Sersi
Sersi
Movie · Phase 4
Eternals
2021 · 156 min
Ten immortals were sent to Earth in 5000 BC to kill Deviants and forbidden to interfere with anything else, which is why they watched Tenochtitlan burn and Hiroshima flatten and did nothing. In the…
The Multiverse SagaDisney+47%Released
The story
Ten immortals were sent to Earth in 5000 BC to kill Deviants and forbidden to interfere with anything else, which is why they watched Tenochtitlan burn and Hiroshima flatten and did nothing. In the present they are scattered — a Bollywood star, a construction engineer, a museum curator — and the Deviants have come back.
The reveal is that they were never protectors: they are seeding equipment, and Earth is a Celestial egg. Arishem intends the planet to die so a new Celestial can be born, and the Eternals have to decide whether five billion people outweigh a cosmic birth. Zhao shoots the whole thing in golden-hour natural light, which is both the film's distinction and its problem.
Key facts
- Release date
- 5 Nov 2021
- Status
- Released
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Saga
- The Multiverse Saga
- Runtime
- 156 min
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Director
- Chloé Zhao
- Writers
- Chloé Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, Kaz Firpo
- Streaming
- Disney+
- Timeline placement
- 5000 BC to 2024 — the present-day sections take place after the Blip
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Gemma Chan | Sersi |
| Richard Madden | Ikaris |
| Angelina Jolie | Thena |
| Salma Hayek | Ajak |
| Kumail Nanjiani | Kingo |
| Lauren Ridloff | Makkari |
| Barry Keoghan | Druig |
| Brian Tyree Henry | Phastos |
Characters
Easter eggs
- The first post-credits scene introduces Harry Styles as Eros/Starfox, Thanos' brother, alongside Patton Oswalt as Pip the Troll.
- The second post-credits scene has Mahershala Ali's voice as Blade telling Dane Whitman to pick up the Ebony Blade.
- The Ebony Blade whispers to Dane Whitman as he reaches for it, and its inscription warns of the curse the Black Knight carries in the comics.
- Superman, Batman and 'the Avengers' are all name-dropped by children, the first time the MCU has acknowledged DC by name.
- The Eternals are present at real historical events — Babylon, Tenochtitlan, Gupta-era India and the Hiroshima aftermath — anchoring the Deviant war to human history.
- Arishem the Judge, the Celestials and the Deviants all come from Jack Kirby's 1976 Eternals, and Arishem's design is a direct Kirby lift.
- Phastos invents the plough, the steam engine and the atomic bomb, and his guilt over the last is the film's sharpest moment.
- Thena's name and Ikaris' both explain themselves: the Eternals are the source of the myths, not the other way round.
Trivia
- Chloé Zhao won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for Nomadland between shooting this and its release.
- Zhao insisted on extensive practical location shooting in natural light across the Canary Islands, Iceland and Oxfordshire, which is unusual for Marvel.
- Lauren Ridloff's Makkari is the MCU's first deaf superhero, and her scenes use ASL as a primary language.
- Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos is the MCU's first openly gay lead hero, in a family unit the film treats as unremarkable.
- It became the first MCU film to be certified Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, and remains the franchise's lowest critical score.
- The film was banned or refused release in several Gulf states over its LGBTQ+ content and the same-sex kiss.
- Kit Harington's Dane Whitman has not appeared since, and Marvel has never announced a Black Knight project.
Box office
- Budget
- $200 million
- Worldwide
- $402.1 million
- Domestic
- $164.9 million
Reviews
Critics
47%
Eternals takes admirable risks and its stunning visuals are undeniable, but a rushed and overstuffed narrative keeps its considerable ambitions out of reach.
The MarvelGossips verdict
The most interesting failure Marvel has produced — a genuinely beautiful, genuinely boring epic with eleven protagonists and no time for any of them. Zhao's natural-light photography makes it look like nothing else in the franchise, and the script buries every good idea under exposition. Five years on it remains the only MCU film willing to be slow, and it needed to earn that.
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Frequently asked
Why is Eternals the lowest-rated MCU film?
It holds 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, the franchise's only Rotten score. Critics broadly praised the ambition and photography while faulting the pacing, the flat characterisation across a ten-hero ensemble and the volume of mythological exposition.
Does the Celestial Island appear again?
Yes. Tiamut's emerged remains become Celestial Island in Captain America: Brave New World in 2025, where they are the MCU's source of adamantium and the focus of an international resource conflict.
Who is Blade in Eternals?
Mahershala Ali voices Blade in the second post-credits scene, speaking to Dane Whitman. As of July 2026 the Blade film remains unmade and has reportedly been shelved indefinitely.
Where are the Eternals now?
Sersi, Kingo and Phastos were taken by Arishem for judgement; Thena, Druig and Makkari left aboard the Domo and met Eros. None have appeared in the MCU since, and no sequel has been announced.