When the latest trailer for Eternals dropped, it was made pretty clear that fans were in for something vastly different than what they'd seen before from the MCU. The scale and width of the story seem unprecedented; of course, when the Celestials are involved, can one expect anything else?
One question that has been on the minds of many is whether Thanos will play any part in the film. After all, in the comics, Thanos is an Eternal who happens to have been born with the Deviant syndrome—causing him to look as he does but with enhanced strength and abilities.
Thinking about it, if Thanos was born in the first place, does that mean the Eternals can procreate and have a lineage? It's something that isn't explored all too much in the comics, aside from Thanos having a child in Thane; the mother in question remains a mystery even in comic lore.
According to a member of the Eternals in the upcoming film, at least one of the group is unable to have children.
Salma Hayek's Eternal Can't Have Children
In a conversation with Total Film, via Twitter user CreamOrScream, Salma Hayek revealed that her character "can't have kids" but that Eternals director Chloé Zhao wanted to "tackle the concept of leadership from the perspective of motherhood:"
"Chloé decided to tackle the concept of leadership from the perspective of motherhood... I'm not a mother. I'm an alien. I can't have kids. However, my character used to be a man in the comics, now it's a woman. So instead of just changing the gender, I proposed to [Zhao] to really bring something that is very specific to womanhood."
Explaining how it relates to her character Ajak (the mother figure of the group), Hayek said that she "need[s] to guide [the Eternals] into things:"
"I need to guide them into things... we have a mission in life, in the world. A mother also needs to guide her kids. When they misbehave, she will reprimand them, but always from the perspective of motherhood... There's an empathy to it - although I'm not allowed to have empathy, because I'm an alien. So that makes it interesting..."
No Eternal Children in the MCU?
It's hard to figure if Hayek is saying that the entire race of Eternals can't procreate or if it's just her character—it's not even clear if the whole concept is of any focus in the upcoming film.
In the comics, the Eternals were created by the Celestials. More than that, when they die, they are reborn thanks to a machine made by their creators. So, unless the machine is turned off, the group essentially has unlimited lives.
If the Eternals never really die out, there would be a need for them to have to create more of themselves—something the Celestials likely took into account. That said, the machine can go offline, and there have been Eternals who have bit the dust in the comics.
Fans will have to wait until the film releases in theaters worldwide on November 5, 2021 to find out if any of this impacts the Eternals within the MCU.
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