It has been three years since Marvel's Eternals was released in theatres and the chances of seeing the immortal superhero team on screen again are dwindling.
Following poor reviews from critics and a less-than-stellar run at the box office, Eternals has become one of the more maligned installments in the MCU.
Recently, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed in an interview with Inverse that there are "no immediate plans" to move forward with an Eternals 2.
While things do not look good for the Eternals' future right now, there's more than one reason the film deserves a sequel.
Why Eternals 2 Needs To Happen
Eternals Ended on a Massive Cliffhanger
The most obvious reason for a sequel to Eternals is that the first film ended on quite a cliffhanger.
After the Eternals stopped the emergence of Tiamut from destroying Earth, the team split up. Thena, Druig, and Makkari headed into space to warn other planets of potential 'Emergences', while Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo remained on Earth to live out their established lives.
Their victory was short-lived, however, as the film ends with Arishem summoning Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo into space, where he reprimands them for sacrificing a Celestial for humans.
Arishem promises to spare humanity before warning that he will "return for judgment." The Celestial then disappears, taking the trio of Eternals with him.
This plot thread sets up a direction for a sequel, where the Eternals must prove to Arishem that humanity is worthy of survival.
The Eternals Have Great Crossover Potential
Speaking of judgment, one of the more notable incidents in the Eternals' comic book history is a crossover event known as A.X.E.: Judgment Day.
In this limited run, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Eternals enter into conflict as the latter two quarrel over who is the dominant species. This eventually leads to the Avengers and Eternals summoning an ancient Celestial, the Progenitor, to end the war.
However, the Progenitor has other ideas and decides to initiate a Judgment Day where all of humanity, and its heroes, are tested to determine whether they are worthy of living - which echoes the final lines of Arishem in Eternals.
While Eternals 2 will not release before the likes of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, an adaptation of the A.X.E.: Judgment Day storyline in the future could be the perfect opportunity for an eventual X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals crossover in the MCU.
Kit Harington Might Not Be in Blade
Another thread left dangling after the conclusion of Eternals is Kit Harington's future in the MCU. The actor stars as Dane Whitman in the film, who famously goes on to become the Black Knight in Marvel comics.
The post-credits scene for Eternals showed Whitman examining a mysterious black sword - presumably the Black Knight's Ebony Blade - before the voice of Mahershala Ali off-screen warns him, "Sure you're ready for that, Mr Whitman?"
The appearance of Ali, who is set to portray the vampire hunter, Blade, in the MCU led to speculation that Harington's next MCU appearance would be in the upcoming Blade film.
However, Harington quashed these rumors in 2023 at Superhero Comic-Con, saying he "was never meant to be in the Blade movie and isn't."
This begs the question of where Dane Whitman could appear next, and the most likely answer seems to be Eternals 2, where he would no doubt be on a mission to find his missing girlfriend, Sersi.
Eros & Pip the Troll Are Still Absent
Eternals was home to two important post-credits scenes, the other of which introduced two new characters to the MCU - Harry Styles as Eros and Patton Oswalt as Pip the Troll.
It was a massive mic drop for Marvel Studios to introduce Styles, a world-renowned pop star, into the MCU, but three years later the only appearance of Eros (aka Starfox) has been in animated form for an interactive story for What If..?.
The character of Eros bears significant weight in Marvel comics as not only is he an Eternal, but he is also the brother of major MCU villain, Thanos.
Marvel producer Nate Moore confirmed in an interview that Styles' casting was not just a publicity stunt and that there are "more stories to be told with that character" at Marvel.
The obvious place to tell those stories would be in Eternals 2, which is another reason a sequel to the film has promise.
[ Harry Styles' Eternals Character Eros Explained: Who is Marvel's Starfox? ]
Eternals 2 Could Bring Back Thanos
The character of Eros also offers Marvel a unique opportunity to bring back Josh Brolin's Thanos, adding to the number of returning legacy MCU actors.
Where this approach would differ to that of Robert Downey Jr.'s return is through a flashback format, that allows more of Thanos' history and backstory to be explained via his brother, Eros.
This would allow Eternals 2 to utilize some heavy star power and reveal some intriguing aspects of the MCU villain, without undermining the death of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
Eternals Has Massive Star Power
Even without the return of legacy Marvel stars, Eternals 2 would no doubt still be stuffed with star power.
The original cast included the likes of Angelina Jolie, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kumail Nanjiani, all of whom have unresolved threads at the end of Eternals that could lead them to return for a sequel if one moves forward.
Add to that the star power of director Chloé Zhao, who won an Oscar for her direction of Nomadland shortly before Eternals' release.
With Zhao and the cast back on board, plus the addition of Harry Styles as Eros, Eternals 2 would have massive appeal thanks to its A-list talent.
The MCU Needs More Cosmic Franchises
While the MCU initially began with Earth-bound stories, it has since expanded to explore all the different spacefaring, alternate reality, and Multiversal corners of its universe.
However, with the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy wrapping up last year and a sequel to The Marvels looking uncertain, the Eternals remain one of the only active MCU properties that can continue to explore the cosmic elements of the Marvel universe.
[ How Marvel Is Expanding the MCU Into 8 Different Branches ]
Eternals Could Help Set Up the X-Men
As mentioned, the Eternals are not short of rich comic book storylines to draw from and the Judgment Day run is not the only time the superhero team has encountered other important Marvel characters, namely mutants.
One instance in particular was in the comic one-shot, New Eternals: Apocalypse Now, which saw the immortal superheroes come into conflict with the iconic X-Men mutant and villain, Apocalypse, during the early centuries.
With the X-Men seemingly a big priority for Marvel Studios in the future, it makes sense the studio would be looking at integrating characters like Apocalypse into the MCU and setting up the Eternals' history with the character in a sequel could be one way to do it.
A Different Release Strategy
It is no secret that film releases over the past four years have been hampered by several once-in-a-lifetime events - including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Actors and Writers Guild strikes.
Eternals released in November 2021, at a time when the world was still figuring out how to move forward amidst the pandemic.
While the film received a cinema release it was unable to undergo an extensive marketing campaign due to restrictions and was also one of many Disney's theatrical releases that was fast-tracked to Disney+, which no doubt contributed to its poor box office results.
With these challenges now out of the way, an Eternals 2 would likely benefit from a full theatrical release strategy and marketing campaign.
[ Eternals Just Broke the MCU's Disney+ Viewership Record ]
Some of the Best MCU Movies Have Been Sequels
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has told the origin stories of dozens of superheroes, but it is not always the origin story that is the most interesting.
Indeed some of the highest-rated MCU movies have been sequels, just look to Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: Ragnarok, or Spider-Man: No Way Home as examples.
Often the plot of an origin story is hampered by excessive exposition that needs to be told to establish the character. With the origin story out of the way, sequels allow these characters to grow and reinvent themselves, picking up iconic storylines, testing out new genres, and bringing in new characters that yield exciting results.
Eternals was arguably a victim of this. The film had the unenviable task of introducing an ensemble of brand new heroes, each with their own histories and powers, along with literal centuries of history and establishing comic lore.
With all that exposition now out of the way, Eternals 2 would be free to fix many of the criticisms of the first film and take the superhero team in a new and exciting direction. However, it needs to be given a second chance for that to happen.
Eternals is now streaming on Disney+.
Read more about Eternals on The Direct:
Eternals 2: Release, Cast, and Everything We Know
Eternals 2: Sequel ‘Announcement’ from Patton Oswalt Gets Debunked
