The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine at this level, commonly pumping out new content material in theaters and on streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Followers who spent years watching the Marvel motion pictures so as will recall that there have been some peaks and valleys since Avengers: Endgame grew to become the highest-grossing film of all time. A type of valleys was Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, which has been largely written out of the shared universe. I simply re-watched it for the primary time and it lowkey slaps… however the runtime legit ruins the film.
Whereas Eternals gained on the field workplace, the film failed to essentially resonate with audiences. A sequel shouldn’t be on the listing of upcoming Marvel motion pictures, and the occasions of the blockbuster have been solely simply referenced in Captain America: Courageous New World. Upon the second watch, I used to be reminded how a lot nice stuff was in Eternals; the true drawback is how lengthy it’s.
Eternals Was Bogged Down By Too Many Characters
This title was one of many first motion pictures to hit theaters after Endgame, so there have been some very huge footwear to fill for the fandom. The crucial response to Eternals wasn’t precisely type, with many journalists claiming that Zhao’s blockbuster was just too huge and dense for brand new audiences. Moviegoers questioned why Eternals was so lengthy, and the reply is obvious: there have been just too many characters to service.
Whereas the Russo Brothers balanced big casts within the Avengers motion pictures, they have been established characters that we knew and cherished. For Eternals, Zhao was tasked with introducing and servicing a workforce of ten heroes, along with supporting characters like Phastos’ husband and Equipment Harington’s Dane Whitman. To be able to give every of those newcomers their very own personalities and histories, the film clocked in at a whopping 2 hours and 36 minutes.
There are some methods this destiny might have been prevented. For one, the workforce assembled for Eternals might have been smaller, liberating up actual property for Zhao to concentrate on fewer newcomers. Clearly, this might have wanted to occur earlier than taking pictures, because the forged of Eternals was filled with excellent expertise.
Alternatively, extra footage might have merely been left on the reducing room flooring. Whereas the filmmaker was recent off her Oscar win for Nomadland, this lengthy runtime for a non-crossover MCU undertaking was unparalleled on the time. If audiences did not need to spend a lot time in theaters, possibly they’d have appreciated the film’s beautiful visuals and epic cosmic scale.
What’s much more irritating about that is that lots of the narrative threads from the blockbuster will seemingly by no means be continued. There’s been no point out of a sequel for years, regardless of Eternals‘ cliffhanger ending displaying half of the workforce taken into house by a vengeful Arishem. Within the credit scenes, we have been launched to Harry Kinds’ Eros, earlier than Harrington’s Dane was proven with the Ebony Blade. Sadly, none of those characters have been seen or heard from since.
When Eternals is sweet, it is actually good, I simply want that its runtime did not lowkey smash the film (and kill the franchise earlier than it began). The visuals of the Celestials on the large display have been particularly thrilling, and I want that we might get to see Zhao and the forged get one other try.
Eternals is streaming on Disney+ together with the remainder of the shared universe. The following MCU film hitting theaters is Spider-Man: Model New Day on July twenty fourth of subsequent 12 months as a part of the 2026 film launch listing.