By Last week it was Angelina Jolie, this week it’s Kumail Nanjiani, next week..? The Rock. Please put The Rock in every movie.
Until my dream is realized I’ll have to settle for The Big Sick star and co-writer Kumail Nanjiani joining Marvel’s The Eternals, rumors would indicate. Both his and Jolie’s joining Marvel’s post-Endgame palooza are unconfirmed, though details will no doubt emerge in the months to come. We gotta fill that Avengers void somehow!
And what better way to fill a void than with the void of space? The Eternals, for the less-geek-oriented, were created for Marvel by the King Jack Kirby following his sci-fi/superhero Fourth World saga at DC (read: Darkseid and all those guys fighting in space, it’s awesome). Eternals are a race of cosmic precursors to humanity, so Marvel’s film will almost-certainly take place even before baby Steve Rogers takes a swing at a Nazi.
Notably, Kirby’s comics feature Celestials heavily. What’s a Celestial? Maybe better would be to name the Celestial, the insatiable Galactus. If the MCU needs a new kind of villain after we eventually show Thanos the door, who’s a bigger bad than the Earth-eater himself? I say we see The Eternals as an introduction to Celestials, which eventually leads to a rebooted, MCU-ified Fantastic Four film. James Gunn’s third Guardians of the Galaxy film would fit in perfectly there, too. Just speculation as I get nautical miles ahead of myself.
Chloé Zhao, the director of critically-acclaimed 2017 film The Rider is attached to helm The Eternals, with a script by Matthew and Ryan Firpo, and MCU-maestro Kevin Feige producing.
Kumail Nanjiani in Talks to Join Angelina Jolie in Marvel’s ‘The Eternals’ [Variety]