: “Eternals” (Disney) arrived 10 weeks after it opened in theaters; Disney+ subscribers can stream it for free. The delayed release and parallel option is likely why the film ranks no higher than #3.

Also new is “A Journal for Jordan” (Sony), directed by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan. This came out on PVOD after only three weekends (and $6 million gross), a first for Sony since theaters reopened. The quick turnaround makes sense and suggests that the option exists for studios that don’t have negotiated strategies, like Universal.

“No Time to Die” (United Artists/$5.99), “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Sony/$5.99), “Free Guy” (Disney/$5.99), and “Dune” (Warner Bros./$19.99) complete the lineup. “Dune” is notable for its long run; it is available only now for a standard PVOD cost. Even more impressive is it initially streamed on HBO Max free for its subscribers.

Unlike the last week, when the #1 “Don’t Look Up” was the sole Netflix original in its top 10, this week sees three homegrown titles dominate. After 18 days on top, Adam McKay’s all-star ensemble comedy is still #2. The film that replaced it? “Brazen,” a Canadian-made Nora Roberts adaptation starring Alyssa Milano as a mystery writer investigating the murder of her webcam-performer sister.

At #4 is “Riverdance: The Animated Musical.” Although made independently and previously shown in the U.K. and elsewhere, it is a domestic exclusive for Netflix. It includes Pierce Brosnan among the voice actors.

Also in the Netflix mix is Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread.” His 2017 critically acclaimed film, Daniel Day-Lewis’ final film before retiring, comes in at #7.

Apple TV/iTunes and Google Play rank films daily by number of transactions, irrespective of revenue accrued. These are the listings for January 17. Distributors listed are current rights owners.

iTunes

Sing 2 (Universal) – $24.99
Ghostbusters Afterlife (Sony) – $19.99
No Time to Die (United Artists) – $5.99
Eternals (Disney) – $19.99
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) – $5.99
Dune (Warner Bros.) – $19.99
Free Guy (Disney) – $5.99
Spencer (Neon) – $3.99
Spider-Man: Far from Home (Sony) – $3.99
The French Dispatch (Searchlight) – $5.99

Google Play

Sing 2 (Universal) – $24.99
Ghostbusters Afterlife (Sony) – $19.99
Venom: Let There Will Be Carnage (Sony) – $5.99
No Time to Die (United Artists) – $5.99
Eternals (Disney) – $5.99
Spider-Man: Far from Home (Sony) – $3.99
Free Guy (Disney) – $5.99
Dune (Warner Bros.) – $19.99
Spider-Man: Homecoming (Sony) – $3.99
The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony) – $3.99

Vudu

Vudu ranks by revenue, not transactions, which elevates Premium VOD titles. This list covers January 10-16

Sing 2 (Universal) – $24.99
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony) – $19.99
Eternals (Disney) – $19.99
Dune (Warner Bros.) – $19.99
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) – $5.99
Clifford the Big Red Dog (Paramount) – $19.99
No Time to Die (United Artists) – $5.99
Halloween Kills (extended cut) – $5.99
A Journal for Jordan (Sony) – $19.99
Free Guy (Disney) – $5.99

Netflix Movies

Most viewed, current ranking on Netflix’s daily chart on Monday, January 17; originals include both Netflix-produced and -acquired titles they initially presented in the U.S. Netflix publishes its own weekly top ten on Tuesdays based on time viewed.

Brazen (2022 Netflix original)
Don’t Look Up (2021 Netflix original)
The Colony (2021 VOD release)
Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (2022 Netflix animated original)
Just Go With It (2011 theatrical release)
The God Committee (2021 VOD release)
Phantom Thread (2017 theatrical release)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005 theatrical release)
The Longest Yard (2005 theatrical release)
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012 theatrical release)

Iron Man’s return: Crazy leak details Robert Downey Jr.’s potential comeback

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We knew Robert Downey Jr. would sacrifice himself at the climax of Avengers: Endgame battle. It was the heroic death we expected for the character in the epic conclusion of the Infinity Saga. We also knew how much we’d miss Tony Stark in future movies, just like we would miss Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Captain America (Chris Evans). But that same movie also gave us the tool that would make Iron Man’s return possible. The movie opened up the multiverse, showing that variants of our beloved characters might appear in future films. After all, the Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) variants in Endgame came from different timelines.

Then Marvel announced Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, all but confirming that the multiverse would be a theme in Phase 4. Loki, What If…?, and No Way Home started to explore the multiverse. Doctor Strange 2 will give us another in-depth look at the multiverse, including plenty of cameos of variants from other realities. Moreover, Iron Man already returned to the MCU; we just missed it — or largely ignored it. That’s because we want RDJ’s Iron Man back in the MCU above anything else.

If the following crazy leak is based on real information, we already know the movie where RDJ will make his first comeback to his iconic Tony Stark role. In other words, big spoilers might follow below if the leak is accurate.

Doctor Strange 2 cameos

Some of the earliest Doctor Strange 2 cameo rumors claimed in 2020 that RDJ’s Iron Man might return as a variant from the multiverse. Separately, older leaks claimed that Marvel might be working on a different superhero group. The Illuminati might include a different Iron Man that Downey Jr. might play.

Fast forward to the second half of 2021, and the Illuminati appears in Multiverse of Madness plot leaks. However, Iron Man was not a team member until very recently. A leak claimed that Tom Cruise would play a different Tony Stark, whose Ultron drones would aid the Illuminati group. As wild as the claim might sound, Cruise is the alternate Iron Man fans always wanted to see. But having Cruise as Tony Stark doesn’t qualify as the Iron Man return we want.

That’s if Cruise is in the movie, to begin with. A trusted insider said a few days ago that the actor won’t cameo in Multiverse of Madness. That’s an important detail to take into account when looking at the following Doctor Strange 2 plot leak.

It doesn’t just mention Cruise’s Tony Stark. It also tells us that RDJ will return as Iron Man in the movie. None of these plot leaks that we keep showing you can be verified ahead of time. Also, the Reddit mods who approved the post on the Marvel Studios Spoilers subreddit marked it as “definitely fake.”

However, some of these leaks prove to be accurate. Last year alone, we saw genuine plot leaks for Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home well ahead of the movie releases. They seemed just as crazy initially, as the following leak.

How Iron Man’s first return to the MCU might look like

Before we get to RDJ’s return to Iron Man, let’s see what sort of Tony Stark experience we might get from Tom Cruise. The actor plays a Tony Stark version from the Iron Legion Timeline, the leak says. And his Iron Man is supposedly one of the Illuminati:

Tony Stark is not played by RDJ, but in a funny reveal, it’s Tom Cruise. This version of Tony is a little insane, not only does he claim to be a prophet, but he actually has 3 of the Infinity Stones. The way he is introduced mirrors the Green Goblin scene in Spider-Man 1, with Tom Cruise talking to the decapitated Thanos of his world. Tom really gives it his all for his brief screen time.

That said, Cruise will not be the only Iron Man in Doctor Strange 2, according to the leak. And this is where things get interesting.

RDJ’s Tony Stark

If this leak is accurate, RDJ’s will return to his Iron Man in Multiverse of Madness. Specifically, he’ll appear during the final battle as a different Tony Stark from a world similar to the MCU primary reality. But in that universe, it was Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who died in the battle against Thanos (Josh Brolin):

big SPOILER Robert Downey Jr. returns to play an alternate version of Tony Stark. Doctor – Strange is able to make peace with this variant of Tony as they both understand what had to happen in Endgame. (The opposite happened in his universe where Strange died instead of Tony. They all fight Wanda who is quite literally the most powerful being in the multiverse. – – – – This is foreshadowing Secret Wars.

Again, this leak comes with clear warnings that it might be fake. That won’t stop diehard MCU fans from dreaming about an Iron Man return in the movie. Even if it’s fake, the plot leak might be great fan fiction that reads well, check it out in full at this link.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres on May 6th, which gives us more than three months to learn more plot secrets.