Marvel has a limited amount of Asian superheroes and villains, so, it was sort of a one-two gut punch when the studio decided to avoid casting Asian actors with The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and The Ancient One in Doctor Strange.
Luckily, Marvel Studios used Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings to modernize the Mandarin as the father of Simu Liu’s Asian-American superhero taking the place of Dr. Fu Manchu, an even bigger Asian stereotype villain. This reworking was thanks in part to the film’s writing team of Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Andrew Lanham.
In retrospect, it sounds like studio head Kevin Feige is owning up to that mistake concerning The Ancient One while speaking with Men’s Health (spotted by The Playlist) he admitted that could have done better reworking the character instead of simply hiring a white actor to avoid a stereotype landmine.
FEIGE: “We thought we were being so smart, and so cutting-edge. We’re not going to do the cliché of the wizened, old, wise Asian man. But it was a wake-up call to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, is there any other way to figure it out? Is there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor?’ And the answer to that, of course, is yes.”
Shang-Chi having a mostly Asian cast and the hiring of Gemma Chan as Sersi in Chloe Zhao’s Eternals when the major role could have gone to a white actor are signs the studio is committed to incremental change to give audiences stronger Asian characters in their superhero blockbusters. Hiring more Asian creatives is just as important as hiring more Asian talent to star in these projects.
In a video honoring the legacy of Stan Lee and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios has unleashed the first-look footage from Chloe Zhao’s Eternals film coming out November 5, 2021.
The cast includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh. Along with Jashaun St. John in a mystery role.
Sersi is said to be the main character along with talk that Chloe used a lot of practical effects and sets.
A new casting tidbit for the Marvel Studios film directed and co-written by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao has been revealed. An article from that L.A. Times has mentioned that actress Jashaun St. John, who starred in Zhao’s film Songs My Brother Taught Me has been given an undisclosed part in Eternals.
Reaffirming that vote of confidence, Zhao cast St. John again in her upcoming Marvel superhero saga “Eternals,” scheduled to be released on Nov. 5.
Word on the street is that there are plenty of actors that are in Eternals that haven’t been announced outside of the main cast and I’m super curious if they’re indeed big names or other actors Zhao was worked with previously.
The rest of the cast includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
I’ll be keeping my fingers-crossed that Marvel will be able convince Zhao to stick around for a trilogy of movies given that she had approached the studio with the idea of tackling the Jack Kirby characters after meeting with them to direct Black Widow. She very well could end up becoming the architect of the franchise, not unlike James Gunn with Guardians of The Galaxy.
After Chloe Zhao making waves over the weekend earning two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for her fantastic film Nomadland, we’re all waiting to see footage from her next feature film, Marvel’s Eternals.
It’s based on the characters created by King Jack Kirby that mixed elements of Greek/Roman mythology alongside notions of aliens seeding Earth via Swiss author Erich von Daniken’s novel Chariots of The Gods, work that heavily influenced Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus and the idea that humans are a science experiment of an alien race. In the case of Eternals, they are created by the the giant alien creatures known as the Celestials (first seen in Guardians of The Galaxy) alongside their antagonists The Deviants and early humans have the mutant gene hidden within them to later become the mutants we know from the X-Men.
While speaking with Variety, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige reiterates that while it’s a team project, the film’s main character is Gemma Chan’s Sersi, who is expected to become a full-fledged members of the Avengers just like the comic books.
FEIGE: “So for Sersi, for instance — and if there was a lead in this ensemble, it is Sersi, it is Gemma Chan — we looked at and read all sorts of women for that part. And ended up really believing that Gemma was best for it. And thankfully, she’s proven that to be the case in the final movie.”
While it was originally announced that Sersi would be the main character of the film in early casting reports, that was when trade outlets were under the impression that Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie was going to be landing that role. Instead, Angelina is playing the equally interesting heroine Thena and Marvel hired Captain Marvel’s Gemma Chan for her second MCU role. This new one is likely going allow her to stick around for much longer than she previously would have and allows the Marvel franchise to add another talented Asian lead.
The rest of the cast includes Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
Sequels to Eternals are extremely likely could see the team go head-to-head with folks like Hercules/The Olympians and Hyperion/Squadron Supreme. I think it all depends if Marvel Studios is able to convince Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao to return for multiple films after co-writing the script and directing the first installment, set to be released on November 5th, 2021. However, Zhao has been tapped by Universal for a new Dracula film and could be one of the projects that could whisk her away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a couple of years.
Marvel Studios has been recently tapping into their obscure roster of heroes with a feature film based on Jack Kirby’s god-like superhero heroes the Eternals on the horizon this fall from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao and Taiki Waititi’s Thor: Love & Thunder introducing The Olympians via Russell Crowe’s Zeus appearing in the sequel.
Another group of obscure heroes from Marvel Comics that could be ready to the make the jump to the big screen is The Squadron Supreme. The team includes a heap of characters that are a cheeky pastiche of DC Comics’ Justice League such as Hyperion, Nighthawk, Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, Thundra, Whizzer, Amphibian, Tom Thumb, Golden Archer, Lady Lark, and Arcanna.
A version of Hyperion’s origin in the comic has him being part of the Eternals and could see them join sequels as another sect that may have alternative motivations. Another way to get them into Eternals sequels could have Squadron Supreme retrofitted into The Olympians (cosmic versions of Greek gods from the realm of Olympus), who have a conflict with Eternals that could be explored in future installments. Some of the Squadron Supreme’s power-sets are meant to mimic Greek/Roman gods already, so having them the children of an older generation of Olympians could be a way to explain them without having to give everyone on the team an Earthbound origin.
With director Chloe Zhao’s Oscar wins over the weekend there is a good shot that Marvel Studios will attempt to secure her for at least two more Eternals movies. Having The Olympians and Squadron Supreme part of that franchise could help introduce those characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, leading to various spinoff shows and movies.
We could see the Eternals movie attempt to explain things like Atlantis, Olympians, and even the origin of the mutant gene that will eventually give us the X-Men.
The Multiverse could easily be another way to bring them into the MCU as they were originally introduced in the Avengers comics as The Squadron Sinister, a villain group created by The Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum) that was pitted against The Avengers in some game with Kang The Conqueror (played Jonathan Majors) siding with the heroes.
They could also be pulled-out of the Multiverse by Kang or Grandmaster for a giant event like Secret Wars. The Russo Brothers have suggested that Secret Wars would be a project that could bring them back to Marvel and they stated last year it could bigger than The Infinity Saga.
JOE RUSSO: “You know, I read that when I was 10 or 11, and it was the scale of getting all of the heroes together. It was one of the first major books to do that — that was really event-storytelling to me at its finest. And what happens when you put all of those personalities together. I also like the idea of villains having to team up with heroes. Anth and I like complicated relationships between heroes and villains, we like villains who believe they’re heroes in their own stories, so it’s all sort of built into this notion of Secret Wars. To execute something on the scale of Infinity War was directly related to the dream of Secret Wars, which is even larger in scale.”
ANTHONY RUSSO: “It would be the biggest movie you could possibly imagine, so that’s what really excites us about the story — the ambition of it is even bigger than the ambition of the Infinity Saga.”
Loki and What-If…? will be our first true introductions to the Multiverse in 2021 ahead of Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, however, it’s unknown if we’ll see Squadron Supreme will appear in those projects or if they’ll attempt to pull other teams out of the Multiverse such as X-Men. There has been a longtime fan theory that one way Marvel could usher-in mutants is simply bring them in from another Earth in the larger Multiverse, however, as the Loki series seems to establishes that the Time Variance Agency aren’t big fans of people tinkering with timelines. However, Kang seems to be an exception and could get his hands on the Squad to use against the Avengers, potentially in a Secret Wars event.
Another way to go is having them become a cosmic team assembled by multiple alien planets to combat future Thanos-level threats and they could bump into The Guardians of The Galaxy in a fourth film. However, James Gunn has stated he’ll be ending his run on the franchise with Guardians of The Galaxy 3 and the Disney+ Holiday Special, it’s unclear if Marvel Studios will continue the franchise without him.
Plenty of options for Squadron Supreme outside of their own solo project.
This week Russell Crowe announced that he would be playing Zeus in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love & Thunder this also inadvertently confirmed that Marvel Studios is planning on finally introducing The Olympians to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their version of the pantheon of Greek gods and demigods.
Like how Marvel tweaked Norse mythology for the comic book version of The Asgardians, the group are cosmic beings that reside in the realm of Olympus (similar to Asgard) and were worshiped by humans.
Their arrival could have an impact on the larger narrative of an upcoming franchise outside of Thor: Love & Thunder.
While we don’t know how The Olympians really feel about The Eternals in the MCU, there was an alliance between Asgard and Olympus against the incoming heroes that will be featured in the upcoming film directed by Oscar nominee Chloe Zhao (Nomadland). A looming conflict between Eternals and Olympians could be perfect fodder for Eternals 2, however, this would depend on if Marvel plans on exploring the tension between the two god-like groups.
I’ll be curious to see what role they play in Thor: Love & Thunder and if they’ll be explained in Eternals.
Interestingly enough, The Olympians made their Marvel debut in Venus issue #1 back in 1948 with the comic focusing on the obscure character of Venus aka Aphrodite Ourania, the goddess of love and beauty. Venus is a founding member of The Agents of Atlas led by Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo and daughter of Russell Crowe’s Zeus, making her the half-sister of both Hercules and Ares.
Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings could be the entry point for The Atlas Empire.
John Aaron aka Ares, the god of war, has been a longtime villain in the Marvel Comics universe first debuting in Thor #129 back in 1966 and even joined the ranks of the Dark Avengers, a group that is rumored to coming eventually to the MCU. He’s paired-up with other Marvel villains over the years such as Norman Osborn and Enchantress. Ares also joined the ranks of The Mighty Avengers and had a role in Secret Invasion, which is getting a series on Disney+ that recently added Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke to the growing cast.
Likely the most notable Olympian is Hercules, who goes back to the Jack Kirby era making him a prime candidate to finally get a live-action incarnation considering the Eternals was Kirby’s baby. Hercules was a member of The Avengers when Eternals’ Sersi (played by Gemma Chan) and Dane Whitman aka Black Knight (played by Kit Harington) were on the roster. He’s been recently on a lineup of Avengers that echoes where the MCU currently is with members such as Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson aka Captain America, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster aka Lady, Paul Bettany’s Vision, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. Adding Hercules to a new Avengers roster or another superhero team wouldn’t be terribly shocking.
Many fans are assuming that Russell Crowe’s Zeus is likely going to get killed by Christian Bale’s Gorr The God Butcher in Thor: Love & Thunder, but that remains to be seen as he could end up taking the place of Anthony Hopkins’ Odin.
It’s hard to imagine that Marvel wouldn’t attempt to sign-up director Chloe Zhao for the Eternals sequel given that she co-wrote the script and is going to be heavily in-demand if her film Nomadland does well at this weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony, all but assumed given how well it’s been doing at other award shows.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Nomadland and Eternals director Chloe Zhao has been hired by Universal Pictures for a new Dracula film. Instead of treading on previous ground with the good Count, Chloe’s take is said to be a mix of horror, science fiction and western genres.
This new Dracula project, however, will be a far cry from the more traditional or even modern incarnations made over the years. Details are being kept in the coffin, but Zhao’s version is described as an original, futuristic, sci-fi Western. Themes of being on society’s fringes, something Zhao has tackled in her previous work, will course through the project’s veins.
Vampire movies that sort of come to mind here are Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Blade/Blade II, and Daybreakers.
Zhao’s latest film Nomadland is looking to become a huge Oscar contender and she will likely land some commercial success with her upcoming Marvel Studios movie Eternals coming out on November 5th, 2021.
Universal Pictures has been developing a heap of projects with their iconic Universal Monsters along with a recent remake of The Invisible Man, which has led to director Leigh Whannell to return for a new Wolf Man remake with Ryan Gosling attached to star. There many more projects in the works as well.
We’ve been dying to see some footage from Chloe Zhao‘s upcoming Marvel Studios film Eternals as a trailer has yet to be released by the marketing department at Disney. The project is based on the obscure cosmic superhero team creating Jack “King” Kirby that had a limited run but led to characters like Sersi joining the ranks of The Avengers.
It sounds like Chloe had an extensive hand in the creative side of Eternals when it comes the script as she revealed during an interview with Margret Gardiner (spotted by The Playlist) that she is one of the writers on the film and briefly talked about that experience.
ZHAO: “I am the writer on Eternals, the credits just aren’t updated yet. I don’t know what it would be like if I didn’t write the film, if I wasn’t at least a huge part of the writing process. So yeah I haven’t experienced that in my career, I’m scared of that if that happens one day.”
“In the writing process, that’s sort of where I bring my sensibility in, that’s a huge part of it. And creating situations that will allow certain kinds of cinematic language to come in, that is something that I’ve learned from my last three films. I think what Marvel has been so incredible at – Kevin [Feige] and Nate [Moore] and the whole team – they knew from the moment I pitched the film, I really wanted the scope and scale at the same time as the intimacy. They knew I wanted both. They have been so incredible holding my hand through the entire process of allowing me to go as far as possible and as small as possible, and how that fits into the whole MCU. It’s been a pretty incredible process. You’ll have to wait and see.”
You can watch that full interview below which was to promote her upcoming film Nomandland which is already getting Oscar buzz.
Zhao wouldn’t be the only Marvel director to have added their own flare to the script of the project they’re working on as James Gunn and Taika Waititi had a similar process on their first films. The other two credited screenwriters are Kaz Firpo and Ryan Firpo.
It’s cast includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
The reshoots for Eternals have seemingly already taken place late last year which should allow them plenty of time to focus on tweaking the visual effects before the potential release on November 5th.
Eternals actress Lauren Ridloff did a recent interview with British outlet Hey U Guys about being named as one of the BAFTA Breakthrough USA 2020 award recipients and revealed she learned about the news while shooting the second day of reshoots for Eternals.
RIDLOFF: “I just actually finished my second day of shooting for a Marvel movie. We were doing reshoots actually, we were just finishing the second day of the reshoots and I was like ‘It’s a really good week, it was great to be back on set working, and it’s great to get this news.’”
A post from Lauren on Instagram would confirm that these reshoots took place last month.
The film’s cast includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman aka Black Knight, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Kumail Nanjani as Kingo, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh.
Eternals is set to be released on November 5th, 2021.
Deadline is reporting that Widows actor Brian Tyree Henry is the latest addition to the growing cast of Sony’s assassin action film Bullet Train from John Wick director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw). As the title would suggest the story takes place on a Tokyo bullet train populated with multiple assassins.
Brian Tyree Henry was recently revealed to be playing an openly gay character in Marvel’s Eternals and will also be seen in Godzilla Vs Kong next year.
He joins a cast that also consists of Oscar-winner Brad Pitt, Joey King (The Dark Knight Rises), Andrew Koji (Snake Eyes), and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Godzilla, The King’s Man).
THE RONIN 