It’s hard to pinpoint any single Marvel Phase Four entry as the Black Sheep of the family, considering many of them were poorly received, but if you had to pick just one, that dishonor would probably have to go to Eternals, the lowest-rated MCU movie on Rotten Tomatoes until Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came along. Still, even if many viewers had fallen asleep by the end of its energy-zapping 2 hours, 37 minute runtime, at least its mid-credits scene woke them up with a surprise cameo from Harry Styles.
In case you need a reminder, Styles made a brief appearance as Eros, also known as Starfox, the dashing space pirate brother of none other than Infinity Saga big bad Thanos. Given Styles’ global popularity and his ties to such a key MCU character, many assumed the superstar would make a swift return to the franchise. And yet, almost two years on, there hasn’t been a peep about Eros’ return. And, according to the latest rumors, we might want to stop waiting. But is there any truth to these claims?
Harry Style allegedly unlikely to make a Marvel comeback as Eros
The root of these rumors stems from a report from The Sunday Mirror, which claims that Styles only has an outside chance of being invited back to play Eros at this point in the timeline, given that Marvel is keen to course-correct following a less-than-perfect opening salvo to the Multiverse Saga and take less risks.
“Marvel bosses were openly talking about Harry in a lead role but that talk has cooled,” an alleged “Marvel source” told The Mirror. “The whole business and Marvel franchise is being rethought. The focus is on creating the biggest projects with the biggest revenues. Harry’s character is a fun and beloved role but it is not realistically the number one choice to get the Marvel franchise bouncing back”.
It is a fact that Marvel was once teasing big things ahead for Thanos’ little bro. “We didn’t cast Harry for a tag. There’s more stories to be told with [Eros],” producer Nate Moore told Deadline following Eternals‘ release. And, yes, things have certainly gone cold on the return of the Eternals since then, with only the barest whispers hinting that a sequel could get off the ground. Even Kit Harington’s seemingly promised Blade role will apparently come to nothing.
All that said, it should be stressed that this is far from being confirmed at this point. Personally, after introducing such a high-profile name as Harry Styles into the MCU to such fanfare (literally, thanks to Pip the Troll), I think fans would never let the studio forget it if it completely failed to live up to the promise of seeing Starfox aid the Eternals or perhaps even join the Avengers, as he does in the source material, at some point in the future. Still — even if there is a chance for more of Eros — it will no doubt take a while.
We Got This Covered has reached out to Marvel Studios for comment.
