When the first trailer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Eternals dropped, fans were shocked that the all-powerful race of cosmic beings simply sat back and let Thanos wipe out half of all living creatures in the universe with a single snap of his fingers, blasting the team’s inactivity from almost the second the promo ended.
Chloé Zhao’s blockbuster didn’t even start filming until Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame had wrapped production, which is the obvious reason why they remained on the sidelines, but that simply won’t do for a fanbase that’s become accustomed to having even the smallest of moments paid off years down the line.
Luckily, it’s long since been confirmed that Eternals will address why the titular heroes allowed the Mad Titan to carry out his ambitious plan to restore his own twisted version of balance to the entirety of existence, and in a new interview with Total Film magazine, two-time Academy Award winner Zhao explained that we’ll find out their reasons when the movie arrives on November 5th.
“The audience will understand why. Not only why, but how complicated not interfering made them feel. We explore that. You’ll see that in the film. The Eternals were instructed not to interfere with any human conflict unless Deviants are involved. There’s a reason why that’s the case.”
The full-length trailer offered much more detail on why they’ve decided to remain in the shadows, and Eternals is set to fold itself neatly into the wider MCU mythology by tying the core cast to a series of major events throughout history, not just ones involving the Avengers. It’s an ambitious way to airdrop a new property into the franchise, but Zhao is more than capable of pulling it off with aplomb.
