The Eternals Take On The Deviants In An Action-Packed Clip
With the "Eternals" premiere just weeks away, Marvel Studios is releasing snippets of the film that give us a glimpse of these relatively unfamiliar members of the Marvel canon in action. If you're not familiar with the untold truth of the Eternals, their story starts thousands of years ago, when the divine beings known as the Celestials created two races of genetically immortal beings: the Eternals and their sworn enemies, the Deviants. The cosmic energy from this event also granted humans the first versions of the superpowers that your favorite Marvel heroes have in present times. But for most of history, the Eternals have remained hidden, only interfering in human events when the Deviants are involved.
The "Eternals" movie takes place after the events of "Avengers: Endgame," when Thanos eliminated half the universe's population with the snap of a finger. Five years later, it turns out that Thanos' finger snap also caused an event called the Emergence. While the exact details about the Emergence are still a mystery, most likely this means that Thanos generated enough cosmic energy to release the Deviants from their underground prison. What is clear is that the Deviants intend to destroy Earth in seven days. And that's the call to action for the Eternals to get the gang back together (via ComicBook.com).
In this 50-second clip, we see three of the Eternals battling some of the fearsome Deviants. Not only does this give us an idea of what those three Eternals are capable of, it also shows how the movie's version of the Deviants departs from their comic book counterparts. While the Deviants in the comics are all sentient and intelligent, here they're all feral monsters — with the exception of their leader, Kro (via Ars Technica).
You can check out the trailer here, then read our blow-by-blow for some context.
Here's your first chance to see Ikaris, Makkari, and Kingo throw down
The Eternals have been protecting humanity from the Deviants for 7,000 years, and this trailer starts off in ancient times. A winged sea monster Deviant with huge sharp teeth is attacking a boy on a beach, but Ikaris (Richard Madden) blasts it with the cosmic energy beams he can shoot from his eyes, then chases it off into the ocean. Just then, another Deviant creeps up on the boy, but Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) shows up just in time to snatch the boy and uses her super-speed to take him to safety at a nearby settlement.
But the Deviant follows them and starts attacking the ancient village. Then it's Kingo's turn to get in the action. He walks toward the Deviant and blasts it with the energy projectiles he shoots from his hands. With an assist from Makkari, Kingo delivers one final energy blast and sends it falling off a cliff to its death. Finally, he tells Makkari "Nice move!" via sign language — a nod to her status as the first deaf superhero in the MCU (via Ars Technica). "You too!" she signs back.
That's just a glimpse of what the Eternals and the Deviants are capable of. The trailer only shows us three of the ten total Eternals, so we don't even get to see Ajak (Salma Hayek), Thena (Angelina Jolie), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Druig (Barry Keoghan), or Gilgamesh (Don Lee) in action. Luckily, the movie premieres just a few weeks from now, on November 5, 2021, so we'll get to see the full team soon.