Eternals’ Superman Reference Explained By Director

Director Chloé Zhao explains Eternals‘ Superman reference. After the world premiere of the upcoming Marvel Studios film, the cast and crew are busy doing the promotional rounds for the project. While they still can’t talk about spoiler elements of the movie, Eternals‘ marketing offers plenty of materials to discuss. That includes the surprising name drop of the Last Son of Krypton.

Following Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel Studios is set to debut a whole new slate of superheroes known as the Eternals. Created by the Celestials, they were sent to Earth thousands of years ago to protect humans from the Deviants. Eternals will introduce 10 titular characters and the MCU has assembled quite a star-studded cast with Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Barry Keoghan as Druig. After being separated for thousands of years, the team re-assembles in light of the looming Emergence. There’s a lot about Eternals to be excited for, especially since it is expected to expand the MCU’s lore. But, one of the most talked-about elements in it is its direct reference to Superman. Revealed in a recently-released featurette, Phastos’ son accidentally mistakes Ikaris for the DC hero given their similar abilities to fly and shoot laser beams out of their eyes.

Recently, Kevin McCarthy asked Zhao about this moment in a new interview, and the director explains that it’s their way to honor the mythology of the Man of Steel since Eternals is essentially about the legends of the film’s titular characters. She continues by saying Phastos’ son may have read about Superman somewhere, but she doesn’t totally squash that idea that he might also really exist as an actual superhero in the MCU. Watch the full clip below:

Click here to watch the original video.

Zhao also mentioned that Gilgamesh is a huge fan of Batman films; between that and her comments about where Phastos’ kid may have learned about Superman, it’s safe to say that both DC heroes are fictional characters in the MCU. This makes sense since Marvel Studios likes to reference real-world events in their storytelling. It’s also the reason why they primarily use global cities and locations such as New York and Germany for their projects. In any case, the idea that the Justice League also operates in the franchise poses a lot more questions. For starters, why didn’t they help the Avengers in the fight against Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Thanos (Josh Brolin)?

Overall, it’s really interesting that Marvel Studios allowed Zhao to reference both Superman and Batman in Eternals. DC has had an ongoing friendly competition with Marvel since they both started churning comic books in the mid 20th century. That rivalry has transitioned into the big screen, with both Warner Bros. and Disney building franchises revolving around the same superheroes. For what it’s worth, it does seem to work in the bigger scheme of things, as early reactions to Eternals have been mostly positive,

Source: Kevin McCarthy

About The Author