Marvel Studios revealed the official poster for Harry Styles’ character in Eternals, and fans are melting down.
The former One Direction member has long been a heartthrob of epic proportions. His massive fan base hangs on every word the 27-year-old star utters and follows his projects with the intensity that only fans of boy bands can properly muster.
So when Marvel posted the official poster for Styles as Eros, one of the eternal beings that protect Earth, fans quickly began booking tickets. Even those formerly uninterested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe suddenly found themselves immensely intrigued by the recent film.
The hype was well worth it. Despite Styles’ extremely brief appearance in the film itself, Marvel appears to be working toward making amends for his painfully short screen time by releasing his official poster. Posted to the official Marvel Twitter page, a tweet sporting Styles’ face introduces fans to “the Royal Prince of Titan, brother of Thanos, the Knave of Hearts, defeater of Black Roger, the great adventurer, Starfox.”
Eros, who clearly has numerous other titles, is one of Marvel’s lesser-known characters. That is due, in part, to his decision to live a large portion of his eternal life on the planet Titan, instead of Earth. He appears in comics as a nonchalant, womanizing playboy, one who largely leaves the struggle and stress of being a hero to others. This falls flawlessly in line for Eros, who shares a name with the Greek god of love and sex. The Marvel character of Eros largely leans into this shared identity, leaving viewers with an adventurous and charming character poised to undergo a lot of growth.
Eros is eventually spurred into action by the deeds of his brother, Thanos, who fans of the MCU are well versed with at this point. Eros eventually ends up on Earth, where he joins the Avengers and receives his far less cool Earthen superhero name: Starfox.
Even after surrendering himself to a life of heroism, Eros remains a playful, adventurous character in broad Marvel canon. He isn’t nearly as serious as many of his Eternals co-heroes and tends to stay on the sidelines of major battles and conflicts.
Marvel has the intriguing potential of tying in some of Starfox’s more culturally relevant controversies, like the time he faced a jury on accusations of sexual assault, but chances are good that the MCU will portray the character in a more consistently flattering light. With Styles behind the character, however, he is likely to remain a favorite regardless of how Marvel decides to direct Starfox.
This is evidenced by the reactions of fans to the poster reveal. Hundreds of Styles fans took to Twitter in the minutes after the poster was unveiled to share their excitement over his involvement in an MCU project.
“I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS HE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT,” one fan wrote. In between jokes about Nintendo’s take on Starfox—who shares absolutely no similarities with the Marvel character—the Twitter responses to Marvel’s poster reveal are almost entirely positive.
Noting that “Thanos got a beautiful brother,” people gushed over the casting decision. They urged people to “stream the hottest Eternal” and lauded Disney and Marvel for giving Styles the opportunity to appear in a Marvel film.
With the reaction he’s getting from fans, chances are good we’ll be seeing a lot more of Styles in the next Eternals release.
