As part of the D23 event in Brazil, Marvel Studios released a new logo for season 3 of What If…? As it turns out, hiding between the letters hints at how the MCU will tie its most significant loose thread. 3m8j

To understand the importance of the new What If…? tease, we first have to go back to 2021, when Marvel Studios released Eternals, an ambitious departure from the typical MCU formula directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao. Despite its grand scope and visual ambition, Eternals received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film earned a disappointing 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the first MCU film to receive a “rotten” rating. On CinemaScore, it received a B rating from audiences – the lowest grade ever for an MCU film.

Eternals’ box office performance reflected these mixed reactions. While it eventually reached a global total of $400 million, this was considered underwhelming for a film with a production budget exceeding $200 million — it didn’t even have the same-day release on Disney Plus to justify its failure. It is no shock that Marvel Studios never managed to greenlight a sequel, as Disney is only happy to leave the MCU alone as long as it makes enough money for the House of Mouse.

Nevertheless, while the absence of Eternals 2 makes sense from a financial point of view, the movie left quite a few unresolved cliffhangers. Captain America: Brave New World will finally address the presence of Tiamut’s corpse in the middle of the ocean. Plus, Blade will supposedly tie up the Black Knight reveal at the end of the movie if Mahershala Ali is still up for some vampire killing in the distant future. The last thing to wrap from Eternals is the whole subplot involving Arishem the Judge, the red Celestial who kidnapped some Eternals and led others to rescue them in the sequel.

It’s not like Marvel didn’t get a chance to resolve this particular mystery. Thor 4, Guardians of the Galaxy 4, Loki season 2, and many others were expected to end this dilemma. Well, better late than never as What If…? season 3 will somehow bring Arishem back, though the plot details are still unknown.

Arishem’s appearance in What If…? season 3 might help solve Eternals’ post-credits scene 2q706y

The Eternals-focused What If…? episode has been teased for months. However, until the new season 3 poster emerged in D23, we had nothing official about Arishem ever popping up in the series. Now, Arishem s an exciting season 3 cast that also includes a Mjolnir-wielding Storm from the X-Men, White Vision, and a version of Agatha wearing a white dress.

Of course, What If…? deals with alternate universes in which some events happened differently from the Sacred Timeline. In the Eternals’ case, their episode will explore what would happen if Tiamut had been fully born, destroying Earth. So, Arishem could only pop up to celebrate the birth of a new Celestial. However, the two previous seasons of What If…? had overarching narratives across multiple episodes, all dealing with Multiversal threats. Since season 3 marks the end of the animated series, there’s a chance Uatu, the Watcher (voiced by Jeffrey Wright), might finally visit the Sacred Timeline. What If…? season 3 can even lay some groundwork for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the big Multiversal crossovers that feature multiple timelines clashing against each other.

Look, I get it. Eternals didn’t make enough money to justify a sequel. Still, the movie’s story has a massive impact on the MCU as a whole, and Marvel Studios needs to address its post-credits scene at some point. If season 3 of What If…? serves to resolve Eternals’ final loose thread, so be it.

There’s a definite feeling that, just like Ant-Man, the MCU is about to shrink. Although Marvel Studios releasing just the one movie in 2023 won’t be the norm going forward, it certainly seems likely that the once ever-growing franchise has reached its peak level of output and can only go down from here.

That means that, where every movie was once almost guaranteed a sequel or spinoff, Marvel will now be much more reluctant to greenlight projects unless it’s a surefire thing that they’ll perform well. The reason for the change? Disney’s purse strings have suddenly become much tighter since Bob Iger confirmed that the House of Ideas won’t have so many ideas in future. According to the prodigal CEO, the studio will “reduce volume” and focus on proven “stronger franchises.”

So what does that mean for those more divisive entries in the canon? Chief among them, Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, perhaps the most divisive MCU movie of them all? Well, depending on which side of that division you fall on, you’re either going to love this news or hate it.

For the love of Eros, is Marvel really cancelling Eternals 2? 6p144f

If you’ve heard talk about Eternals 2 getting cancelled, then I’m afraid to say there is some fire behind the smoke here. Having said that, it’s nothing official, but it is a very plausible-sounding rumor. According to scooper Daniel Richtman, an Eternals sequel is “no longer in development.” The reason why is very much in keeping with Iger’s prior comments about Marvel’s future direction, with it claimed that “Marvel Studios is said to be focusing on less risks with their movies and more guaranteed hits.”

Given that, it’s hardly surprising that we’re hearing Marvel could be canning a follow-up to what stands as its fifth lowest-performing release of all time. While it didn’t bomb as hard as The Marvels, Eternals only brought home about $402 million when it hit theaters in Nov. 2021, putting it fifth from the bottom in the MCU’s box office ranking — only higher than Black Widow, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk, and the aforementioned Brie Larson film.

Coming out towards the tail-end of the pandemic certainly didn’t help its profits, but going down as the worst-reviewed Marvel movie at the time (now the second worst, behind Quantumania) only damaged its chances even further. The gloomy tone and emotionally detached storyline wasn’t exactly what most audiences wanted from their MCU content, although it has earned itself a devoted fanbase over time and can now be considered one of the universe’s more cultish entries.

Honestly, though, when no concrete news on a sequel emerged after a full two years plus change, we kind of figured there was no hope for an Eternals 2, so this rumor doesn’t come as the greatest shock. The much bigger surprise is that Marvel appears to have wasted the attention-grabbing casting of Harry Styles as Thanos’ brother, imprisoned in a post-credits scene that seems doomed not to go anywhere. Could plans for Eternals 2 be rebooted as a buddy cop movie between Eros and his resurrected purple bro? You heard it here first.

You know how they say that even the best-laid plans can go astray? Well, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is, unfortunately, living it in real life as its carefully planned Disney Plus release hasn’t exactly achieved what Marvel expected. And now, it is only reminding MCU fans that another film in the franchise that fell flat upon its theatrical release deserves all the love in the world. 

For starters, Quantumania is already hitting the streamer a lot later than any of the previous Marvel films — even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While the studio hasn’t offered any explanations for the delay, it is obvious that it hoped for the controversy around Jonathan Majors to simmer down a bit and expected renewed faith in the MCU — thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — to bring the film some love. 

There is also the weird phenomenon where movie lovers end up liking a film they trashed when they viewed it in the theaters. While it didn’t mean squat for Thor: Love and Thunder, it managed to reinstate Eternals’ reputation to the point that people are actually looking forward to its sequel now. Sadly, no such miracle has taken place for Quantumania, as its streaming release has those previously in favor of the film changing their opinions. 

It is making fans re-love another film though — courtesy of Ant-Man 3, Eternals has breached the top films list of many fans in the wake of the former’s many disappointments that received another spotlight thanks to the Disney Plus release.

It is not like Quantumania doesn’t have a few ers, but the fact remains that the number of those still processing the irreparable trauma it caused is a lot bigger. 

Well, in lieu of the sentiments exhibited above, it is prudent to remind you that while rumors of Eternals 2 are around and getting stronger, the fate of Kang the Conqueror and how Quantumania’s performance affects Phase Five still hangs in the balance. 

Eternals isn’t exactly an MCU success story. Prior to release, Marvel Studios seemed to be under the impression they had an awards season contender on their hands, even whispering of an Oscars campaign. Reality came crashing down the second the Rotten Tomatoes score dropped, ending up at a terrible 47%. Audiences weren’t particularly enthusiastic either, with the film eventually clocking up a relatively disappointing $400 million worldwide.

All the above meant Marvel doesn’t seem eager to fast track Eternals 2, despite leaving the first movie on a tantalizing Harry Styles-shaped cameo. But Eternals has its fans, and some see the pieces moving in the background which may hint that Eternals 2 is coming to life.

Druig actor Barry Keoghan is white-hot right now, having scooped a well-deserved Best ing Actor Academy Award for The Banshees of Inisherin. He was set to star in Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator 2, but has now dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts”. Could these be conflicts with Eternals 2?

Optimistic fans certainly seem to think so:

Maybe don’t celebrate quite yet:

Sadly, we’re more than confident about chalking this story up to wishful thinking – and it’s far more likely that Keoghan’s scheduling conflict is for him reprising the Joker in The Batman – Part II.

We don’t think Eternals 2 is likely anytime soon, if ever. That said, Eternals likely won’t be the final appearance from these immortal characters, as we expect the more popular ones to eventually pop up in other heroes’ movies and Disney Plus shows. Marvel Studios would also be facing a huge wasted opportunity if it squandered Harry Styles in the MCU, so perhaps there’ll be some kind of cosmic MCU movie featuring these characters that’s not strictly Eternals 2.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t really deal in one-and-done movies that aren’t designed to launch a sprawling standalone franchise, but Eternals is shaping up to be the exception to the rule.

Black Widow gets a because it was a prequel and Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff was killed off in Avengers: Endgame anyway, but otherwise the divisive millennia-spanning epic remains the only one of the 31 features released by Marvel Studios that hasn’t so much as entertained the notion of a follow-up in an official capacity, with the sidebar of The Incredible Hulk for obvious reasons.

Kumail Najiani and Patton Oswalt will be reuniting for a blockbuster effect-heavy second chapter, albeit in the successor to Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but now that director Chloé Zhao and star Kit Harington have lined up new projects, any hopes of an Eternals 2 have just gotten that little but further away.

Per Deadline, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker has signed on for literary adaptation Hamnet, while the teased Black Knight has boarded the third season of HBO drama Industry. That rules out four important cogs in the machine for the foreseeable future, but maybe fans should have been preparing themselves for this day to come.

After all, Eternals barely squeaked past $400 million at the box office and ranks as the saga’s worst-reviewed entry on Rotten Tomatoes, and with reinstalled Disney CEO Bob Iger intimating that he’s tightening the purse strings, it’s maybe time to accept defeat on the immortal aliens headlining another big screen outing.

With Venom 3 earning more excitement online than certain MCU projects, it looked like Sony might be set to capitalize on the current ambivalent to what Marvel Studios is churning out in a surprise switch of fates. However, although we still have Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter on the way, it appears that Sony is stumbling once again in the fans’ affections after one film may have died a quiet death. Meanwhile, an attempt to clear the air about a suspected sequel only succeeds in muddying the waters.

Forget The Marvels, Avengers: Secret Wars ETC, the most tragic Marvel movie delay has to be Sony’s El Muerto 6t5rj

The Marvels getting moved to November? We can handle it. Avengers: Secret Wars being late to battle? No sweat. But Sony missing the mark with its most-anticipated Spider-Man spinoff? Now we have a problem. Yes, we’re sorry to be the ones to tell you this, but El Muerto — you know, the Bad Bunny vehicle about the highly famed Spider-Man villain with the Mexican wrestler shtick — might fail to make its scheduled Jan. 2024 release date. While not entirely confirmed at this point, the fact that Sony only has 10 months to turn this one around and we haven’t heard a peep out of it yet suggests El Muerto may be, well, muerto.

Daredevil: Born Again‘s latest casting basically confirming it’s a reboot is causing the fans to react as calmly as you’d expect 1636u

We’re only a week into Daredevil: Born Again‘s production but it’s already been a real rollercoaster. First, Jon Bernthal returns — yay! — then we find out Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll won’t be involved — boo! — then rumors emerge of other Defenders dropping by — yay! Now, the latest casting update, which confirms a character from the Netflix series is getting recast, effectively announces that the Disney Plus revival is indeed a reboot and not a continuation, just as we all feared. As you can imagine, then, the fandom is taking this news in the entirely rational and reasonable way they always deal with MCU disappointment.

Eternals director addresses odds of a sequel happening, and now we’re more confused than we were before 3p674g

A few weeks ago, we received word that Marvel Studios had quietly greenlit an Eternals sequel, but now a response from director Chloe Zhao on the subject that should’ve clarified the situation has only left us with more questions than we already had. When asked if she’d be interested in helming a follow-up, the Oscar-winning filmmaker simply said “no comment,” which different folks are taking as either a sign she’s secretly in talks or an indication that Zhao has turned her back on the Marvel machine. We need Arishem the Celestial to help us judge what the heck is going on here.

Five years later, and Captain America fans are still griping over Avengers: Infinity War, but an infinite amount of more Marvel news is on its way to you soon.

Most people can agree that Marvel’s Phase Four was severely lacking in comparison to prior projects but despite that, the MCU trudges ahead without looking back. Generally speaking, fans are no longer surprised by weird decisions, but Eternals reportedly getting a sequel has fans putting on their thinking hats to figure out what could have improved it the first time around.

Over on Reddit, Marvel fans have banded together to discuss which MCU film could have benefitted most from a different medium, and without a doubt, Eternals is the overwhelming winner. Folks consider that the amount of screen time shared between the main characters was not enough to properly develop them or the story, thus, a TV show would be much more fitting.

Some viewers even present their ideas of how an Eternals TV show could have been organized. One episode focusing on an individual character would have been ideal for a particular fan, who wished they could have seen a more in-depth portrayal of these characters living their lives throughout the millennia. This would have allowed the story to breathe, instead of condensing it into a two-hour movie.

Despite agreeing that some characters are in desperate need of being fleshed out, others consider that the one-episode-per-Eternal format would make little sense. This is a group of immortal beings with one unifying goal, so seeing them work together to protect humanity over the years would have made for a more interesting approach.

The 2021 film is well-known for being among the worst-reviewed installments in the franchise, but surprisingly, it was the most streamed superhero movie of 2022. This only goes to show that even lackluster projects can gather a loyal audience, and with slight alterations, Eternals could have been truly great. Unfortunately for fans, what’s done is done.

It seems equally fitting and puzzling that a sequel to one of the MCU’s most reviled entries (as far as the numbers are concerned) may have just gotten greenlit hot off the heels of the ill-received Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but here we are.

A usually-reliable Marvel insider, KCWalsh has alleged that an Eternals 2 has been added to Marvel’s production calendar (via The Direct):

While an Eternals sequel may be a fair way off, considering that Marvel has loosely confirmed its slate all the way through to Avengers: Secret Wars in 2026, it’s still likely something that nobody asked for. Perhaps there’ll be ample opportunity throughout Phases Five and Six for public opinion to shift in favor of the flatly-received supergroup by way of ing roles and cameos, but as of right now, who asked for this?

As we’re all certainly aware at this stage, the original Eternals was the only MCU film with a ‘Rotten’ score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes but was recently ed by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in sharing the dishonor. 

The latter film’s abysmal reception recently got us thinking about how Marvel has proven it is currently ill-equipped to tell increasingly cosmic and otherworldly stories, particularly given a few VFX artists that worked on the film recently came forward to confess taking shortcuts on the film amid rubbish working conditions for the studio.

Here’s hoping that James Gunn’s Marvel swansong can help pick up the slack when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases on May 5, 2023.

Eternals 2 is leaving all of us on read, including the staring actors who are just as clueless as we are about what is happening with the sequel to the 2021 MCU film. Kumail Nanjiani has discussed that he is just in the dark about what will happen to his character going forward as fans are; unless that’s what Marvel has told him to say… you never know these days.

Nanjiani played one of the more comedic of the Eternals team, which makes sense given that he is both a comedian and an actor. His character, Kingo, was one of the few Eternals that was living his life in a much more public way setting himself up as a star in Bollywood for almost a century, by pretending to be his own descendent every so often.

It is thanks to his celebrity status that Kingo has remained one of the more relevant Eternals within the MCU having been mentioned in Ms. Marvel when they are discussing Bollywood stars and also having been spotted in a poster in Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. These little easter eggs remind us that he is still a present member of the MCU and has served as an ongoing joke within phase four.

When it comes to his future in the franchise the actor himself is still unsure of what is happening in that regard. When asked in an interview for Total Film if Marvel has any plans to reprise Kingo the actor responded,

“I mean, listen, I have plans today. I don’t know if they have plans. I would love to come back. But I’m sort of waiting to hear when or if that’s going to happen. I’m hoping I get to do more. I had a great time playing that character. It’d be a shame if he’s a sort of one-and-done. But, you know, the decision’s not mine to make.”

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the return of the Eternals, with many worrying that given how poorly the film did critically compared to its peers Marvel Studios may choose to move away from these characters to focus on the higher earners. There has also been plenty of speculation that the sequel will be going ahead, especially after a star who only made his entrance in a post-credits scene let slip that a sequel was on the cards.

This news has not yet been confirmed yet by Marvel, even months later, leaving fans, and obviously, its actors, feeling a little lost in limbo.

Eternals remains one of the most unique films in the vast MCU lineup. Chloé Zhao’s epic trip through the franchise’s prehistory and its team of immortal superheroes stands apart from everything else we’ve seen from Marvel Studios. That may be why it was a relative disappointment at the box office, though it still managed to make $400 million on a $200 million budget.

Talk is finally beginning to build of an official Eternals 2 announcement, bolstered by a reveal from Gilgamesh actor Don Lee’s agency that “Eternals 2 and other global projects he’ll be appearing in are planned to be produced.” Despite a Harry Styles-teasing credits scene, it was by no means guaranteed that a full sequel would ever happen, so this tidbit of information has fans celebrating.

Here’s a taste of how it’s going down on social media:

But would it really be the same without Chloé Zhao on board?

Word is her return is by no means guaranteed:

Will it lead to a critical rehabilitation of Eternals:

At any rate, we should see much more of Harry Styles in the MCU:

We kinda liked the first movie, so we agree:

Exactly how this movie will shake out remains to be seen. Fans believe it’ll adapt the recent “Judgement” comics arc that sees the world’s heroes individually judged by a Celestial, with mutants and the Fantastic Four thrown into the mix. If so, it’s sounding as if it could be the finale of an Phase, though we’re so early in production we could be talking about Phase Seven.

Let’s hope we get some confirmation soon, but right now the future is looking surprisingly bright for Eternals 2.

Eternals is available to stream on Disney Plus.

One of the greatest unanswered questions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that continues to haunt fans is whether or not the titular immortal aliens that made their debut in Eternals will end up getting a sequel.

While the intergalactic epic nabbed $400 million at the box office, a solid return by the standards of the pandemic, it did suffer the misfortune of becoming the one and only MCU project to end up on the wrong side of the Fresh fence on Rotten Tomatoes. Patton Oswalt stoked the fires of speculation when he teased an announcement was incoming, but star Kumail Nanjiani poured cold water on that particular line of inquiry during an interview with The Playlist.

“I have no idea. I don’t think Patton was right. I think that there was a hoax website – one of those where it’s like one letter off from the real one. They tweeted it, and it spread around and I think that’s what Patton saw. I honestly don’t know anything. I would love for Kingo to come back. I love playing that character…That one’s very fun to play, you’re just in a good mood. You do finger guns, you’re like a movie star – what’s not to love? You’re just in a good mood the entire time.”

Regardless of whether or not Eternals ends up as one of the franchise’s rare one-and-done efforts, Nanjiani knows exactly who he wants to team up with if and when he gets the call to return.

“I would love to pair up with Ms. Marvel! I just love that show and I thought Iman [Vellani] was so good and I just got to meet her and hang out with her for the first time and she’s just such a talented actor and such a wonderful human being and I think we’d be great on screen together. I’d love to be paired up with Ms. Marvel.”

It seems as though everyone wants to share the screen with the MCU’s brightest new star, and we can only hope Nanjiani gets his wish, whether it happens as part of an Eternals movie or one of the many other crossovers currently in the works.

Harry Styles blew fans’ minds when he sauntered into the MCU in the post-credits scene of last fall’s Eternals, which revealed that he had ed the franchise as Eros aka Starfox, charming space pirate and brother to Thanos. The sequence clearly set up Styles to have a much bigger role in the universe going forward, but almost one year later, and we still haven’t seen him return as Eros just yet.

Folks are getting antsy for more of him in the MCU, then, but Styles isn’t helping calm their nerves by joking that maybe his Eternals cameo is all we’re going to get. In a profile interview with Rolling Stone, the superstar was quizzed on if he’s got another outing as Eros lined up. Styles didn’t take the bait, however, quipping, “It’d be funny if that was it, wouldn’t it?”

In Eternals, Eros, along with his faithful friend Pip the Troll (Patton Oswalt), teleported onto the immortals’ ship to tell Makkari, Druig, and Thena that they need to help rescue their friends from Arishem the Celestial. This felt like a promise of an Eternals 2, yet one has yet to be officially announced. Although Oswalt recently appeared to confirm director Chloe Zhao is coming back to helm a follow-up.

If Styles is in it, don’t expect it to happen for a while, though. In the same interview, the actor/musician itted that he’s not looking to do another movie for a while as he doesn’t find the process of making a film as “fulfilling” as creating music. He told Rolling Stone that he doesn’t think he’ll “do it a lot,” but presumably he’s not going to leave Marvel in the lurch now that he’s debuted as such a fascinating character that folks can’t wait to see again.

While we settle in for a long wait for more Starfox, Harry Styles next features in Don’t Worry Darling, as directed by his partner Olivia Wilde, opening in theaters from Sept. 23.