How The Eternals Could Play A Part In Endgame

Kevin Feige, speaking with ComicBook.com at a press event for Ant-Man and The Wasp, clued us in on the direction the MCU's Phase Four will be taking. "I love [cosmic stories] and that's why we didn't wait very long to get that, I'd say," Feige said. "Thor was the beginning of that, Tesseract in Cap as well... I love it because I love space stuff and I love the kind of stories you can tell. And Avengers: Infinity War is a great example of that."

While early Phase One films hinted at out-of-this-world players, it was the Thor franchise that really began to take MCU storytelling off-planet. Guardians of the Galaxy took us even further into MCU cosmic, and with the popularity of the GotG franchise, it once seemed likely that we'd continue to see Marvel's cosmic stories through the POV of Star-Lord and friends. However, with the controversial dismissal of James Gunn as helmer of these films, Marvel has officially put Guardians of the Galaxy 3 on indefinite hold. This seems like a good enough reason to get the Eternals in the game as soon as possible. With universal implications at stake in Endgame and the cosmic-level film Captain Marvel entering the narrative in March 2019, it would appear we'll see the Eternals sooner rather than later.

A Kronos appearance in Endgame is a logical MCU entry point for the larger Eternals family of characters given the history of the Time Stone in the recent narrative and the traction that time travel theories have been gaining. That CGI character in Benedict Cumberbatch's rumored top secret shoots may very well be Kronos, given Doctor Strange's connection to the Time Stone. When last we saw Strange in Infinity War, he was disintegrating to dust while also hinting at a larger plan, telling Tony Stark that giving up the Time Stone to Thanos was "the only way."

A popular theory posits that Strange cursed the Time Stone before surrendering it to Thanos, and allowed himself to be killed on purpose so as to enact even stronger magic on his powerful foe. Note the battle early in Infinity War, when Ebony Maw attempts to take the Eye of Agamotto from Doctor Strange, and his hand becomes horribly burned. "It's a simple spell but quite unbreakable," Strange says. "You'll find removing a dead man's spell troublesome." After the snap, we see the Infinity Gauntlet melt, and a physical toll has been exacted on Thanos. Is there something about the Time Stone that caused this reaction? If so, just how "troublesome" will removing a dead man's Time Stone spell become for the Mad Titan?

In the Endgame trailer, we see Tony Stark drifting through space in a ship that's out of fuel and running out of oxygen fast. Everybody has their favorite theories about who will show up to save Stark, and one idea is that Captain Marvel will do the rescuing. Some look to the post-credits scene in Infinity War, in which Nick Fury pages Carol Danvers just before getting dusted, as evidence of the possibility that Captain Marvel will be the one to pluck Stark from certain doom. This theory would further support the role time travel (and an expanded universe that includes the ancient Eternals) could play in Endgame's plot.

The upcoming Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s, and when Brie Larson's super-powered pilot Carol Danvers suits up, she'll be doing so in a world before superheroes. This allows Marvel to pull back from the current timeline and see how things were originally set in motion. One promising fan theory has outlined a very interesting way this could sequence could unfold. A savvy Redditor made waves by predicting that '90s Nick Fury "will be shown or made aware of the future," and be persuaded to arrange the events that we've witnessed on screen so far. In other words, everything that has happened in the MCU had to happen just the way it did for the good guys to have any chance at ultimately defeating Thanos.

The third and fourth Avengers movies were originally announced as Infinity War Parts 1 & 2. The studio later backed off of the idea of marketing a two-parter, likely in an effort to let Infinity War's cliffhanger ending have more of an impact with audiences. While many fans guessed the Infinity War sequel's eventual title of Endgame, nothing was confirmed until the trailer dropped. One idea was that the sequel would be titled Eternity War. It was speculated that this title would be an obvious way to reflect the sequel's relationship to its predecessor, with one movie's title referring to all of space (infinity) and the other referring to all of time (eternity).

Eternity is also the name of a supremely powerful character in Marvel Comics. In the comics version of Infinity War, we see many powerful cosmic entities coming together in an effort to stop Thanos, Eternity among them. Screen Rant opined that introducing a character with near-infinite power to control and manipulate time would certainly be an effective way of expanding the boundaries of the MCU, making room for the time-and-space spanning stories of the Eternals.

According to MCUCosmic.com, the general rule with Marvel Comics in how they support the Cinematic Universe, is that they will begin a "...push of a new MCU property roughly eighteen months before [its] cinematic debut. We've seen this with Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther." Marvel Comics recently began reprinting Neil Gaiman's 2006 run on Eternals.

The Eternals are back in Marvel Comics continuity in more ways than just reprintings. Jason Aaron, who spent several years writing for the acclaimed Thor, has taken on The Avengers. His stories for Thor further established the backstory of Asgard. With his run on The Avengers, he appears to be doing the same thing for Earth by way of the Eternals. This seems likely to be the exact strategy Marvel Studios will employ in introducing the Eternals to the MCU. But while Marvel Comics usually seeks to prop up the the soon-to-be-big screen properties, Aaron has taken a decidedly different tack. In Avengers #4, Aaron seemingly kills off the ancient race of Eternals. This move made a big splash in the comics world, and the twists and turns of the story have brought Eternals back into the conversation in a major way.

Any way you look at it, Marvel's Phase Four will find some way to focus on the core characters and stories of the MCU while continuing to grow the universe — a blueprint that has worked through three phases so far. The Eternals movie is definitely happening and the final movie of Phase Three is Endgame. These facts alone seem to make it obvious that the Eternals will begin to reveal themselves on-screen sooner rather than later.

The very first film of Phase Four is Spider-Man: Far From Home due out in July 2019, with the story possibly picking up just a few minutes after the conclusion of Endgame. The Black Widow solo film is also in development, but as yet has no release date. Doctor Strange 2 is also moving through early stages of its life cycle, but details are remaining under wraps, probably until after Endgame. Then, of course, The Eternals. Cheers, Marvel! Here's to Phase Four... and Phase 400!