Eternals Changed Gender & Race Of Comics Characters Before Director Signed On

Even before Chloé Zhao signed on to direct Eternals, Marvel had already begun to change the races and genders of certain characters. Right now, much of the attention within the Marvel fanbase is split between What If…? and the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but some eyes are already turning to the next movie in the franchise’s Phase 4. Eternals is scheduled to arrive in November and will introduce the MCU’s newest super team. Zhao, who became the first woman of color to win Best Director at the Oscars earlier this year, helmed the decades-spanning story, which promises to be unlike any other MCU movie.

The Eternals are a group of cosmic beings with incredible abilities who have spent thousands of years watching humanity from afar. When a new threat emerges, the Eternals must come out of the shadows to save those they’ve pledged to protect. The movie’s star-studded cast is perhaps the MCU’s most diverse one yet, and that’s because of the various changes made to the comics characters. With performers like Salma Hayek and Lauren Ridloff stepping into these roles, Eternals is offering a new twist on these characters.

As part of EW‘s feature on Eternals, Zhao spoke about Marvel’s desire to make the movie more reflective of the real world. One of the things that drew her to the project was the studio’s initial treatment, which already took steps to change things like the races, genders, and origins of some of the Eternals. Zhao explained:

“That really impressed me, how diverse the cast was [in early drafts]. Not just in terms of gender, race, age, but overall, I could see the desire to reflect the world that we live in, as much as possible. That is great, but what was most important to me was actually to be able to tell a story and to craft characters to be as individual as possible, and to really showcase what’s underneath the surface of what they look like and what they represent. These are unique, flawed, and complicated individuals, just like you and I. That’s what drew me to these actors. That’s what drew me to the story of each of the characters.”

While some Eternals characters have stuck close to their comic counterparts, like Ikaris (Richard Madden) and Thena (Angelina Jolie), others have seen major changes. Hayek’s Ajak is a man in the comics, while Ridloff’s Makkari is male, white, and hearing. Thanks to the movie’s changes, speedster Makkari will now become the MCU’s first deaf hero. Eternals will also introduce the first gay hero in Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), not long after Loki confirmed Tom Hiddleston’s trickster is bisexual.

Zhao still had a hand in writing Eternals, and it isn’t clear as to how much of the initial treatment was changed for the finished film. Nevertheless, Marvel was already thinking outside of the box when it came to adapting the comics for the big screen. The studio has altered some characters before, but with Eternals, it is on a much grander scale than previous efforts. For those who have been calling for better representation within the MCU, this movie already feels like a major step forward. There’s still work to be done, but as Zhao said, it’s nice to see a Marvel movie that really reflects the world we live in.

Source: EW

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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