Three weeks after giving fans a look forward to all the exciting titles coming up in Phase Four, Marvel released an official trailer for the highly-anticipated cosmic epic, Eternals.
The upcoming film, directed by newly-minted Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, centers on a new group of Marvel heroes — an immortal alien race who secretly lives on Earth to keep it safe. The movie features a star-studded cast including Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Lia McHugh, and Don Lee.
The trailer doesn’t provide too many plot details but it does give Marvel fans some insight into what they can expect. The footage explains that the Eternals are an immortal alien race who have been living on Earth for the better part of 7,000 years, secretly guiding humans and protecting them from threats as they evolve. The arrival of a new threat forces the team to expose themselves — although who that threat is, remains to be seen.
Sharp-eyed fans probably noticed former Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington featured for a brief moment in the trailer as well — Harrington stars as Dane Whitman, a human who possesses a magic sword that transforms him into the Black Knight. Although he doesn’t get up to much in the trailer, his appearance means we’ll probably be seeing a bit more of his character in the full-length film.
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Another treat for hardcore Marvel fans occurs at the end of the trailer. The Eternals sit around a table eating dinner in a shot that mirrors a post-credits scene from 2012’s The Avengers, which saw the team eat in silence at a shawarma restaurant. The Eternals question who will now lead the Avengers with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers gone, to which Madden’s Ikaris proposes he take on the role of leader. The suggestion leads to a burst of laughter, so we probably won’t be seeing Ikaris rally the squad against any Big Bads anytime soon.
The Eternals release was delayed over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, when ET spoke with Zhao during her record-breaking awards season with Nomadland, she promised the epic would be worth the wait.
“[You can look forward to] getting to know a group of new heroes, falling in love with them and exploring new mythology. It’s a new ride,” she said. “It’s gonna be good. I’m proud of it, and I’m very proud of the cast. I’m excited for everyone to see it.”
