Eternals Perfectly Flips One Of The Best Actor Trends Of The Last 5 Years

Eternals has one of the biggest casts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the title team consists of 10 members, and one of them perfectly flips the trends of one of the best actors in recent years: Barry Keoghan. The MCU’s Infinity Saga is now over, but this universe continues expanding with its highly-anticipated Phase 4, which is doing things differently by covering both movies and TV shows, these last ones connecting to the movies. Phase 4 is continuing the stories of previously introduced characters but it’s also introducing new ones, such as the Eternals team.

Directed by Chloé Zhao, Eternals follows the title team, an alien race created by the Celestial Arishem the Judge with the purpose of getting rid of the Deviants (their evil counterparts) on Earth. The Eternals stayed on Earth for centuries after defeating all the Deviants and helped society evolve, but they weren’t allowed to interfere with their conflicts. The Eternals ended up parting ways but re-teamed many years later after the Deviants returned, their leader Ajak (Salma Hayek) was killed, and an apocalyptic event called “The Emergence” fast approached. Through their new leader, Sersi (Gemma Chan), the Eternals learned what their real origin and purpose were, and with that came some twists on who the real villains were, along with the betrayal of some team members – though not the one everything expected at first.

The Eternals team is formed by Ajak, Sersi, Ikaris (Richard Madden), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Druig (Barry Keoghan), but not all of them made it to the end of the movie. Following the now-famous Marvel secrecy, details about Eternals were kept under wraps and the trailers gave a different idea on some characters, especially Druig. It was heavily theorized before Eternals was released that Druig would be the villain of the movie, but as it turns out, the villain and traitor of the Eternals was Ikaris, and Druig ended up being a fan-favorite character who showed a lot of empathy and understanding of the human race, and through this, Eternals flipped a trend that had been following Barry Keoghan.

Barry Keoghan has become best known for playing weird characters, especially in the last five years. One of Keoghan’s most notable roles was in Yorgos Lanthimos’ psychological horror-thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, where his character, Martin Lang, also had powers, but very obscure and twisted ones. In American Animals, Keoghan played Spencer Reinhard, an art student who along with other college friends plans the heist of the school’s library, and in The Green Knight, he had a minor role as a scavenger where along with two others he ambushed Gawain (Dev Patel) and stole his green axe, girdle, and horse. These and other roles have given a certain image to Keoghan of an actor who is cast as weird characters who sometimes have a villainous twist, which is why many believed Druig was going to be the Eternals’ traitor, but he ended up becoming one of the biggest and most compassionate heroes in the story, flipping that perception of Keoghan’s characters in the process.

Before MCU fans can see Druig again, Barry Keoghan will appear in The Batman as Stanley Merkel, James Gordon’s (Jeffrey Wright) partner when he started in Gotham City, and he’s also set to appear in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshee of Inisherin and the war drama miniseries Masters of the Air, where he will play Lt. Curtis Biddick. It’s to be seen if Barry Keoghan will continue playing strange characters with villainous tendencies, but it’s fun to see him as one of the best characters in Eternals and who can have an interesting future in the MCU.

About The Author

Adrienne Tyler
(3267 Articles Published)

Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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