The Easter Eggs in Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ That You Probably Missed

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Marvel’s Eternals is a very different beast from a lot of other MCU films; directed by auteur Chloe Zhao, it is a slower-paced, meditative story which explores the emotional toll of immortality on a group of aliens who live on the fringes of human society for millennia. This departure from the familiar house style led many fans to dislike Eternals, but there is one thing that it does just as well as other Marvel movies: hiding Easter eggs in plain sight. And now that the film streaming on Disney+, a new video on the Heavy Spoilers channel just rounded up every niche reference and allusion.

The first Easter egg appears within seconds of the film beginning: the “six singularities” mentioned in the opening text are a reference to the Infinity Stones, those brightly colored McGuffins which propelled the plot of much of the last decade’s worth of Marvel movies. Then following the introductory exposition montage, when we cut to Sersi in modern-day London, an ad can be seen for the Global Repatriation Council, the organization created to deal with the aftermath of the Avengers undoing the Snap, which was featured in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

A number of different versions of Captain America’s shield also show up in the movie, first in Kingo’s Bollywood number, and then later on his private plane, where the earliest design is on display. But it’s not just Marvel properties that the movie is alluding to: Eternals includes a couple of nods to DC, with Phastos’ son calling Ikaris “Superman,” and Kingo’s valet Karun being compared to Batman’s butler Alfred.

The Celestial whose “emergence” functions as the movie’s climactic crisis is named Tiamut, which is a reference to an apocalyptic figure from Babylonian mythology. This is especially apt given that ancient Babylon is one of the historical locations where we see the Eternals influencing humanity in the movie.

The film also namechecks other media, such as when Kingo says that Sprite is their group’s equivalent of Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. And when the Eternals catch up with Makkari in the present day, she is wearing a T-shirt bearing the French cover art for H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, one of the most famous alien invasion stories of all time which has some parallels to this film’s story.

Then there are those post-credits scenes. The first gives audiences their first glimpse of Harry Styles as Eros, aka Starfox, the brother of Thanos who has a long history in the comics and will be appearing in future movies. And finally, there’s the Kit Harington of it all. Non-comic readers may have been a little confused as to what was going on with his character Dane towards the end of the movie, with those oblique references to his uncle and family history. As the final post-credit scene revealed, this was setting up his future in the MCU as Black Knight.

That same scene also featured an off-screen voice, which director Chloe Zhao has confirmed to be that of Mahershala Ali, the Oscar-winning actor who is entering the MCU as Blade, the daywalking vampire previously played by Wesley Snipes.

Philip Ellis Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues.

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‘Eternals’ Cast Harry Styles as a Hella Problematic Hero — So What’s the Future of Starfox?

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Now that Eternals is streaming on Disney+, can we please talk openly about that wild post-credits scene and what it means for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Harry Styles’s acting career? It’s been two months since the world found out that the most famous musician/heartthrob on Earth was cast as Marvel’s most notorious lothario. Harry Styles is Eros, a.k.a. Starfox, potential Avenger and brother of Thanos. This… is unexpected.

It’s unexpected because of the Harry Styles of it all, sure, but it’s doubly unexpected to Marvel fans because we know who Starfox is. Starfox is, without a doubt, one of the last characters Marvel fans ever thought they’d see on the big screen. Why? Because the character is the definition of problematic — almost irredeemably so! Hell, even the comics have often struggled with how to use ol’ Eros in modern (re: post-1990) times. And now he’s appearing in the MCU? I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

Before we get into Starfox/Eros’s sordid origin, let’s start with what we see in Eternals.

Who is Starfox in Eternals? Who is Eros in Eternals? When does Harry Styles show up in Eternals?

We only see Eros in the mid-credits scene, where he is introduced by his companion Pip the troll (voiced by Patton Oswalt) as the prince of Titan and brother of Thanos. Eros emerges from the shadows, reveals that he looks like Harry Styles, and tells the Eternals that their friends are in danger but he knows how to find them. It’s not a meaty scene, but there’s a lot to unpack here.

Who is Eros in the Marvel Comics?

Eros debuted in Iron Man #55, published in 1972. That same issue, written and illustrated by Jim Starlin, introduced Drax and Thanos as well, thus kicking off the trippy, groovy expansion of Marvel’s cosmic canon that would ultimately lead to 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie. For the first decade of his existence, Eros didn’t have much going on. He was always a supporting character, almost always depicted as fighting alongside his father Mentor against whatever stunts Thanos was trying to pull. It was inferred in Eros’ early appearances the his dalliances in ancient Rome inspired the stories of Eros, the Roman god of love. Still, Eros’ promiscuity was never at the forefront of any of these stories.

That all changed in 1983’s Avengers #231 when a new writer, Roger Stern, drafted Eros into the Avengers. Freed from having to share every story with his dad, evil brother, and massively powerful heroes like Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, Stern was able to give Eros a mischievous, rakish personality that matched his name. And since he was joining the Avengers, Wasp gave him the codename Starfox because he’s a “pretty foxy guy” and he came from the stars.

So here’s the deal: as readers rather quickly learned Starfox was a flirt. A shameless flirt. A nonstop, shameless flirt — and he was on a team with Wasp, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Monica “Captain Marvel” Rambeau. He flirted with all of them, including other heroes like Tigra.

He also flirted with an EMT to try to get information on a crime scene, and was late to an Avengers meeting because he was having a picnic with a random woman.

Starfox loves love — is that so wrong? Well, being an Avenger is a job and flirting with co-workers — and Wasp was his boss, BTW — is not exactly a wise course of action. But all of this flirtation was reframed in Avengers #237 when Starfox wondered when he should reveal his secret power to the Avengers — if he should reveal it at all!

That power? His pleasure power. Let’s just emphasize that: Starfox has a pleasure power. And yes, he did keep it a secret from the Avengers until issue #250 — nearly 20 issues after he joined as an Avenger-in-training! He just failed to mention to his teammates that every time he was flirting with or even just talking to them, he may or may not have been using his superhuman ability to enhance a person’s pleasure centers, thus making himself sexually irresistible. When Wasp found out about this, she was justifiably creeped out a bit!

To give these 1980s comics the benefit of the doubt, the only times Starfox is explicitly shown using his pleasure power is on bad guys — literally guys — in order to calm them down and make them less murder-y (Avengers #243, #246, #250, etc.). But still… a pleasure power.

Fast forward 20 years and Marvel Comics revisited Starfox’s cringe-inducing powers in an unflinching storyline in 2006’s She-Hulk #6-7. In it, She-Hulk is tasked with defending her old teammate Starfox when he is accused of using his coercive powers to sexually assault a woman. It’s as dark of a story as you can imagine, as it adds new context to Roger Stern’s 1980s Avengers run and looks at it with a modern (for 2006) critical eye.

The story concludes in She-Hulk #13 when it’s revealed that Thanos was responsible for screwing around with his brother’s powers, making him unable to control them and unaware that he was out of control. When this is revealed, Starfox willingly has his powers blocked.

This She-Hulk storyline did something that few supervillains can do: it knocked Eros out of commission for almost a decade. After his appearance in She-Hulk #14, published in December 2006, Eros did not appear in main Marvel continuity outside of a few flashbacks until the publication of Avengers: Rage of Ultron in April 2015. Starfox was just gone for almost 8.5 years. He started appearing regularly again a year later in the pages of Thanos, and most recently popped up in a stretch of issues of 2019’s Guardians of the Galaxy comic. So, Marvel Comics remembers that Starfox exists, but they aren’t exactly using him all that often. But since there are plans to use him in the MCU, comic readers better get ready to see modern writers try to figure out how the hell to use this superhero character responsibly!

What is the future of Starfox in the MCU?

That’s an even bigger question. Clearly Marvel wouldn’t cast Harry Styles and just use him as a post-credits character. He has to show up somewhere, and the fact that he’s Thanos’ brother immediately elevates the character’s status. Every sentient being in the universe knows who Thanos is and probably wouldn’t mind having a word with his brother.

Eros could obviously show up in an Eternals sequel, if one’s in the works. It’s more likely that he and his companion Pip (voiced by Patton Oswalt) will appear in 2023’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. After all, Pip was on a team with Gamora and Drax for a long time in the comics, and Eros adventured around with Adam Warlock (a new character in GOTG3 played by Will Poulter) too.

It’s even possible that Styles could one day assemble on an all-new Avengers team. After all, the 1980s lineup that he was part of is mostly present and accounted for in the MCU: Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany), and versions of Wasp (Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne) and Captain America (Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson). And, I dunno, toss in Ant-Man while you’re at it. Hey — it could happen!

The question is: how will the MCU deal with a character whose power is, uh, hypnotic sexiness? The MCU’s already ignored Hank Pym’s incredibly awful comic book history and kept that canon from distracting from the fun, family-friendly Ant-Man series. If they can sidestep Pym’s problems, maybe they can do the same with Starfox? Maybe they just ignore the whole pleasure power thing and let Harry Styles be Harry Styles? After all, looking like and talking like and moving like Harry Styles is a superpower, and it has nothing to do with extraterrestrial brainwash-y coercion.

Is Keanu Reeves actually in Eternals after casting rumours?

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Rumours appeared as early as June 2019 that Keanu Reeves would make his Marvel/MCU debut in The Eternals.

At the time, The Economic Times wrote that “negotiations” were “on”, but that Reeves was “yet to sign on the dotted line”; even earlier, in February 2019, Screen Rant reported that he was a hair’s breadth away from joining the cast of Captain Marvel.

So why, after so many opportunities, is Keanu Reeves yet to star in a Marvel movie?

Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

Is Keanu Reeves feature among the cast of Marvel’s The Eternals?

No. Although several outlets reported in June 2019 that Reeves, known for playing Neo in The Matrix films and starring in the John Wick series, was in talks to appear in The Eternals, he never actually did.

Citing MCU Cosmic, one outlet wrote that “negotiations” were “underway”, but that “talks” were “still in the early stages”.

The cast was already star-studded: Angelina Jolie would play Sersi (things changed – she actually plays Thena; Gemma Chan plays Sersi); Richard Madden was set to play Ikaris (he does); and Kumail Nanjiani and Ma Dong-seok were already cast (they play Kingo and Gilgamesh, respectively).

Ever since rumours emerged that Keanu Reeves might play Doctor Strange, or even Captain Marvel, fans have been on the edge of their seats to see the Matrix star join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel Studios’ Eternals | Final Trailer BridTV 4344 Marvel Studios’ Eternals | Final Trailer https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x_me3xsvDgk/hqdefault.jpg 847972 847972 center 13872

What happened to prevent him playing Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel?

Before the Keanu Reeves/The Eternals rumours even came about, Screen Rant had reported that he “almost joined the cast” of Captain Marvel.

In the end, Jude Law got the role. He played Yon-Rogg, a Kree Empire commander and leader of Starforce. Yon-Rogg is one of Captain Marvel’s earliest villains in the comics.

But Keanu Reeves couldn’t take on the role as Marvel Studios’ production schedule clashed with that of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

For those who follow the series, the release date of John Wick 4 will now be March 24, 2023. Lionsgate revealed the new date in a YouTube video just before Christmas.

Photo by Sam Santos/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures Canada

From 2014 to 2021 – what has Keanu Reeves said about joining MCU?

Over seven years ago now, in October 2014, Collider talked with Reeves about the possibility of him playing Doctor Strange.

“I like the idea,” he said. “I go to those kinds of movies. I grew up on them and comics and graphic novels. [But]”, he went on, “I didn’t know Doctor Strange as a character, I didn’t read that as a kid.”

Next day, Screen Rant suggested – to his face, no less – that Keanu Reeves was the best person to play Doctor Strange.

(The movie, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, came out in 2016.)

Reeves responded, “I don’t know a lot about Doctor Strange”, but that he likes “that kind of stuff”. Hardly a conversation to write home about, but the idea took hold.

This content could not be loaded why we love Keanu Reeves: pic.twitter.com/bHuLkii0u8 — Keanu the legend (@legendarykeanu) January 12, 2022

How does he feel about it now?

In a November 2021 episode of Esquire’s YouTube series, Reeves described the MCU as “bigger than a universe”.

“It’s almost like a Multiverse. It’s a Marvel-verse.”

And would he like to join the franchise?

“You know, it would be an honour. There’s some really amazing directors and visionaries. They’re doing something no one’s really ever done. It’s special in that sense in terms of the scale, the ambition, the production, so it would be cool to be a part of that.”

And finally, in February 2021, Esquire reported that Reeves had been offered the role of Kraven the Hunter in a standalone SUMC movie. But, as it stands, IMDB lists Aaron Taylor-Johnson as playing the character, with the movie set to come out in 2023.

SUMC, or Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, is different from the MCU, although no one seems to know exactly how – as yet, Keanu Reeves is in neither.

How ‘The Eternals’ Score Captured the Sound of Space, Love and Its Deviants

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Before filming for The Eternals began, composer Ramin Djawadi had lunch with director Chloé Zhao.

“I had read the script, and we just sat down,” Djawadi tells The Hollywood Reporter about his first meeting with the Oscar-winner. “We discussed the overarching themes, the organ idea, the whole issue of conflict and belief, memory — all these things.”

When they parted, Djawadi — who is known for crafting the score for fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Iron Man and grand sci-fi and fantasy epics like Westworld and Game of Thrones — went home to think about the MCU epic’s immortal heroes while Zhao went on to film them.

When she was done, the two reunited like Zhao’s characters for the next part of their mission. “She invited me to watch this early version, a long overlength cut of the film. That’s when I started writing music,” Djawadi says. “I started coming up with the ideas and I played those for her. Right at that time is when I got the movie and I started writing to picture.”

Spotting sessions are a common way of working on a score, Djawadi says, but it’s also his favorite stage. “You watch the movie together and decide where music starts and stops, and you discuss each scene. I always love that part because that’s when you really get more into the director or producer’s head. They can just describe this thing they want to achieve.”

The process revealed a uni-mind connection of sorts between the duo as they made music for one of the MCU’s more unique epics, which spans the world, space and time.

“I always struggle, when talking about music, with how to put it in words,” Djawadi says. “But I would talk with Chloé, and we would talk and talk and talk. Then I would say, let me go back to my studio and let me just write something and see what the emotional expression is.”

The result is a score that doesn’t merely compliment Zhao’s vision. It’s a musical journey that exquisitely parallels every seen and unseen layer of what’s on-screen. For The Eternals Disney+ release, Djawadi spoke to THR about how he brought the themes of Zhao’s tale about the MCU’s earliest heroes to life.

Many members of The Eternals cast have sung Zhao’s praises as a collaborator. Can you talk about what it was like working with her on the score?

I’m glad that you asked this question because I just want to point out how amazing she was throughout the whole process. She was incredible. We had our first lunch, and I almost missed my afternoon flight because we were just talking and talking. We had so many ideas. I realized, “Oh my god, I need to get to the airport!” (Laughs.) When we met, we clicked right away, so I couldn’t wait to get started. During the process, she was so creative. She’s so articulate. It was a joy to just work with her. The way she would describe her emotions, it was always very inspiring to turn her words into music.

Working with somebody on a film is a collaboration. I don’t just write whatever I want. I need to make music to their vision. But she was so collaborative throughout the process. I have to point out, too, we did this during the pandemic, which wasn’t easy. I’d have to send her stuff. Most of the time, I could not play to her on my big speakers. So I would send it to her, and she would have to listen on a laptop. (Laughs.) It was not the usual way of making a movie. But it was an absolutely incredible experience working with her.

Gemma Chan in Eternals Courtesy Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios

Chloé has spoken about how her vision for Eternals involved reimagining the typical superhero. How did you approach that within your music?

When Chloé and I started talking about the music, the big thing was that besides the superhero and powers aspect of it, there needed to be intimacy. A human feel to it. An emotion to it. So the music and the themes we created needed to represent getting emotional and showing a form of vulnerability. That was very important to Chloé to be able to show both sides. That it’s not just this is one way to do it, and it’s the right way, and it’s powerful. But that there’s also the questioning of things and the humanity of it, which this movie deals with so beautifully.

While it’s a step away from typical MCU movies, Eternals serves as sort of an origins story for the entire cinematic superhero canon — these are the first heroes. Because of that, were you inspired by any other films?

What’s nice with these new, phase four MCU movies is that you start fresh. We have superheroes that we haven’t seen before. It was nice, especially after having done Iron Man, a well-known character. It was fun to do that, but these are more unknown characters. So I kind of stepped away from all the other MCU movies. Of course, it still needs unity, so we said we need to do an Eternals hero theme to tie it in with the rest of the films.

The Eternals theme is aurally interesting because it sounds — from that initial flutter to that mechanical power-up and eventually the orchestral swell, which feels similar to parts of The Avengers theme — as if you’re building an Eternal. What story were you trying to tell with the movie’s main music?

What you said is actually perfect. That is the idea — this assembly of creation. During the movie, we find out how the Eternals were created and who they really are. So there’s very much that mechanical aspect that starts this out, which then builds to — I don’t want to say a classic, but a powerful, heroic theme. They are superheroes, after all. It’s all this mix of a powerful hero theme, the idea of construction and then adding these layers and motifs. Throughout the movie, I would use them without the main melody. I would deconstruct the theme or just the motif itself, and that would be enough to tell the story.

Eternals Courtesy of Marvel Studios

The score takes characters around the globe and galaxy while revealing emotional journeys. That includes darker character turns like Ikaris’ in “This Is Our Fight Now,” which features a booming, brassy and somewhat scary moment. What instruments were you most turning to for your score?

We used so many instruments and jumped through time so much that it would change my instrumentation. But the piece you’ve described is in the third act, and it’s the big battle. What’s interesting is that here our superheroes are fighting each other. It was the big conflict coming to its climax, and Ikaris being the most powerful one. In those scenes, we definitely used a lot of brass, electric guitar. Then one instrument that I thought was right for this score was the organ. I love the sound of the organ. There’s something so grand and powerful to it. It has a bit of a space feel to it, too. I thought it was very fitting for a superhero and that instrument comes throughout the whole score.

At times it felt like characters were getting their own instruments. For example, Makkari and the electric guitar. Did you want to give each Eternal their own sound?

Yes and no. There were moments with characters like Phastos when we’re in the Domo that it kind of gets techie with what he’s doing. There we tended towards more electronic sounds. But then, when it was pure emotion, we would become very organic, and we would use string instruments or piano. The tricky part was because there were so many characters. To try to have specific instruments or themes for each of them would have become quite messy because they’re rarely by themselves. We realized right away that’s not going to work. The guitar ended up being quite successful for Makkari during the fighting scenes — we always kind of used it when she does her thing. But overall, we stayed away from that. We left that up to the sound department for when they use their powers. There are very specific sounds with them. We stuck more with overall themes that represent more the inner struggles between the characters rather than trying to be very specific. It was kind of scene-based. What is the emotion right now that we’re underlying?

Lauren Ridloff in Eternals Courtesy Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios

The Deviants have a specific sound, which feels almost like an alarm — it’s unnerving. Why did you choose that for them?

With the Deviant, there are two things to it. With this screaming sound, the idea was for it to be like the sickness of sound. Then with all the sound effects, you need it to be something that really cuts through and is scary. It’s very much a “here we are” kind of thing. Arishem, whenever he appeared, had a signature sound as well. I love to do these signals with music. The little easter egg that I can reveal is that the Deviant sound is also embedded in the Eternals hero theme. It’s derived from that because later in the movie, we find out they’re from the same source. I just wanted to connect them without anybody really knowing. I tried to be extra clever. (Laughs.)

There’s one twist in Eternals with Druig that almost seems, with the help of the music, to set him up as the team’s opposition, but we later find out it’s someone else. How did you approach that red herring musically?

The music very much guides us and misleads us into who we think might turn on us or not. During the breakup, when Druig walks away, you can tell he’s very upset, and it very much feels like something’s changed. I don’t know if bad guy is the right term because, in a way, he’s just sticking to his beliefs, right? But you don’t think Ikaris is going to go down that way. He’s the most powerful of them all, and he’s our classic superhero, so you very much believe in him. Then you realize he’s not letting go of his original mission. That’s where the conflict becomes obvious and where another theme — “Mission” — comes in.

Besides the hero theme, when they are doing heroic things, they are on a mission, and the mission is where the conflict becomes so obvious. What’s interesting is that they have been a unit for such a long time, so how do you portray the shift towards conflict? That’s why we used the same themes, and I would just rearrange them differently with a darker tone. They’re still a family, so thematically it should be the same, but I needed to find ways to portray the conflict and emotion.

Richard Madden in Eternals Courtesy Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios

Eternals as a movie lives as much in space as it does on Earth. But in space, there’s no sound. How did you want to musically capture the expanse of space?

It was a tricky one to capture because everybody would imagine it differently. When we first see the Domo fly at the beginning of the movie, I just thought it was more like an aura. Then also the characters have superpowers — there’s something alien to it, but it’s not scary. It’s more mysterious. That’s what I felt like I needed to capture. It’s also there with Arishem. He’s kind of intimidating, but again, not scary. He’s a creator, and so there needed to be a beauty to it as well.

Most of the layers are choir, but it’s not a choir in a traditional sense. It’s more like a choir that hums — that aura. There are no words; there’s no melody; no singing. It’s just a bed of sound. It’s capturing just the vastness of it. The organ was for the more melodic content. Many times when you talk organ or when you say the word organ, people think of church music, which I did not want. But it has a supernatural sound, at least to me. So with the different pipes, I just tried to use different settings. That’s kind of what the underlying sound was. Then I would add things like on the “Celestials” piece, for example. I would try to bring beauty in and use string instruments like a solo violin or even a solo voice on top of it.

You’ve got many songs on this score. Outside The Eternals hero theme, was there another composition you felt embodied the larger story or a different layer of the story you and Chloé were trying to tell?

The love theme on the soundtrack is “Across the Oceans of Time.” It’s as fragile as it gets in the film, where ultimately, this relationship [with Sersi] is what ends up changing Ikaris’ mind. It’s where he realizes over all these thousands of years that they have been on Earth, and together, there is this emotion, an attachment — love. It starts with that solo vocal, and it just grows, and then the choir comes in and just becomes bigger and bigger. That was always written with the intention of being in the climax of the film, which is quite interesting when you think about it. Normally, the climax is all action music, but it all of a sudden breaks down. The world is ending, and here we are with these two characters on their own, looking each other in the eyes. It’s such a powerful moment.

Richard Madden and Gemma Chan in Eternals. Courtesy of Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios

You’ve worked on the scores and themes for other epic projects like Game of Thrones and Westworld. Did your work on those influence your Eternals score at all?

For sure. I learned so much from those two shows. For example, both have multiple characters. In Game of Thrones, we also noticed that it could become very complicated to have themes right away for everybody because, again, they’re in the room together, and it just gets more confusing than helpful. On Eternals, we made very similar specific decisions: Is it the love theme right now, humanity theme, the memory theme. What are they going through? I learned a lot from these other shows.

Also, from the storytelling because a score is such a subconscious feeling. Because there’s dialogue and all these other visual things as you watch, you don’t necessarily pay attention to it, but music can be such a powerful tool to tell the story in parallel. You enhance things, and you make the viewer feel something. That’s something I just love to do. You plant the theme, you rework it a little bit, and because you’ve heard the theme before, you pick it up as you go through the film. That’s something I just love to do. It’s something I did in Game of Thrones and Westword and definitely this one.

‘Eternals’ Cast and Character Guide: Who’s Who in the Epic Marvel Movie? (Photos)

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Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” is now finally streaming on Disney+, giving those who missed the film in theaters last year a chance to catch up on the new MCU film — which is packed with new characters. To that end, we’ve rounded up a cast and character guide to all the new faces. Apart from the ten Eternals themselves, a few other famous folks make appearances in the Marvel movie that was first released exclusively in theaters on Nov. 5, 2021.

Directed and co-written by Chloe Zhao, the film follows a group of near-immortal beings and is set after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”

The Eternals, a group of superhuman beings — each with a unique special power — re-emerge from living their ordinary lives to combat the rise of their evil counterparts, The Deviants. The Celestials, a group of beings even more ancient than the Eternals, created both the Eternals and the Deviants. The Deviants were created first, and the Celestials realized what mistakes they made in their genetic coding, so they attempted to remedy their first effort by creating the Eternals.

The Eternals supposedly killed off all the Deviants a long time ago, which led them to take up residence on Earth as ordinary people and live as humans do. But then when the creatures start to reappear, some more powerful than those of the past, the band gets back together again to subdue them, learning some hard truths along the way.

While the ten titular Eternals’ personalities and stories unfold onscreen throughout the film, some big name characters aren’t fully revealed or even introduced until the post credit sequence. Several characters and some of their corresponding cast members also hint at branching out in terms of depth for the MCU, on multiple levels. For more on the comic book origins of the Eternals, read here.