When Guardians of the Galaxy was announced, audiences believed it was going to be the MCU’s first miss. Up until then, the MCU was doing a great job with somewhat familiar characters. Those characters became household names. But the Guardians of the Galaxy were different. They were very obscure but the MCU made it work. For a while, no matter which character the MCU got their hands on, it was going to successful and that’s what audiences believed. But one movie came along and shook up the MCU reputation and consideration. That movie being The Eternals. Similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy, The Eternals were obscure characters in the eyes of a mainstream audience. The MCU had a few misses on the small screen but The Eternals was one of the first films in the MCU to stumble. There a few reasons as to why. But if handled correctly, could have The Eternals succeeded?
The biggest complaint about the movie was really voiced when the first trailers came out. It was revealed that the Eternals are goldy level beings with superpowers to match. To top that, they have been around since mankind’s earliest days and helped mankind establish themselves. What really bothered fans was the Eternals’ lack of involvement with huge threats. All fans were quick to point out that the Eternals missed out on Loki, Ultron, Malekith, and Thanos threatening Earth. The film explained why they didn’t interfere. It was due to an order given to them by their overseer, the Celestial Arishem. But for many fans, it felt like a hollow order with no substance. An oversimplified, easy-way-out reason explaining why they skipped out on those events. Logically, it doesn’t hold up. So many world ending events occurred and the beings that could have stopped it just as easy or easier than Earth’s Mightiest Heroes just didn’t show up for a hollow reason.
Another complaint was the number of Eternals. There were ten main characters essentially. Unlike the Avengers who had subsequent movies or involvement to set up their characters before the team-up, The Eternals showed up and did what it can to explore these ten characters freshly. By doing this, some characterization didn’t have a chance to fully breath for some of them. There were interesting things set up for some of the Eternals but because there were nine other characters, a betrayal from within the team, a group of monsters, a singular villain and a giant celestial being, some of these plotlines just didn’t get the time they deserved. The film had no other choice than to put the bright spotlight on a few while other characters felt a little plain. No fault on them but they were a victim to how a film is structed. But the movie still had to get to them and for some, it was just a bit too much to digest.
If The Eternals climbed to the heights the MCU intended, what could have been done instead? One way is to go the route that many fans suggested after the movie’s release; a series. By the time The Eternals came out, the MCU already dabbled with shows of varying success. Those shows helped bring more dimension to the characters the shows revolved around. Due to the fact the Eternals had many characters, a show would have given more room for everything to breath. There was a lot going on in the film, that quite simply, the film did not have room to explore. And there was some interesting plotlines involved. Thena losing control. Kro gaining power. Sprite hating her adolescence. Druig running a cult. Ikaris living in between his duties and his love for Sersi. The film did it’s best to balance it all but some plotlines felt stronger while others lacked life. A series could have fixed that problem and give just enough room to explore it all. The series could have even dedicated one episode to each character while still maintaining a coherent, singular, season long story. Kro, Arishem and Tiamut could have served as the lingering threats that grew stronger with each episode. A series has been proven to be a logical choice to explore plot in more detail and deeper in detail. The Eternals would have benefited a lot more from a series.
Now as for the most glaring issue fans had with it, there is a simple solution. The biggest question around the film was where the Eternals during all the events? The film did show the Eternals throughout human history. A conquest in South America was the point where they did two things; separate and go their own way and to walk away from humans. The last choice led them to live among humans. They lived alongside humans up till the modern era of the MCU. That is what brought up the big issue. What could have solved this is have the Eternals remove themselves completely and physically away from humans. Apart from some flashback scenes in Thor, the earliest story in the MCU was Captain America: The First Avenger which took place during World War II. That could have been the point in time where the Eternals walked away from humans. It could have served as this passing-of-the-baton moment in the MCU. And provided reason to why the Eternals did live humans behind. Up until World War II, the Eternals witnessed and experienced many wars. Each war could have been more and more strenuous on the Eternals. Make them question why they are on Earth to help guide humans. But World War II should have been the breaking point for them. Seeing all the atrocities that World War II had in its making, pushed them beyond their limit. Witnessing human savagery after guiding humans to bliss, is the point that forces the Eternals to step away. They could have went into some sort of hibernation or just simply left Earth. Then, the events of Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos snapped away half the universe, should have been the moment that they reawakened or brought them back to Earth. It was always going to be a high hurdle to clear to explain why the Eternals skipped out on world ending events. In this way, it perhaps provides more belief to explain their absence.
The success of the MCU laid the groundwork for many movies and shows to become a hit. Obscure characters were given a shot and it worked out for them pretty well. The Eternals were primed to be the next one but things didn’t fall into place for them. Tow glaring issues worked against the film. They had the makings to be popular in the MCU but the strategy to do it didn’t benefit for them. Different courses of actions, different handling could have given them the success that was intended for them.
