When the end of “Eternals” hits, it’s as if someone picked an enormous white dandelion
and blew on it, scattering its seeds all over the universe.
If your head is still spinning, you’ve come to the right place.
This is the end of "Eternals," explained.
"Eternals assemble."
Most of “Eternals” is concerned with “the emergence,” an event triggered by the energy
expelled when half of the world’s population was snapped back into existence in “Avengers:
Endgame.”
This caused a literal earthquake that once again gave rise to the Deviants — mortal
foes of the Eternals — and began triggering a series of events that would lead to the
Celestials’ newly-revealed long-game: bringing an end to human life through the emergence
of Tiamut, a Celestial "egg" planted eons ago who has been feeding off human evolution
all this time.
To paraphrase one character: all along, the Eternals have been basically farming humans
as food for the Celestials.
The emergence begins, marked by an exploding volcano and the sight of Tiamut seemingly
rising up from the center of the planet.
Just as his hand and part of his head begins to emerge, he is turned to marble.
At this point, the Eternals are fractured.
Ikaris has revealed his cruel intentions (and that he murdered Ajak), and Sprite has let
puppy love get the better of her, joining Ikaris in a quest to assist the Celestials
as they bring about the end of mankind.
Meanwhile, a conflicted Kingo has bailed, and with another recently deceased, that leaves
Sersi, Phastos, Druig, and Makkari to fight the good fight.
As speculated by Phastos, the remaining Eternals can unite their power to create what he calls
“the Uni-Mind.”
First introduced by Jack Kirby in 1977’s “Eternals” #12, the Uni-Mind has served
the group over the years as their weapon of choice against the Celestials, so it’s only
appropriate that they’d deploy it here.
In the comics, Uni-Mind has often been depicted as a being of light and energy; in the film,
the group emanates yellow tendrils of energy that link them together.
Since at this point, Sersi is the Prime Eternal, she is the principal beneficiary of the Uni-Mind;
in the comics, typically only the Prime Eternal can summon it.
When Phastos is able to contain Ikaris on the beach and Druig delivers a crushing blow
to the duplicitous Sprite, it frees up the remaining Eternals to maximize their Uni-Mind
potential, stopping the emergence in its tracks and seemingly saving the day.
While a lot of this is going on, Thena finds herself grappling with The Deviant Warlord
Kro, presented in this film as being essentially the most powerful Deviant.
Of course, she’s also grappling with issues of mind and memory, as she has been throughout
most of the film — only, now the audience understands that her memory issues aren’t
so much an inability to remember as an inability to forget.
Kro has a weapon the other Deviants do not wield — he can speak, which means he can
manipulate.
Throughout their epic battle, Kro attempts to confuse and even befriend the Eternal,
and as her eyes glaze over, it looks like his tactic might be working.
By the end of their confrontation, Thena is wrapped up in Kro’s tendrils, about to have
her energy drained, much like Ajak before her.
But our girl has a trick up her sleeve.
At seemingly the last moment, Thena activates the golden spear she wields throughout the
film — which doesn’t seem to be an object, so much as it is a manifestation of her cosmic
powers — and slices Kro into several pieces.
One of the cool things about this scene is that, in the comics, Thena and Kro were romantic
partners for thousands of years.
It was a relationship that was forbidden, since both the Eternals and Deviants are sworn
enemies — but if you’re aware of such a storyline, the scene probably played even
better, because you may have thought there was a chance Kro and Thena could indeed come
together.
With the day seemingly saved, and the emergence seemingly avoided, one group of Eternals return
to the Domo to head off in search of their next adventure, while another group stays
behind on Earth.
It is this latter group that feeds one of the film’s cliffhangers.
Just as Sersi seems to be reunited with Dane Whitman and preparing for her happily ever
after, she is literally snatched off the planet by a vengeful Arishem — who holds the Earth-bound
Eternals before him, speaking to them in space with their planet now relegated to the background
of the shot.
As it turns out — big surprise!
— Arishem isn’t thrilled by how the Eternals betrayed their supposed duty.
He also isn’t nearly so easy to defeat in battle, which is why he now holds the Eternals
before him as if they were misbehaving mice, promising to return for judgment.
As if that statement isn’t ominous enough, in the comics Arishem is often referred to
as “Arishem the Judge” and it isn’t because he has a tendency to let people off
with a slap on the wrist and a stern warning.
Typically, he has the ability to judge which planet’s civilizations will live and die,
and is the most powerful of the Celestial Hosts.
The bottom line: when some future MCU movie presents Arishem’s judgment, it most likely
will not be good news.
After a few dozen names scroll past, the screen lights back up to reveal the interior of the
Domo, where our space-traveling Eternals have received word that their counterparts on Earth
are being judged by Arishem.
It’s just then that a cosmic event occurs, depositing two space travelers into their
ship.
Pip, a smart-alecky, small-in-stature CG character voiced by Patton Oswalt, introduces Harry
Styles as Eros, the royal prince of Titan, aka Thanos' brother.
"I love those guys."
For Marvel fans, all of this is big news.
Eros is a very unorthodox character in the comics, known primarily for his hedonistic
lifestyle and hard-partying ways.
In the comics, he went on to join the Avengers — where he earned the new Earthbound name
Starfox — and became as adept at putting down baddies as he was at bedding women.
Although they don’t get into all this is the post-credits scene, Eros is the son of
two Eternals himself, has frequently battled Thanos and has comic book connections to such
characters as Ultron and the upcoming Disney+ series star “She-Hulk."
Not to be overshadowed is Pip, who seems to be serving as a valet for Eros.
Pip is a character some fans have been clamoring for, and there was a substantial groundswell
not long ago to get Peter Dinklage cast in the part.
Eros says to the Eternals as the scene concludes, “Your friends are in big trouble.
And we know how to find them.”
In the second post-credits scene, we see the pay-off for a tease that Dane Whitman seemed
to be making at the end of the film.
As he was reunited with Sersi, who was eager to reveal all about her world-saving adventure
and desire to remain on Earth, Harington’s Dane had his own revelation to make, saying
that his family history is "complicated."
That conversation was interrupted — perhaps, forever — when Arishem rudely interrupted
and swept Sersi away for intergalactic judgment.
In the second post-credits moment, we see a conflicted Dane in what looks to be a university
building room or library, examining a strange-looking box.
Inside is a sword (undoubtedly the magical Ebony Blade), which seems to be activating
itself as Dane says “Death is my reward,” and “I’m sorry, I have to try.”
Just as something is about to happen, an off-camera voice indicates that someone substantial has
entered the room, undetected.
“Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
the voice asks, seemingly interrupting Dane’s ritual.
What does it mean?
Well, “Dane Whitman” is the name of an incarnation of the Black Knight, a Marvel
character dating back to 1967’s “The Avengers” #47.
In a nutshell, this character inherited a mystical sword wielded by others who bore
the same moniker, using it for both good and bad.
This family history goes all the way back to the time of King Arthur, and the Dane Whitman
character assists the Avengers frequently, perhaps most notably against Kang the Conqueror,
supposedly the big bad of this newest Marvel phase.
Also, the Ebony Blade has been known to allow its wielder to travel across various time
streams, which could be very handy in a fractured multiverse.
The Ebony Blade was originally supposed to appear as an Easter egg in 2016’s “Doctor
Strange,” but was dropped at some point.
We might see the Black Knight sooner than you’d think, as rumor has it that Harington
will appear in 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
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