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Eternals

What you missed

By Alexandrea CallaghanPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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So my problems with the Eternals movie are endless, evident by the fact that I’ve now written 4 articles about it but I think my biggest issue with the film is that it's so obvious that the writers have absolutely no idea who these characters are, so let me shed some light…

First of all there are 5 generations of Eternals, very few of the Eternals we saw were actually a part of the same generation.

Generation 1 includes 9 Eternals that we never saw and therefore are irrelevant to this discussion, moving on; Generation 2 contained a single Eternal that they carried to the screen, Gilgamesh. In the 3rd Generation we saw Ajak, Ikaris, Phastos, and Thena (it's worth noting that Thanos is also a 3rd generation Eternal, a fact that was not carried or even acknowledged in the MCU). In the 4th Generation we saw Druig, Makkari and Sersi and finally in the 5th Generation we have Sprite.

Now comic book accuracy has never been a priority for the MCU, however their characterizations have always been accurate and their plot points have always been at least somewhat reminiscent of what already exists however for no fathomable reason this movie went completely off the comic book rails. For example the Eternals as we know them on the page all have access to the same powers, some choose to specialize and further one ability or another but they all have the same baseline of powers and there is absolutely no reason, screenwriting or otherwise why that couldn’t have been shown on screen.

Now in the 2006 retcon it was established that the Eternals were hardwired and didn't have freewill persay, essentially they were programmed unable to harm any Celestial. Now this is the characterization that the film seemed to go with however they glossed over the part where they physically can’t harm a Celestial, in fact their bodies would literally shut down if they tried.

The film really tried to make it look like they read comic books but all they did was make it look like they were incapable of reading comprehension. The film claimed that Olympia didn’t exist and that because the Eternals were forged that they really didn’t have a home, the reality of the comic books was that Olympia was one of three Eternals cities that were built along with Oceana and Polaria.

Comic book accuracy is one thing, and it's something I would never expect in full because there is simply too much material to sift through. Thousands of comics spanning decades helped birth the MCU and makes it very easy for them to find more content but it also makes it impossible for them to make everyone happy. That said, respecting your source material is not only wanted but required, especially in situations like this, we as audiences can tell who understands the source material and who doesn't, even the members of the audience who have never read a single comic book. For example, I watched WandaVision with my father who has a very base layer of comic book knowledge when it comes to Wanda, yet he could tell that there was more to that show, it's plot and her character development then existed in Eternals because the creators took care in how they wrote the script. WandaVision remains the MCU’s most comic book accurate piece of media. While watching Eternals with my husband who has never read Marvel comics we both lamented about the major gaps in plot and character development and he was constantly asking if there was unspoken comic book knowledge that he was missing, unfortunately the answer to that was no the writers just had no grasp of these characters.

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About the Creator

Alexandrea Callaghan

Certified nerd, super geek and very proud fangirl.

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