Eternals Writer Blames Harry Styles’ Marvel Character For Infinity War

Harry Styles’ Eros/Starfox is to blame for Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) misguided actions in Avengers: Infinity War, Eternals writers say. Marvel Studios’ latest film directed by Chloé Zhao introduced a whole new superhero team to the MCU. But, it also debuted a couple of more characters who are not members of the main Eternals lineup such as Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman, as well as Styles’ Eros.

As per the comics, Dane will eventually become Black Knight in the MCU despite appearing as a non-powered human in Eternals. Meanwhile, things are a little bit different for Eros. Introduced in Eternals‘ post-credits scene as Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Druig (Barry Keoghan) attempt to find their other missing teammates, Starfox was introduced by Pip the Troll (voiced by Patton Oswalt). Not much is known about the character thus far, but Marvel Studios is sticking to his print origins as the younger brother of Thanos. While the MCU has yet to learn what their dynamic was like, the writers for Eternals are convinced that Eros has something to do with how the Mad Titan turned out to be.

In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Matthew ‘Kaz’ Firpo & Ryan Firpo were asked if there was any intention of bringing in Thanos’ dad, A’lars, who was first mentioned in Avengers: Infinity War, in Eternals. The pair acknowledged the Mad Titan’s fascinating origins story having ties to both Eternals and Deviants. In the end, Kaz went further by saying that having a perfect brother who’s able to make everyone adore him in Eros may have scarred Thanos. Inadvertently, this was why he was hell-bent on making an impact through the snap. Read the writers’ quotes below:

Kaz Firpo: We were actually, like, powerfully familiar with the crazy Thanos origin story, which I’m pretty sure is full-blown Greek myth where he, like, killed his own mother I wanna say… It’s been a little bit since I read those arcs, we did a deep-dive into Thanos…

Ryan Firpo: She rejected him.

Kaz Firpo: Yeah, he was born from an Eternal and raised as a Deviant, and he’s sort of caught in between the two, so there is a lot of… again, that early connective tissue.

But I think, for the sake of this movie as a film, we really just decided to tell this story, and maybe when we get out into the cosmos you might… I mean, we’re literally meeting Thanos’ actual brother at the end of the film, and I think there’s room for Eros – well, Harry [Styles] – to have a conversation about that.

I think that Starfox is a lot responsible for why Thanos is the way he is, to have that… all jokes aside, to have this perfect brother who can make anyone fall in love with him? It does something to you. So I hope we get to see a little bit more of that in Number 2.

For those unfamiliar with Starfox from the comics, Thanos’ brother didn’t have the Deviant gene that gave the Mad Titan his purple skin. Instead, Eros looks like a normal Eternal — even a good-looking one. He has all the basic Eternals powers, but his signature skill is that he’s able to psionically stimulate the pleasure centers of someone’s brain. Essentially, Starfox can control someone’s emotions, primarily making them like him. Given Thanos’ issues with his image, hence the moniker Mad Titan, it’s possible that he was psychologically scarred by the inevitable comparisons to his brother. Because of this, he became obsessed with his life-long crusade to supposedly save the universe via the snap in Avengers: Infinity War. In hindsight, this makes Thanos a more empathetic villain. Not that the decimation is suddenly justifiable, but this offers a better insight as to what the purple villain’s real motivation was.

With Thanos now dead in the Sacred Timeline, it’s curious if Marvel Studios ever plans on showing him with Eros through flashbacks or other forms of creative storytelling. It’s safe to assume that Starfox has a long future in the MCU as one of the newest characters to be introduced in the franchise via Eternals. This gives them plenty of time to explore his origins and relationship with his big brother, and perhaps even confirm or deny if he has anything to do with the snap in Avengers: Infinity War.

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