Director Chloé Zhao Talks About What She Envisioned for the Future of Her Marvel Movie ETERNALS

The lead up to Marvel’s 2021 ensemble pic Eternals was very loaded. The cast was star-studded, and the film’s director, Academy Award-winner Chloé Zhao, promised a unique take on her view of the Gods of the Universe. But with a release during end-days of the pandemic, and fans feeling the film had pacing issues, underdeveloped characters, and a convoluted, exposition-heavy plot, it became the first Marvel film to gain a rotten score on the Rotten Tomatoes meter.

While the original plan was to see the movie get at least one sequel, and see the loose ends from the post-credits scenes integrated into the MCU, those plans quietly disappeared, aside from some of the characters appearing in the Marvel animated shows and a nod to the plot of the film in Captain America: Brave New World.

Zhao was asked about the future of the Eternals in the MCU during a recent interview with Screen Rant, and she explained what she set out to achieve with the divisive blockbuster. In response to the question of a sequel, the filmmaker enthusiastically responded:

"I would love that! Look, you’re right, and you understood it. It’s about a pantheon of gods discussing the nature of humanity, and ultimately their judgment. Which is what Arishem said, 'I’ll be back for judgment. And the reason why those brief plays existed is for humanity to see how the gods are seeing us, so we could evaluate how we were as a part of this cycle of the universe. Are we doing a good job? Are we kind to each other? Are we getting to know ourselves well enough? It’s there for a reason, this kind of myth, and these [MCU] films are a modern version of that to me. So, I would love to bring them back and have more discussion about the world we live in. I’m really proud of it."

I actually liked the movie, and I thought the addition of these characters in the MCU was really interesting. I would like to see a sequel, but it seems as though that ship has sailed. Maybe we will still see some of these characters integrated in the future of the MCU? We will just have to wait and see.