Eternals Originally Had A Flashback To Thanos’ Homeworld

The writers of Eternals have confirmed that the movie originally included a flashback to the homeworld of The Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin). Eternals is the latest offering from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao, it is currently in theaters and is dominating the box office.

Eternals introduces an entirely new group of superheroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film follows a team of immortal beings who believe they are tasked with aiding the progression of humanity at the behest of The Celestials. However, as the film progresses, The Eternals learn that they are actually on Earth to ward off The Deviants and spur the growth of the human population. This will, in turn, create enough life to lead to the emergence of a Celestial known as Tiamut. This leads to a climactic showdown against Ikarus (Richard Madden) and Sprite (Lia McHugh), the two remaining Eternals who believe in the importance of Tiamut’s emergence. In the end, however, Ikarus and Sprite are defeated, and The Eternals stave off Tiamut’s rise.

Now, with Eternals in theaters and headlining the box office, new information on earlier drafts of the film has come to light. In fact, Screen Rant recently caught up with Eternals writers Kaz and Ryan Firpo about the film’s development, and they admitted that an earlier version of Eternals included a flashback to Thanos’ homeworld, Titan (briefly seen in Avengers: Infinity War), to highlight their connection to the bigger cosmic story at play in the MCU. They explained:

Kaz Firpo: There's a version, I think there's even a flashback - correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan. We had a sequence where... 'Cause if you recall, in Infinity War, Thanos takes you to his homeworld. He's like, this is the home planet that was devastated by growth, by radical growth in the universe, and he's like, this is why - because I lost my homeworld - I have to destroy half the galaxy, to save the other half.

So there was... I don't wanna say a lot more, but there was definitely a distinct connection point to Thanos and to everything that had happened. But in the telling of it, there was a lot of... movie in this movie. So we wanted something where you could pay attention to the Eternals, to the Eternals' mythology, not get lost trying to remember some tenuous connection to Endgame.

Ryan Firpo: Yeah, and I think it's... building on that, there is a lot more, and this is not the end of the Eternals' story, and we will get to explore these things... But to explore it all in one movie, like Kaz said, there's already a lot in here.

It’s clear that there were plans to reference Thanos and Titan in a thematically resonant way. After all, a major plot point in Eternals is the concept of unchecked population growth. However, the sheer scope of Eternals forced the writers to cut much of that backstory and table it for a future outing. That said, the film is not without references to Thanos, as Eternals makes ample mention of The Blip, and even ends with the arrival of his brother Eros (Harry Styles) as the latest MCU hero to receive a proper introduction on-screen.

Of course, all of this raises the question as to whether or not ditching this flashback was the right call. There’s little debate that this would’ve been a nice bit of fan service for fans, and a good bridge between established canon and Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, as Eternals actor Kit Harrington recently noted: Marvel fans may need to move on from Thanos and The Blip at some point, and the inclusion of Eros may have been enough.

Next: Eternals: Every MCU Easter Egg & Reference