Marvel Studios’ Eternals proves that anyone can be a superhero

Lia McHugh as Sprite, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo , Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Richard Madden as Ikarus. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved

Chloé Zhao has made a philosophical film spanning centuries and universes but one that is ultimately very human.

A new era of Marvel is upon us. Kicking off Phase 4, Eternals is taking Marvel in a new, compelling direction. An ambitious story about the cosmos and the universe, that introduces a staggering ten new superheroes, this film truly is unlike anything Marvel has done before. 

The most impressive aspect of this movie is the diversity both in front of and behind the camera. Eternals is directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, an Asian-American woman whose film Nomadland won both Best Picture and Best Director at last year’s Academy Awards. For Eternals, she has put together an incredible cast of actors from all over the world, consisting of Gemma Chan, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Don Lee, Angelina Jolie, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan and Lia McHugh. 

“You can’t do the history of humanity without the heroes looking like a cross-section of humanity,.” Kevin Feige, Marvel’s President, said at a press conference for the film. Superheroes in movies have typically been white, male and athletic. Fiege and Zhao hope to challenge that narrative with Eternals.

Salma Hayek plays the leader of the Eternals, Ajak, and it’s a role she never knew was in her reach. She says she had given up on the idea of ever being in a movie like this, “In my big dreams, I wanted to be a superhero, and I wanted to work with the best directors in the world and have big blockbuster movies… but it didn’t happen that much for me. It’s very humbling when in the middle of your fifties, a brilliant director gives you the opportunity to do both. Something that comes from a deep place, and it’s also a big blockbuster. I was wrong. Everything is possible.” 


Salma Hayek as Ajak ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved

The cast of Eternals are an inspiration. This group of super talented individuals have been given an opportunity to change the way we depict heroes and comic book characters on screen, and give a new generation hope that they can be anything they want to be. Brian Tyree Henry who plays Phastos, an inventor, explains what attracted him to the part, “I remember the first time they said they wanted me to be a superhero, and I was like, “How much weight do I have to lose?” and Chloée was like, ‘What are you talking about? We want you exactly as you are’. 

“To be a black man, to have someone look at you and say we want you exactly the way you are, is unlike anything I’ve ever felt, it just triggered me to being an 11 year old kid, who is watching these superhero movies and not ever seeing anyone like me reflected, and taking these posters and putting them in my locker, and just hoping that one day there would be somebody representing me and the way that I am.” 

Even for an action star like Angelina Jolie, her character Thena is complicated and compelling. She’s a goddess of war, but one who is conflicted by her powers, and whose struggles reflect challenges that are extremely human. She spoke about the character saying, “As I learned about Thena, and this is one of the special things Chloé brings to this, is she’s known for bringing reality to a film, to somebody’s true self. A lot of us were cast to bring out something from our own lives, something within ourselves that maybe we weren’t even aware of, and let it live and let it grow in the film. She seems the most fantastic I’ve ever played in a superhero, and yet my children said she was the most like me that they’ve seen.”

"It’s very humbling when in the middle of your fifties, a brilliant director gives you the opportunity to do both. Something that comes from a deep place, and it’s also a big blockbuster. I was wrong. Everything is possible." - Salma Hayek

Eternals offers a lot of firsts. It’s the first time we’ve met a superhero who is deaf, played by Lauren Ridloff. It’s the first time a group of heroes has ranged from Asian, Black, Indian, and Latin all at once. This film has a huge scope, and yet the most riveting thing about it is the way it sets a new precedent for diversity in film. Kumail Nanjiani spoke to this, saying “The way Chloé directed all of us, obviously the diversity of the cast is something we talk about a lot. But the way she approached it was interesting, it wasn’t as if to make a point. It’s as if to say, this is how things should always have been. It felt extremely natural.”

See Marvel Studios’ Eternals in Cineplex Theatres on November 5. Get your tickets here.