Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige defends bringing Gemma Chan back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a new character in Eternals. Chan made her MCU debut in 2019's Captain Marvel as Minn-Erva, a Kree sniper and member of Starforce who fights the titular heroine and attempts to eradicate the Skrull race. The character would meet her demise in the final act as Maria Rambeau is able to outmaneuver Minn-Erva in an aerial dogfight and shoot her down.

Chan stars in Eternals as Sersi, the empathetic member of the titular group who has a strong connection with humanity and the Earth and holds feelings for fellow team member Ikaris while being in a romantic relationship with human Dane Whitman. The film will be set after the events of Avengers: Endgame as the immortal group of Eternals emerge from hiding and reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts known as the Deviants. Alongside Chan, the ensemble cast for the film includes Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harrington, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie.

Related: MCU Actors Who Should Get Bigger Roles (After Gemma Chan)

With only a couple of months remaining until the planned release of Eternals, Feige spoke with Entertainment Weekly to discuss the upcoming MCU film. In discussing the casting process for the film, the Marvel head opened up about the decision to cast Chan as Sersi despite previously appearing as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, defending against critics by praising the actress' talent and pointing towards a similar situation the studio faced in the past. See what Feige said below:

"It would have been shooting ourselves in the foot. I can go back to Chris Evans being on the list for Captain America, and some people said, 'Oh, well, he played the Human Torch [in 2005's Fantastic Four]. Maybe we shouldn't consider him.' And we said, 'No, that's okay,' and the rest is history."

When Evans was first announced to be cast as Captain America for his eponymous 2011 film, audiences were still growing accustomed to the idea of the interconnected MCU with the Iron Man films, The Incredible Hulk and first Thor movie establishing The Avengers. Given the poor reception to Fox's Fantastic Four films and strong start with Phase One of the MCU, many were willing to ignore Evans' Marvel past as the Human Torch in favor of seeing him become Captain America. Though Chan's past Marvel work is not that distant and set in the MCU, she also isn't the only performer to portray multiple characters in the franchise, with Kenneth Choi having played both Jim Morita in Captain America: The First Avenger and Principal Morita, theorized to be the former's descendant, in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Feige's defense of casting Chan for Eternals as wanting the best performer for the role of Sersi as much as from a practical standpoint is heartwarming for fans of the actress who hoped to see her return to the MCU in some capacity. With her character set to be a far more prominent aspect of the story, it will be interesting to see how Feige and co-writer/director Chloé Zhao's decision to bring Chan back pays off. Only time will tell when Eternals arrives on November 5.

More: Eternals Can Show Just How Slow MCU's Quicksilver Was

Source: EW

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