As fans wait to see the conclusion ofMarvel Phase Three, the studio has started moving forward on what could be one of their Phase Four movies,The Eternals. Marvel has brought on writers Matthew Firpo and Ryan Firpo, whose World War II spec scriptRuinlanded atop the Black List last year, to write the script forThe Eternals. No director is attached at this time, and Marvel hasn’t set a production schedule or release date quite yet, but it was already confirmed last month that this project was in development at Marvel Studios.
The Eternalswere created byJack Kirby, first appearing inThe Eternals#1 in July 1976. This was the first comic Kirby worked on upon his return to Marvel, after a stint at DC Comics where he created an epic superhero saga known asNew Gods, which is in development as a new movie at Warner Bros. for director Ava DuVernay.The EternalsandNew Godsare thematically similar, and they also share similar plights, with both original runs being cancelled before several plot discrepancies could be cleared up.
The Eternalsare a race of humanity that were created as an offshoot of the evolutionary process that ultimately created sentient life on Earth. They were created by alien beings known as The Celestials, who had intended for The Eternals to become thedefenders of Earth, as they waged war against their nefarious counterparts known as The Deviants. The first volume of comics ran from July 1976 to January 1978, withThe Eternalsbrought back with a 1985 mini-series written by Peter B. Gillis, that went from October 1985 to September 1986.
Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. brought backThe Eternalswith another mini-series that spanned from August 2006 to March 2007, which broughtThe Eternalsinto the modernMarvel universe, with an ongoing series launched in August 2008, although it only lasted until March 2009. There is no indication yet if any of these specific comic book runs will be used forThe Eternalsmovie, or if the new writers will craft an entirely new story to fit these characters into the ever-changing landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There have been several different characters who have been part ofThe Eternalsthroughout the four volumes of theMarvel comics, but there is no indications as to what characters may be used in this movie adaptation.
The first reports about anEternalsmovie surfaced in mid-April, with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirming at the end of April thatThe Eternalsis in fact in development for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Many think that the Marvel blockbusterAvengers: Infinity Wareven set the stage forThe Eternals, during a scene where Thanos is referred to as the son of A’lars, who was also known as The Mentor and the founder of the Eternals colony onThanos' home planet of Titan. This new first broke onThe Hollywood Reporter.
