Originally thought to be a product of the MCU’s success with lesser-known heroes, Eternals has actually been a part of Marvel’s long-term plan since before 2013. Created by legendary comic book writer and artist Jack Kirby in the late 1970s, the Eternals were among the most obscure heroes in Marvel’s massive library of characters until Eternals officially joined the MCU’s Phase 4 lineup. Though the MCU was still very much involved with planning movies for characters like Thor, Captain America, and the Guardians at the time, it was already looking ahead to Kirby’s race of super-powered immortals.
The ending that Marvel offered to the Infinity Saga in Avengers: Endgame paved the way for brand-new MCU franchises like Shang-Chi and Eternals to take off. Marvel retiring Captain America and Iron Man left room for new characters to take over and join some of its younger franchises, like Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and more. Plus, with others heading for third (and possibly final) installments in their trilogies, it seemed like the time was right for Marvel to bring in some fresh faces. Like Shang-Chi, Eternals has the potential to be the start of a new saga for the MCU.
A new book that chronicles the years of work that went into the MCU, The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shed light on just how long Marvel has had its eye on Ikaris, Thena, and all the others. According to the book, Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) was brought into Marvel’s writing program in 2011 to help craft stories for some of its projects. During his two-year stint in the program, Cole penned early scripts for Deathlok, Eternals, and Blade. Deathlok never went anywhere at all, and Cole’s scripts for Eternals and Blade are stated in the book to be “radically different” from what Marvel ultimately came up with years later when it “started over from scratch.”
Marvel wanting to try their hand at Blade isn’t surprising given that he was already a high-profile character, but the same can’t be said for the Eternals. With how obscure these characters were and the very limited presence they had in the comics, it would have been understandable for them to not be on Marvel’s radar during Phase 2 of the MCU. Even without the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man, Marvel still had a stacked roster of heroes and villains to choose from, many of which being more recognizable than the Eternals. And at that point, it had syet to prove that C-list properties could be profitable on the big screen. Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man (which both exceeded box office expectations) didn’t hit theaters until 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Marvel exploring possible avenues it could take with the team as far back as the early 2010s speaks to the level of potential that the studio saw in Eternals and how wide of a scope it had in terms of which Marvel characters it was considering. It’s also an indication that Marvel believed all along that despite their obscurity, the very idea of a team of immortals sharing the Earth with humans for thousands of years had a lot of promise.