The Eternals is a move that sets up the cosmic elements in the MCU. Some ways it worked, some ways it didn’t. It was confusing for an MCU movie with this larger cosmic side, especially since the characters are lesser-known. I found myself constantly reaching for my phone to figure out who the characters were. This was more my issues versus the movie’s issues. If I had watched it in theaters, I wouldn’t have had that problem! 🙂
The feeling of confusion wasn’t a good feeling, which means I would need to rewatch the movie. After the first act, the film started picking up. The Eternals revealed to be gardeners of the planet, with the earth ready to explode, was an unexpected revelation. Adding an element of them in-fighting on what to do, stop the world from blowing up but costing the life of the celestial from being born, bringing more life to the universe.
The in-fighting of the Eternals was what made the film for me. Ikaris deciding to go with the “bad guys” against his fellow Eternals caught me off guard, especially with how heavily he was in the trailers. The movie did a satisfying job meeting all the different Eternals, showing their dynamics with each other. The flashback added to this, seeing where they were and what happened to them later in the present day.
The Eternals built a lot of cosmic marvel lore in the universe that 20 years ago you wouldn’t expect on the comic book big screen. The ending had a ton of easter eggs, setting up the future with multiple marvel characters. I recommend watching Eternals if you are an MCU fan on Disney Plus. If you are more into the superhero element of the marvel universe, this is probably one of the MCU movies that you could skip. Alternatively, it would be a must-watch if you like cosmic elements of fictional universes.