50 Fun Facts About Eternals (Marvel)

Who directed Eternals?

She approached Marvel herself as a fan and pitched with 'reams of visuals', then wrote the script while shooting Nomadland.

In what year does the film's opening send the Eternals to Earth?

They arrive on the starship Domo, sent by the Celestial Arishem to wipe out the Deviants.

What is the name of the Eternals' starship?

Thena, Druig and Makkari take it at the end to warn Eternals on other planets about the Emergences.

In which year did the Eternals kill what they believed were the last Deviants?

For the next 500 years they mostly lived apart, waiting for orders from Arishem that never came.

Which Eternal is the film's lead character, according to Kevin Feige?

Gemma Chan had already played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel; she was one of the last actresses considered and called it the hardest role to cast.

Which Game of Thrones star plays the flying Eternal who fires cosmic beams from his eyes?

Zhao's take on the flying, eye-beam-firing Eternal was influenced by Zack Snyder's Superman in Man of Steel.

What career does Kingo pursue to blend in on Earth?

Kumail Nanjiani, no dancer, trained for months for the film's Bollywood number and modelled the look on Hrithik Roshan.

Which Eternal is trapped in a permanent childlike state and can project illusions?

Kingo compares her unrequited love for Ikaris to Tinker Bell's for Peter Pan; the film ends with her being made human.

Which Eternal is the first superhero depicted as gay in an MCU film?

Brian Tyree Henry's inventor has a husband, Ben, played by Haaz Sleiman, and a son.

Lauren Ridloff's Makkari is the MCU's first what?

She trained to have 'the symmetry of somebody who looks like a sprinter', since Makkari's power is superhuman speed.

Which Korean actor plays Gilgamesh, the strongest Eternal?

He pursued the part to become the first Korean superhero and used his real boxing training in the fights.

Angelina Jolie's Thena suffers from a psychological condition called what?

Jolie trained with swords, spears and staffs, and took ballet, to play the warrior who conjures weapons from cosmic energy.

How was Salma Hayek's Ajak changed from the source material?

Hayek said the switch let her make Ajak the Eternals' 'mother figure'; she had assumed Marvel would offer her a 'grandmother' part.

Kit Harington plays Dane Whitman, who works where?

The post-credits scene has an unseen voice asking whether he is ready to wield the Ebony Blade, the comics' Black Knight weapon.

What is the name of the Celestial who created the Eternals and gives them their orders?

He is voiced by David Kaye and lifts Sersi, Phastos and Kingo into a singularity at the end to judge humanity.

What was the Eternals' true mission on Earth, as Sersi learns after Ajak's death?

The energy of a large population lets a Celestial seed hatch; the Blip's reversal pushed Earth over the threshold.

What is the name of the Celestial gestating inside the Earth?

Sersi turns him to stone mid-emergence, and his marble hand and head are left jutting out of the Indian Ocean.

Which Eternal betrays the group, having led Ajak to her death, and finally flies into the Sun?

He cannot bring himself to kill Sersi, joins the Uni-Mind, and leaves in guilt.

What is the Uni-Mind?

Phastos proposes it so Druig can put Tiamut to sleep; instead it lets Sersi turn the Celestial to stone.

Which Deviant, voiced by Bill Skarsgård, kills Gilgamesh and is later killed by Thena?

The Deviants were originally sent to kill apex predators so intelligent life could develop, until they evolved and started hunting people.

Where is the site of the Emergence?

Makkari, the speedster, locates it; Ikaris and Sprite are waiting there to stop the others.

Which pop star appears in the mid-credits scene as Eros, brother of Thanos?

Zhao said she had 'kept tabs' on him since Dunkirk; Patton Oswalt voices his assistant Pip the Troll.

Whose uncredited voice is heard in the post-credits scene?

It was a tease for his planned Blade film, which had not begun production by the time Eternals came out.

Which WWE wrestler shot a post-credits scene that was cut for reportedly being 'too depressing'?

The scene was meant to set up a future project; Gil Birmingham was also cast but absent from the finished film.

Which director's films, especially The Tree of Life, did Zhao cite as a key inspiration?

Co-writer Patrick Burleigh said her draft showed she was 'trying to make the Terrence Malick version of a Marvel film'.

Whose 2006 Eternals miniseries with John Romita Jr. informed the film's version of Sprite?

That run compared Sprite to Peter Pan and gave her the short red hair the film reuses; Jack Kirby created the Eternals in 1976.

Which non-fiction book by Yuval Noah Harari did Zhao name among her inspirations?

She also cited the TV series Ancient Aliens, the Final Fantasy games and manga, hoping for a 'marriage of East and West'.

What was the film's working title during location shooting in Oxford and London?

Scenes were shot outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, on Hampstead Heath and in Camden in January 2020.

Why were the cast and crew evacuated from a location on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands?

Jolie and Madden were among those cleared from the site in November 2019.

Which film did Zhao say was her primary influence for composing the action sequences?

She shot Eternals with the same camera and rigs as Nomadland, using 360-degree shots and natural light.

Which Game of Thrones composer scored Eternals?

He had scored the very first MCU film, Iron Man, in 2008.

Kumail Nanjiani got in shape for Kingo despite Marvel being happy for him to look 'normal'. Why?

His contract reportedly covers six films, a video game and a theme park ride.

Nanjiani based Kingo on which two influences?

He also studied Errol Flynn and old Zorro films for stars 'whose characters really enjoyed fighting'.

Which carmaker built ten concept cars based on the ten Eternals to promote the film?

A commercial starring Nanjiani as Kingo was developed with the Russo brothers directing its production.

Eternals is which numbered MCU film?

It followed Shang-Chi and preceded Spider-Man: No Way Home in the Phase Four run of late 2021.

On which date was Eternals released in the US?

The other two 2020-21 dates were earlier scheduled slots lost to the pandemic; the title was shortened from 'The Eternals' in August 2020.

What unwelcome distinction did Eternals earn on the review aggregators?

It landed at 48%, and its CinemaScore of B was also the lowest for a Marvel Studios film at the time.

What CinemaScore grade did audiences give Eternals?

It was the lowest grade for an MCU film at that point; PostTrak had 78% positive.

Approximately how much did Eternals gross worldwide?

Its $162 million global opening was the second-biggest of the pandemic for a Hollywood film at the time.

Which country was the film's largest overseas market?

Its $14.4 million opening there was the biggest for any Hollywood film during the pandemic.

Why was Eternals not released in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman?

Jolie said she was 'proud of Marvel for refusing to cut those scenes out', though cuts were later agreed for Indonesia.

Zhao became 'persona non grata' in China over remarks in a 2013 interview with which magazine?

She had described China as 'a place where there are lies everywhere'; the film was never released there.

Which screenwriter was developing an Eternals series for ABC in 2015?

The 12 Years a Slave writer said his take was 'a really weird story' that might not have entertained everyone.

Which 1999 dystopian Marvel series did the Firpo brothers cite as a major inspiration for their script?

Their outline already contained the Sersi-Ikaris love story that survived to the finished film.

Eternals was watched for 4.24 billion minutes on US TVs in 2022. What did that make it?

It ranked thirteenth for the year and was the most-streamed Marvel film of 2022.

Zhao described the Earth itself as what in the film?

She likened the treatment to a Greek play where gods discuss human nature through their own relationships.

Roughly how long after Avengers: Endgame is Eternals set?

The film also explains why the Eternals never intervened in the MCU's earlier conflicts, a balance Feige called 'a challenge'.

Which Zhao film, shot back-to-back with Eternals, used the same cameras and rigs?

Marvel let her shoot on location in her own style, including 360-degree shots, with Ben Davis returning as cinematographer.

Which Stranger Things actress denied a 2019 Variety report that she had joined the Eternals cast?

At that stage Angelina Jolie was rumoured to be playing Sersi, a role that ultimately went to Gemma Chan.

Which organisation gave Eternals its Seal of Authentic Representation for Lauren Ridloff's role?

The seal goes to films with disabled actors who have at least five lines; Eternals also earned the 2021 ReFrame Stamp for gender-balanced hiring.