Marvel’s Eternals: release date, cast, trailer and what we know so far

The release of Marvel’s Eternals is fast approaching and it won’t be long before the MCU’s newest (or should that be oldest?) superhero group arrives on the big screen.

Eternals will be the third entry in Marvel’s Phase 4 plans following Black Widow and Shang-Chi’s respective July and September releases. Currently, Eternals is set to arrive in theaters in November and, given those involved in its production, we think that it could follow in Black Panther’s footsteps and earn an Oscar Best Picture nomination next year.

So what’s the latest on Marvel’s next big ensemble movie? We have a new trailer to pour over with plenty of new footage and plot specifics, as well as more details on each Eternal who will appear.

If you’re looking for everything else worth knowing about Marvel’s Eternals, we’ve got you covered. Below, you’ll find out more about the forthcoming flick, including its release date, all-star cast, trailers, plot and more.

• How to watch the Marvel movies in order
• Spider-Man: No Way Home: everything we know so far
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: release date, cast and more

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Marvel’s Eternals is the story of a group of ancient immortal beings who have protected Earth’s human population from the Deviants and Celestials for millennia.
• Where can I see it? Marvel’s Eternals will be released in theaters worldwide.
• When can I watch it? Marvel’s Eternals is scheduled for release internationally on November 5, 2021.

Marvel’s Eternals release date: November 2021

Marvel’s Eternals will land in theaters on November 5, 2021.

The MCU movie has been delayed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is now set to arrive in cinemas worldwide later this year. Given that Marvel Studios is pressing ahead with the release of other movies, such as Shang-Chi, we don’t expect the Eternals’ release date to be pushed back again.

Marvel’s Eternals trailer: watch the latest footage

With its release just over two months away, Marvel has begun to ramp up its marketing for the Eternals movie. That means that a new trailer has arrived online and it looks absolutely epic.

There’s footage of the Eternals’ various powers in action, a first look at the villainous Deviants, a couple of blink and you’ll miss it moments involving the Celestials, and some humorous moments to enjoy, too. 

Check out the latest trailer above, and read on to see the movie’s first trailer that arrived early in the year:

Marvel’s Eternals’ first teaser trailer was released on May 24, and the sheer size and scope of Chloé Zhao’s debut superhero flick makes it look like it could a serious awards contender in 2022:

If you thought that the first trailer for Marvel’s Eternals was vague, there’s a reason for that.

Asad Ayaz, Disney Studios’ Head of Marketing, recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about a myriad of topics, including the Eternals’ trailer that was released in May.

Answering a question regarding upcoming MCU TV series like Hawkeye, Asad went on to discuss the secretive nature of the Marvel’s Eternals teaser, saying that it was a deliberate ploy on Disney and Marvel’s part.

“It’s just an introduction to the characters and tone,” Asad said. “It was a very, very early tease. We have so much more to do on that. 

“We will be very judicious because we do have other films and shows prior to Eternals hitting. And Eternals is such a special movie with all-new characters, and we have two Marvel movies prior to that. So that gives us an advantage in using those to expose people more to Eternals, but also spacing things out.”

Now that we’ve received a second trailer, though, we have a better idea of how the movie will play out and fit into the wider MCU.

Marvel’s Eternals cast: who is playing who?

Marvel’s Eternals has an absolutely stacked cast that rivals any of the Avengers movies. You can see why we say that by looking at the confirmed cast list below:

• Gemma Chan as Sersi
• Richard Madden as Ikaris
• Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo
• Lia McHugh as Sprite
• Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos
• Lauren Ridloff as Makkari
• Barry Keoghan as Druig
• Don Lee as Gilgamesh
• Kit Harington as Dane Whitman/Black Knight
• Salma Hayek as Ajak
• Angelina Jolie as Thena

There are some huge names attached to this movie but, perhaps surprisingly, the likes of Jolie and Madden aren’t the main stars of Marvel’s Eternals.

That role is reserved for Chan (Humans, Raya and the Last Dragon), who MCU fans will recognize as Minn-Erva from Captain Marvel. As Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Variety in April: “If there was a lead in this ensemble, it is Sersi, it is Gemma Chan”, so expect Chan’s empathetic Sersi to be the ‘lead’, if Marvel’s Eternals has to have one.

As for what superpowers each Eternal possesses, it’s a broad list. 

Sersi, who masquearades as a museum curator whilst on Earth, can manipulate matter. According to a lengthy Entertainment Weekly article, too, Chan says Sersi is a “free spirit” who “loves being among humans.” 

Ikaris possesses superhuman flight, strength and the ability to fire energy beams from his eyes. Think Superman, and you’ll be on the right track. Oh, and Ikaris and Sersi have had an on-off romantic relationship for “thousands of years”, Madden told EW.

Kingo can project cosmic projectiles from his hands and, unlike most Eternals, he’s happy to stay in the spotlight. As a present day Bollywood star in the MCU, Nanjiani told EW that he had to take “months and months of [dance] classes” to ensure he was up to the task of portraying Kingo authentically.

The child-esque superhero Sprite is an illusionist and, as McHugh told EW: “I sort of related to her in the way that I’ve lived my whole life because I look younger than I am.”

Makkari has superhuman speed and, as the first deaf superhero in the MCU, Ridloff says that Marvel is allowing “more people are starting to see themselves in that universe, and that’s powerful.”

Phastos is the Eternals’ inventor. Tasked with creating weaponry and other tech, Phastos is a key member of the group and Henry says he’s “still freaking out that I’m a part of it [Eternals movie].”

Druig (has mind control capabilities. Speaking about the first time that the entire cast suited up, Keoghan said: “It’s a weird feeling to see yourself like that. As soon as you put the boots on your posture transforms. You definitely notice how your whole demeanor and everything just changes.”

Gilgamesh can project an exoskeleton of cosmic armor, which serves the strongest of the Eternals well during fights. Of his character, Lee said he’s “protective over his family and humans, and he has a solid, dependable character that serves his team in battles.”

Ajak is the group’s healer and, according to Hayek, Ajak is “the bridge between the Eternals and the Celestials, and it’s never easy to hold two sides together.”

Thena can form a weapon of her choice out of cosmic energy. With so many options at her disposal, Jolie says of filming her scenes: “You feel a little nuts. You’re just throwing your hand out as if you’re thinking, ‘Is that a sword? Is that a spear? Is it a lasso? What am I doing?’ Then you get into it and it gets really fun, but it’s a puzzle.”

Finally, Whitman possesses a mystical sword that grants him the powers of the Black Knight – a superhuman individual who is resistant to magic, is an expert swordsman and a gifted tactician.

Away from the film’s main cast, Haaz Sleiman (The Visitor) will portray Phastos’ husband and Ozer Ercan will play a smuggler.

Meanwhile, Gil Birmingham (The Twilight Saga), Jashaun St. John (Songs My Brothers Taught Me) and Zain Al Rafeea (Capernaum) have all been cast in undisclosed roles. 

Harish Patel (Run Fatboy Run) will play a character called Karun, Lucia Efstathiou portrays an unnamed student and Brenda Lorena Garcia has been cast as an unnamed Babylon village per the film’s IMDB page.

Since the second trailer’s release, we know who the film’s villains will be, too. A deviant called Kro, as well as two Celestials – Arishem the Judge and Nezarr the Calculator – will appear, but it’s unknown who will voice them. So it could be any of the actors above whose roles are currently undisclosed.

Lastly, rumors have emerged that singer-songwriter and actor Harry Styles (Dunkirk) will appear in the movie. Take this with a massive pinch of salt for now, though, as it’s mostly online speculation at this point.

Marvel’s Eternals: who are these cosmic superheroes?

The Eternals emerged from the mind of Jack Kirby, the individual who co-created Marvel royalty like Captain America, Fantastic Four, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man and the X-Men. Having made the New Gods for DC, Kirby was clearly taken with the idea of immortal, god-like individuals, so mined a similar premise when he returned to Marvel in the 1970s.

The Eternals made their comic book debut in July 1976, though the series was not a commercial success and was cancelled before Kirby’s storylines were resolved. The characters have appeared at various times over the subsequent decades – including a notable crossover with Thor – and had arguably their most successful run when Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. gave the Eternals a seven-issue reboot in 2006. 

So who are they? Although they look human, the Eternals are actually immortal humanoids from outer space who’ve lived on Earth for thousands of years. 

Like the X-Men, they all have their own unique abilities but – in a Power Rangers/Voltron-like twist – they can combine to form a powerful entity known as a Uni-Mind. We got a glimpse of this melding of minds in the movie’s first trailer, so we suspect that it’ll to be shown in more detail this November.

The Eternals generally use their powers for good, and every superhero group needs an antagonistic team to go up against. That position is reserved for the Deviants, a rival race who, unlike the Eternals, are abnormal creatures due to the genetic mutation they possess.

No two Deviants are the same and, while they have their own superhuman abilities (such as fire breathing, matter manipulation and shapeshifting), they’re looked down upon by the Eternals and the two groups’ creators in the Celestials. As such, the Deviants have grown to become very jealous of their immortal counterparts – so much so that a war has waged between the two factions for millennia.

We’ve already seen a Deviant appear in the MCU before in the form of Thanos. Given how he was key to the events that unfolded in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, it’s unsurprising that the Eternals have finally decided to show their faces.

As for who the Celestials are, these are ancient cosmic beings who, in effect, created the Marvel universe. They have the ability to create and destroy life as they seem fit, and are the individuals behind the birth of the Eternals, Deviants and Humans.

Incidentally, we’ve seen the Celestials make brief cameos in other MCU flicks.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1, we were given two glimpses of this cosmic group. The first is when the Guardians traveled to the city of Knowhere, which was built in the remains of a dead Celestial’s skull. 

The second, meanwhile, is when the Collector shows the Guardians what the Power Stone actually is. During that sequence, it was Eson the Searcher who used the Power Stone to destroy an unknown planet and its dominant species – something the Celestials are known to regularly do in the comics in a process known as a Host Event.

Later, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it’s revealed that Ego, Star-Lord’s father, is a Celestial, too – though he takes the form of a planet, rather than something that looks more humanoid-esque.

Marvel’s Eternals plot: what do we know about the story?

While Black Widow is set after Captain America: Civil War, but before Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel’s Eternals takes place after Avengers: Endgame.

As the movie’s official synopsis reveals: “Marvel Studios’ The Eternals features an exciting new team of Super Heroes 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”.

Little is known about the movie’s plot, apart from the fact that it’ll span 7,000 years of humanity’s history (per Entertainment Weekly), but we do know that it’ll involve an event called the ‘Emergence’. 

As Ajak tells Ikaris in the film’s second trailer, when the Avengers snapped half of the universe back into existence – after Thanos had wiped them out in Infinity War – the sudden surge in cosmic energy kicked the Emergence into life.

It’s possible that the Emergence is the MCU’s name for the Host Events that we mentioned earlier on. It would make sense, especially if the Celestials decide to come to Earth to see how humanity is getting on, realize that they’ve been messing with the laws of space travel, time and physics, and decide that humanity needs a reset of sorts.

Regardless of what the Emergence actually is, it seems that Thanos’ universe-spanning genocidal plan was enough to convince the Eternals to come out of hiding. We know that there will be other Deviants and Celestials who may try and conquer Earth with the Avengers disbanded (or dead in some cases). So someone has to step up and save the day in the Avengers’ absence.

Speaking to GQ about his first superhero outing, Richard Madden hinted at what Marvel fans can expect when the film arrives later this year.

“[It’s] above just another superhero movie,” Madden told GQ. “It’s about, ‘OK, so how do they interact with the world now, when they’ve done everything?’. What are these people like? And what do they value and care about? What doesn’t affect them?

“We [Marvel] have done that classic thing, so it’s now about how do we make it more interesting? I’m hoping we have done that with Eternals. The Marvel Universe keeps changing and elevating and growing and I really think we’re doing something that they’ve not done yet.”

Marvel’s Eternals is a welcome new chapter for the MCU

Marvel can afford to take a few risks in the wake of Endgame. You can expect Marvel’s Eternals to have a similar balance of comedy and drama as any other MCU picture – something that was certainly on show in the movie’s teaser trailer.

Like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, you might need to see it in action to truly understand why these characters are appealing, but history shows that Feige and company have form at introducing new sides to the MCU.

That extends to greater inclusivity in the MCU, too. Marvel’s Eternals will star the first openly gay superhero in Henry’s Phastos, while Lauren Ridloff (Makkari) is the first deaf actor to appear in a Marvel movie. Ridloff will be followed by another deaf actress in Alaqua Cox in Marvel’s upcoming Hawkeye Disney Plus series, too, which shows that the studio is diversifying its superhero line up even more than before.

Marvel has drawn criticism in the past for its predominantly white, male superhero lineup, so it’s promising to see improved diversity and representation in Marvel’s Eternals. 

In an interview with Vogue, Jolie revealed that Marvel’s “commitment to expand the way we see ‘superheroes'” was key to her signing onto the movie, while Hayek told Variety that Marvel’s Vice-President of Film Production Victoria Alonso was eager for the studio to represent more people in its movies moving forward. Marvel’s Eternals, then, will be unlike any previous MCU film we’ve seen before.

Ultimately, we can’t wait for it to arrive either. With its A-list cast, Zhao’s vision and the backing of Disney, Marvel Studios could be onto another ensemble movie winner with Marvel’s Eternals – and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it win a few awards next year as a result.

• Thor: Love and Thunder: what we know so far