From quick, revealing shots to comic book lore, there's plenty to dig into in the teaser
trailer for Marvel's newest film. Here are the small details you missed in the "Eternals"
teaser trailer.
While eager MCU fans haven't gotten a full plot synopsis of "Eternals" yet, Marvel has
given some basic insight on what the film is about. The Eternals are a race of immortal
cosmic humanoids created by the alien Celestials who have secretly been living on Earth for
centuries. But when an "unexpected tragedy" befalls Earth, the Eternals are pushed out
of hiding, and must band together to defeat the Deviants, "mankind's most ancient enemy."
The song featured in the teaser trailer, 1962's "The End of the World" by Skeeter Davis, gives
us some further insight into the calamity the Eternals will be facing. "The End of the
World" encapsulates the devastation felt after a breakup. Unfortunately, it seems the "end
of the world" in the "Eternals" will be a bit more literal. As suggested by Marvel's
brief synopsis, the arrival of the Deviants indicates a potential world-ending event that
only the Eternals can stop.
Near the beginning of the "Eternals" teaser trailer, a strange rectangular aircraft spontaneously
materializes in front of a group of humans living on the shore near an ocean. The Eternals,
who are soon revealed to be inside the ship, admire the planet, with Sersi talking about
it to Ikaris as if she's bringing him to Earth, or this time period of Earth, for the first
time.
A spaceship descending upon a group of unsuspecting humans is standard affair for the MCU at this
point.
"What's the matter with you kids? You've never seen a spaceship before?"
Still, its appearance and the behavior of its crew draw many questions about the Eternals'
place within the established Marvel canon. After all, in the comics, the Eternals are
native to Earth, having been created by the Celestials during their proto-humanity experiments
that also yielded the Deviants. They do have colonies elsewhere, though.
Another likely option is that this ship is a time machine of some kind. The Eternals
have traveled backward in time to the age of primitive man before. The Eternal Phastos
has even lent some of their advanced technology to the tribal humans.
Midway through the trailer, there's a shot of an Eternal's hand cupping a dagger — and
a human's hand nervously reaching out to take it.
The dagger has obvious symbolic meaning. The shot and Ajak's voiceover express the idea
that the Eternals gave humans technology to help them evolve. But, after watching this
moment in the teaser, fans may be asking whether the dagger is an important reference from
the comics. The answer, as far as we can tell, is that the dagger itself isn't particularly
significant on its own. The important part is that it's imparting knowledge from the
Eternals to humans.
The moment is actually reminiscent of the beginning of "2001: A Space Odyssey," when
the sudden appearance of a mysterious monolith inspires apes to start using tools — specifically,
bones as weapons. It's a similar idea of alien intervention inciting human evolution.
When Makkari is reading her book at the 1:07 mark in the teaser trailer, she's surrounded
by all sorts of ancient artifacts. One of these is a gold statue that reads "SPQR,"
which historians will recognize as the abbreviation for "Senātus Populusque Rōmānus," or "the
Senate and People of Rome." SPQR represents the government of the Roman Republic, which
is dated from 509 BC to 27 BC. As we know from the film's teaser trailer, the Eternals
have been around for quite some time, with Sersi noting that they have never interfered
with the people of Earth — until the threat of the Deviants arrives, of course.
While they might not have been interfering, the Eternals definitely have been looming
in the background, gathering artifacts from different civilizations and time periods.
Other objects inside the artifact room include a chimera statue, a statue of a gold Sphynx
cat, and a medieval knight's armor. Makkari is also surrounded by hundreds of other books
and mysterious objects, some of which include old paintings. In the comics, Makkari has
many adventures in human history and even taught the Egyptians how to write. Based on
what we see of her in the "Eternals" teaser trailer, it looks like she might have taken
tokens from different civilizations in the past where she was present.
The "Eternals" teaser trailer briefly but effectively sets up the romance between two
of the Eternals, Sersi and Ikaris.
The pair are the first members of the Eternals shown in the footage, as Sersi is seen commenting
on Earth's beauty to Ikaris shortly after the group's ship arrives on the planet. From
there, the "Eternals" teaser trailer features several moments between Ikaris and Sersi.
Marvel's Kevin Feige has previously said that Gemma Chan's Sersi is the closest thing that
"Eternals" has to a lead character, so her relationship with Ikaris will likely play
a major role in the film's plot.
In the comics, although Sersi and Ikaris are both members of the Eternals, they've never
had a notable romance together. However, Sersi has had a romantic relationship with Dane
Whitman, aka Black Knight, in the comics; Kit Harington is playing him in "Eternals."
It's also worth noting that Chan previously told Vanity Fair Italy that Sersi would be
involved in "two love stories" in the film, so it's very likely "Eternals" will see a
love triangle take form between Sersi, Ikaris, and Dane.
The "Eternals" teaser trailer offers interesting hints about the titular group's powers — particularly
the golden, intricately patterned energy threads seen in multiple spots. They're most prominently
on display in a shot that shows Sersi, Druig, and Makkari levitating a few feet above a
beach while the golden energy connects the trio. This might be a manifestation of one
of the Eternals' main powers: the ability to wield cosmic energy. Judging by Druig's
elevated hands and the fact that the gold strands seem to emanate from him, it seems
that whatever's happening here, he's the guy taking the lead in connecting himself to Sersi
and Makkari. Since Druig's comic-book counterpart has considerable telepathic powers at his
disposal, there might be some mind-linking going on. It remains to be seen just why this
is happening, though.
The villains of "Eternals" are the Deviants, the mortal enemies of the Eternals, but it's
currently unknown who's playing them or what they'll look like. Marvel hasn't revealed
that information, and the teaser trailer doesn't give fans much more to go on. However, there's
a brief glimpse of something that could be a Deviant, plus a hint at the kind of powers
the Deviants have.
At the 1:28 mark of the teaser trailer, Kingo is seen in battle. He slides under what looks
like some kind of CGI horse-creature and stabs it in the leg, which glows gold. The footage
then quickly cuts to a group of villagers who all have blank, glowing eyes. They lift
their guns in unison, suggesting that they're being mind-controlled.
The scene is too quick to show anything really meaty, but there could be a Deviant — or
several Deviants — in it. The villagers could be Deviants in disguise, or might be
humans whom the Deviants have possessed. A Deviant could also be riding the horse-creature,
or may have taken the form of the horse-creature itself, since Kro, the leader of the Deviants,
is a shapeshifter.
At the 1:30 mark of the "Eternals" teaser trailer, there's a volcano erupting over the
backdrop of the blue sky. While it's not exactly clear what the context is for the exploding
volcano, within the Marvel Comics canon, there have actually been "Eternals" storylines that
prominently feature volcanoes.
In flashbacks in 2012's "Hulk Vol. 2" #49, Ikaris fights Red Hulk on an erupting volcano.
And way back in 1960's "Tales of Suspense Vol. 1" #7, a character who would later be
retconned into Makkari is taking a vacation when the Molten Man-Thing emerges from an
erupting volcano.
For the time being, though, here's no way to know for sure what the erupting volcano
means. It could mark a significant event in the film's plot, or simply be further proof
of the Deviants' destruction and devastation of Earth.
With all the majestic world-building and cool costumes in the "Eternals" teaser trailer,
it's easy to forget that the movie also features at least one prominent human character. In
fact, the trailer nearly forgets him, too, seeing as we only get a brief glimpse of Dane
Whitman, played by Kit Harington. He stands beside Sersi, looking a little bit scruffy
and wearing decidedly normal, everyday clothes. Immediately after the one and only closeup
of the character, there's a shot of a group of people looking worriedly as something very
strange is going on in the sky.
Of course, it's almost certain that you'll see plenty more of Dane in the movie. As previously
mentioned, in the comics, Dane has a history with Sersi that will potentially translate
to the big screen. More importantly, Marvel Comics fans know that Dane ultimately becomes
a sword-wielding superhero called Black Knight, and common sense dictates that you don't cast
a major "Game of Thrones" alum to play a sword-wielding character unless he's meant to be a pretty
big part of the movie.
But unfortunately, we're as lost as he is about what it all means.
"You know nothing, Jon Snow."
At the 1:31 mark of the "Eternals" teaser trailer, viewers can see Sprite on what appears
to be an airplane, singing karaoke. For the truly eagle-eyed viewers, an old-fashioned
Captain America shield can be seen hanging on the wall next to the door and behind the
bar.
This brief moment also suggests that the plane the heroes are riding on belongs to Kingo,
played by Kumail Nanjiani, the Eternals member whose secret identity is as a Bollywood celebrity.
Having a "K" on the door could signify that this is his plane, which fits perfectly with
the character as he's reportedly not exactly great at keeping things on the DL. As for
the Captain America shield, we can only imagine that Kingo is a fan of the Star-Spangled Avenger.
The Eternals were always going to be a tough nut to crack, cinematically speaking. They're
compelling enough characters once you dig in, but on the surface, they're a pretty odd
bunch.
That's part of why Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada tasked Neil Gaiman and John Romita
Jr. with breathing new, more relatable life into the characters back in the mid-2000s.
The result was "Eternals," a seven-part miniseries that reworked the mythology of Jack Kirby's
race of immortals, wiping enough of their memories to warrant reintroductions and warm,
welcoming exposition. As with lots of rebooted comics from the last few years, the story
took the pre-built foundations of the universe and constructed a more screen-ready version
of events for new readers — and, optimistically, studio executives — to latch onto.
From what we've seen in this first teaser trailer, the movie seems to take influence
from the comic book miniseries. The biggest hint comes from the ominous shots of Sprite,
who spends the comic series on a reality-warping rage bender after millenia spent trapped in
the body of a child finally catch up with the little hellraiser. Sprite's crusade to
reshape existence, and particularly their tendency to mess with people's memories, would
go a long way towards explaining why nobody in the MCU has noticed the Eternals until
now.
As the trailer closes out, at the 1:50 mark, the Eternals sit around a table enjoying a
meal.
"Now that Captain Rogers and Iron Man are both gone, who do you think's going to lead
the Avengers?"
"I could lead them."
In the original "Eternals" comics, Ikaris does serve as the Prime Eternal — the leader
of the Earth Eternals — and though he fights alongside the Avengers sometimes, he doesn't
serve as the group's leader like Tony or Cap do. However, a different character involved
with the Eternals did lead the Avengers: Kit Harington's Dane Whitman.
Whether or not Ikaris or Dane will eventually team up with or even lead the Avengers in
any future MCU films is anyone's guess at this point. Either way, Ikaris and Dane will
both be able to show off their leadership skills in "Eternals" when the film hits theaters
on November 5.
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