Anybody with a passing interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be fully aware of the tortured existence of Inhumans, which still remains the only feature film in franchise history that was officially announced, awarded a release date, and then never made.
Ever since, entirely plausible conspiracy theories have made the rounds offering that Kevin Feige is so bitter about the experience that he’s gone out of his way to punish the property at every turn, whether it’s retconning Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel as a mutant of bringing back Anson Mount’s Black Bolt for the sole purpose of exploding his head from the inside out.
Regardless of where the truth lies, Inhumans ranks as the worst-rated series in Marvel Studios history, and it would be the lowest-ranked piece of content in the company’s entire back catalogue if it wasn’t for the Secret Invasion finale. Hilariously, though, an excerpt from MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios published by TV Line reveals that it’s held in such low regard that Eternals was banned from shooting in the same place.
One veteran of the infamous show reflected on their experience by saying “at least I got a trip to Hawaii out of it,” a luxury the cast and crew of Chloe Zhao’s millennia-spanning epic weren’t afforded after the book notes that “When it developed a movie starring another obscure superteam, the Eternals, the creators were instructed that none of it could take place in Hawaii. The studio didn’t want any risk that audiences might be reminded of the Inhumans.”
Rather cruelly, though, Eternals ended up barely cracking $400 million at the box office and became the MCU’s first ever “Rotten” installment on Rotten Tomatoes, so deliberately avoiding any echoes of Inhumans didn’t pan out particularly well in the long run.
