While Marvel Studios enjoys the fruits of their labor with the latest episode of WandaVision on Disney+, the team is still hard at work preparing for nine more releases in 2021. This will include five more Disney+ shows and four theatrical films, including two movies that were originally supposed to release last year.
One of these films is Marvel’s Eternals, which will bring more new characters to the screen at once than any of its MCU predecessors. With nearly a dozen core characters that comprise the race of immortals known as "Eternals," this film will give plenty of depth to Earth's history within the MCU, and it will also introduce individual journeys that are jumping from the Marvel comic pages to the big screen.
Included in these journeys will be some long-awaited representation in superhero blockbusters, which was reiterated in a chat with one of the film’s heroes.
STEIMAN TALKS RELATIONSHIP WITH PHASTOS
In a recent interview with NewNowNext, actor Haaz Steiman confirmed that he will play a role in 2021’s Eternals in an on-screen romance with Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos.
With the first openly gay relationship coming to the big screen for Marvel Studios, Steiman expressed how proud he is of Marvel’s accomplishments while revealing that he hasn’t seen the final product yet:
"I have not. If I’m not Angelina Jolie or Salma Hayek, you know I haven’t seen it. It’s my first Marvel film, so of course I’m excited. My gut feeling is you’ll be so proud. What Marvel has been able to accomplish, I’m so proud of them because they approached it in a very thoughtful way, and Phastos is one of the biggest superheroes in the film. I’m his husband, an architect; we have a child. Even though I wished I was the superhero, because when will we see an Arab Muslim openly gay actor playing a superhero? I can’t wait to see it."
WHAT THIS MEANS
It’s been known since the movie was first announced that Eternals would include a same-sex relationship for Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos. Now that filming is complete and post-production is likely well underway, plot details are slowly coming to light to tease what’s in store for MCU fans.
It will be interesting to find out how deeply Steiman and Henry's on-screen relationship and family will be explored in this movie, especially considering how expansive the team is that makes up the Eternals' core group. Steiman’s character name is still a mystery, but his background in architecture could potentially come into play considering how much of human history the MCU movie is set to explore.
Along with the long-awaited representation coming in Eternals, the movie is already gaining early buzz as one of the MCU’s best movies in terms of story and production.
Alongside Henry will be Hollywood’s cream of the crop including Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and more. This helps indicate that Marvel Studios has yet another winner on their hands as Phase 4 progresses with Eternals, which is set to release in theaters on November 5, 2021.
