‘Eternals’: When Does the Film Take Place in the MCU?
A lot of mystery surrounds the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals, which is nothing new for Marvel Studios projects. Fans know the film’s premise, and they can infer a bit about Eternals because of the comic books. But the majority of the plot is still unknown. Well, now, fans can rest a bit easier. One of Eternals‘ producers recently confirmed where the film is placed in the timeline of the MCU.
What is ‘Eternals’ about?
The official logline for the upcoming film reads, “The epic story, spanning thousands of years, features a group of immortal heroes forced out of the shadows to reunite against mankind’s oldest enemy, the Deviants.”
In the comic books, the Eternals are an alien race that has lived for millennia. The Celestials created them when they visited Earth a million years ago. They conducted experiments that formed the Eternals and the Deviants. The Eternals are some of the most powerful beings in the universe. Their priority is to protect Earth from the Deviants. That is most likely why they did not help the Avengers stop Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
The new film will be a part of Phase Four in the MCU. Chloé Zhao directs the movie. The ensemble cast includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie as the Eternals.
Where does the newest Marvel film fall in the MCU timeline?
Thanks to trailers for the film, we know that Eternals takes place after Avengers: Endgame post-blip. But per ComicBook.com, Eternals producer Matt Moore spoke with Empire magazine to discuss the timeline of the upcoming Marvel film. Moore said that Eternals takes place “right around the same time as Spider-Man: Far From Home, with the world recovering from the attack of Thanos and the return of half the population.”
So, unlike with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, fans know exactly when Eternals takes place in the Marvel timeline. We know that everything a part of Phase Four is after Avengers: Endgame, the exception being Black Widow. However, it’s hard to keep track of where exactly to place all the new Marvel content from this past year. WandaVision most likely takes place before Spider-Man: Far From Home, even though it was released after it.
As you can see, the timeline can get a bit confusing. But at least fans know that the newest MCU film takes place a few months after Iron Man used the Infinity Gauntlet.
‘Eternals’ will be a theater-exclusive release
Thanks to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ success in the box office, Disney and Marvel Studios have decided to make Eternals a theater-exclusive release. So, fans will not be able to pay extra to watch it on Disney+ Premier Access. Instead, they will have to buy a movie ticket.
From now on, fans can expect to see Disney following this same model for its future Marvel Studios releases. Obviously, the company never wanted to use Disney+ Premier Access, but thanks to the pandemic, they were forced to. Shang-Chi was an experiment for Disney that paid off tenfold.
Eternals is coming to theaters on Nov. 5.
