New movies are coming out left and right with no signs of stopping anytime soon. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down many film productions and many more held off on releasing their movies to the public until movie theaters were open again. Although it seems as if the pandemic is far from over, production companies have decided it’s time to hit the ground running. 

One of the companies that has been successful in its new releases is Marvel Studios. With the release of shows like “Wandavision” and “Loki” and riding the wild success of the final Avengers film, “Endgame,” the studio’s newest feature is “Eternals.” With a brand new group of heroes and previously unknown villains, this movie brought many revolutionary ideas and plot lines to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Experiencing the Eternals

With all of the new characters in “Eternals,” Marvel Studios and director Chloé Zhao did a remarkable job of developing all of the characters in one movie.

The movie begins with explaining who the Eternals were — they serve a being called a Celestial, named Arishem, and their original conceived purpose was to protect humans from Deviants. However, as the movie unfolds, they discover their real purpose on Earth — saving the world from destruction. Though they are able to come together and save the Earth and the humans who live on it, this film takes a dramatic turn and ends on a cliffhanger, which I will not spoil for anyone waiting to get to theaters and see it.

Through many heartbreaks and betrayals, “Eternals” expertly demonstrates themes of love, family and duty. The Eternals find themselves loving and protecting the humans, even though they can clearly see their faults. It beautifully illustrates the strength of humanity, even though mistakes in our society are constantly being made. 

Marvel’s Post-Credit Scene

Like all Marvel movies in theaters, you’ll want to stick around through the credits for the end scenes. “Eternals” contains two! The first, which takes places halfway through the end credits, introduces a new character — Eros, Thanos’ brother, played by none other than Harry Styles. Styles entered the acting world with “Dunkirk,” and with the upcoming release of Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” movie on the horizon, entering the MCU is yet another exciting new development in his career path.

The second end credit scene, which takes place after the completion of all of the credits, puts into motion a potential new hero. The main love interest in the movie discovers a family secret, and it leads him to what appears like his own hero story. There is even a brief appearance of Blade, played by Mahershala Ali, leading the audience to believe that he will soon have his own movie. 

“Eternals” puts into motion many new characters and many new potential storylines and, like in the past, Marvel does an incredible job of interlacing them all. The question can be asked, however, if the cinematic universe will start to become overpopulated and overcomplicated, and how Marvel will deal with that fact.

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@sara_gillett