Eternals Proves How Much Age of Ultron Ruined Quicksilver

Eternals introduced a new team of superheroes, each with their own set of superpowers, and among those is Makkari, who possesses super speed, and through her, the Marvel Cinematic Universe showed how much Avengers: Age of Ultron ruined Quicksilver. Now that the Infinity Saga is over, the MCU is moving forward with its Phase 4, which covers TV shows and movies in order to further expand this connected universe. On the movie side, the MCU has now introduced a new team of heroes in Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, which also significantly changed the MCU’s history.

Eternals introduced the title team, an alien race created by the Celestial Arishem centuries ago and sent to Earth to protect humans from the Deviants, the Eternals’ evil counterparts, and the team stayed on Earth and helped humanity progress but without interfering in their conflicts. The Eternals team is formed by Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Thena (Angelina Jolie), and Ajak (Salma Hayek), and while the movie focused more on Sersi and her relationship with Ikaris, it gave enough time to the rest to showcase their powers and personality, and one who became an instant fan-favorite is Makkari.

Makkari is the first deaf superhero in the MCU and the second one to have super speed after Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Pietro Maximoff was introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside his twin sister Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and he was the fastest MCU character… until Makkari’s existence was revealed. Unfortunately, viewers didn’t get to really know Quicksilver as he was killed during the Battle of Sokovia in Age of Ultron in one of the most talked-about scenes in MCU history: in an effort to save Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and a kid he rescued, Quicksilver shielded them from bullets with a car, taking them himself in the process and dying on the spot. Eternals further proved how much the MCU ruined Quicksilver and made up for those mistakes with Makkari, who even though didn’t have much screen time, is a far better character than Quicksilver.

Quicksilver’s death in Age of Ultron is controversial as many fans wonder why the supposedly fastest character in the MCU wouldn’t be fast enough to avoid the bullets (and not smart enough to take Hawkeye and the kid instead of shielding them), and the movie didn’t even allow viewers to actually get to know him, but it seems like Eternals took note of all that. Although she wasn’t on-screen for long, viewers got to see what Makkari’s personality is like, learning she’s one of the Eternals with the biggest heart, and she also appears to be a lot faster and more powerful than Quicksilver, as her powers are based on cosmic energy – case in point: she crossed through miles in just seconds when Phastos sent her to find the spot for Tiamut’s emergence. Makkari’s story was also better developed, and she will return in a potential sequel as she’s one of the surviving Eternals looking for others of their kind.

Makkari was an actual player in the story of Eternals, whereas Quicksilver felt more like a forced addition and a necessary death in order to push Wanda’s arc. As for their powers, Makkari is stronger and faster than Quicksilver and her powers were shown and used a lot better than Pietro’s in Avengers: Age of Ultron, showing that the writers definitely learned from the mistakes of one of the most criticized MCU movies.

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