Two years after its release in theaters worldwide, TF1 is broadcasting “Les Eternals” for the first time unencrypted. But will we see the characters again from this Marvel film directed by Chloé Zhao, Oscar winner for “Nomadland” in 2021?
How many films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can boast of having been directed by an Oscar-winning filmmaker? Only four, including Thor by Kenneth Branagh (who would be crowned for the Belfast script eleven years later), the first Captain America by Joe Johnston (award-winning in 1982 thanks to the visual effects of Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Thor – Love and Thunder by Taika Waititi (winner of the statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2020 for Jojo Rabbit).
But The Eternals is perhaps the strongest. On April 25, 2021, Chloé Zhao became the second woman to receive the Oscar for Best Director thanks to Nomadland. Which immediately won the statuette for Best Film and concluded its raid that began with the Golden Lion in Venice a few months earlier. The spotlight shines a little more on her, and eyes turn to her next project, already shot and more unexpected.
For a director from the independent circuit to make the big leap to the MCU was not uncommon (Jon Watts or the Russo brothers did it before her). But nothing in Chloé Zhao’s naturalistic cinema suggested this 180-degree turn with this feature film which introduces us to the Celestials (cosmic entities among the most powerful in the Marvel universe) and brings together Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Brian Tyree Henry, Barry Keoghan or Ma Dong-seok.
More cinema and diversity, a previously unpublished part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a real sensitivity behind the camera: everything seemed to come together to ensure success. And then no. In a still gloomy context for cinemas, grossing $402 million worldwide was not shameful. But The Eternals struggles to convince the press (2.9 out of 5 on average on AlloCiné) and the public (3.3 out of 5).
VISU
And this is perhaps why a sequel, regularly mentioned during promotion, has never been officially launched even though a timetable has been established until May 2027 and it does not actually part. Like Shang-Chi, the Eternals are one of those characters that Marvel doesn’t seem to know what to do with. This statue of a Celestial planted in the middle of an ocean and of which no one ever speaks again is a beautiful symbol.
And let’s not count on poor Kit Harington to save the day: visibly shoehorned into the story, to establish a bridge with Blade, his character was deleted from the future film on the vampire hunter, which never ends no more false starts. Worst case scenario, the Eternals will be back in the next Avengers, The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. Like everyone else anyway.
But we must recognize that we don’t really know much about it. And perhaps Kevin Feige himself does not know exactly, today, what he will be able to do with the characters in this ambitious film, which turned out to be a semi-disappointment.