The double-header of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame drew a definitive line under the first decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the culmination of the Infinity Saga both saying goodbye to some old favorites while also reshuffling the deck for the franchise’s future. Black Widow may be the first post-Endgame movie to hit theaters this summer, but Natasha Romanoff’s solo adventure has already been confirmed to be a prequel, meaning that the new dawn for the MCU officially begins with The Eternals in November.
Cameras are still rolling on Chloe Zhao’s sci-fi epic, with a constant stream of set photos making their way online in recent months, but despite this, nobody seems really sure about what direction the story will take. Kevin Feige has confirmed that the narrative will span over 7,000 years, which is understandable when the title characters themselves are an immortal race of aliens, but plenty of question marks remain over how The Eternals will tie into the present-day MCU, and just how heavily the flashbacks set in previous millennia will feature.
As is the case with any Marvel Studios project that’s still ten months out from release, no plot specifics have been confirmed as of yet, but Marvel have released a new synopsis for their twenty-fifth feature, and it reveals that while the Infinity Saga may be over, the events of Avengers: Endgame will still have repercussions for future MCU installments.
“Marvel Studios’ The Eternals features an exciting new team of superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants.”
Obviously, that’s still a pretty vague description, but Feige has admitted that the Eternals are aware of the existence of the Avengers, so there will no doubt be several direct references to what transpired in Endgame. It seems interesting that the Deviants are described as an enemy of mankind here as well, when historically they’ve always been the cosmic nemeses of the titular team.
Perhaps Thanos will turn out to be the key, especially when you consider the rumors that the Mad Titan could be set to reappear in the MCU during Phase Four, and his comic book origin just so happens to place him as the son of two Eternals that carry the Deviants gene. Time will tell, but for now, you can certainly color us intrigued.
