Salma Hayek Explains How Ajak Ranks Among The Eternals

In just three weeks, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals comes to theaters, and it could be on track for a record-breaking opening weekend after it was revealed the 26th installment in the franchise is outstripping both Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in ticket pre-sales.

With a two-time Academy Award winner directing and a star-studded cast that features A-list names, fast-rising talents and relative unknowns, hopes are high for the latest expansion of the superhero saga’s cosmic mythology. Salma Hayek’s Ajak has been established as the de facto leader of the titular team, and in a set visit interview via ComicBook she explained how her character fits into the hierarchy.

“So, Ajak is in charge to supervise them, bring them over. I’m trying to go around not saying she’s the boss. She’s the leader. I decide what I tell, when I tell them, because I’m the only one that can talk to the Celestials. See what I’m looking at is the human characteristics, how I see them and stuff, you know? I know that Kingo is the most vain of them all and the attention seeker.

I see them like my kids. It’s my own way of finding them, and I talked to this with Chloe. He’s my attention seeker, okay? Then, Thena is the mysterious, and you never know what’s going to come out in her, you know? Because she is the strongest, and in some ways the most fragile and that’s the beauty in her. This is where I watch out for her… So you see, I am describing them to you in a very familiar way you look at your own children, and that’s how I see them.”

In a very similar fashion to co-star Angelina Jolie, Hayek has built her career on the back of combining acclaimed dramatic performances with ass-kicking action roles. The Academy Award nominee first broke out Stateside in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado over 25 years ago, and was most recently seen shooting and swearing her way though Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, so she’s no stranger to explosive pyrotechnics.

The marketing blitz for Eternals is entering the final stretch, and there isn’t long to go until audiences discover if the movie manages to live up to the rapidly-rising levels of hype that now surround it.