Eternals writers Matthew 'Kaz' Firpo and Ryan Firpo discuss the two Eternals that were cut from the films' lineup of heroes. Chloé Zhao's Marvel epic introduces audiences to the superhero team created by comics legend Jack Kirby in 1976. The Eternals are a race of immortal alien beings created by the Celestials and tasked with protecting humanity from the monstrous Deviants, with the two species' conflict spanning throughout human history and beyond.

The MCUs' team of Eternals is composed of matter manipulating Sersi (Gemma Chan), flying cosmic energy wielder Ikaris (Richard Madden), cosmic energy marksman Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), illusionist Sprite (Lia McHugh), inventor Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), super speedster Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), mind-controlling Druig (Barry Keoghan), superstrong Gilgamesh (Don Lee), energy weapon-wielder Thena (Angelina Jolie), and healer and leader Ajak (Salma Hayek). Zhao also introduced Thanos's brother and fellow Eternal, Eros (Harry Styles) during the post-credits scene, with the film suggesting more Eternals exist across the cosmos. However, the writers of the latest Phase 4 movie have revealed the roles that 2 Eternals that did not make the film's roster might have had.

Related: What Happens To Ikaris At The End Of Eternals?

When speaking to Screen Rant, Kaz and Ryan Firpo were asked what role the two cut Eternals would have had.  Kaz discussed the character of Zuras, who was a favorite of the writers. Despite their fondness, the character was at odds with Ajak in the family dynamic as the two were too similar, leading to Zhao, producer Nate Moore, and Kevin Feige requesting he be cut. Ryan stated Zuras' character and story were folded into Gilgamesh's journey with Thena. Ryan then revealed the Eternal Valkin was set to be a healer existing under multiple personas, with his powers being folded into Ajak, resulting in fewer characters to handle. Check out the two writers' responses below.

"Kaz Firpo: They were... let's say compendiums of all the other things. When you're writing a movie, it's like keeping a thousand-piece puzzle in your mind, and you're trying to keep track of all the edges and the characters and the connections. 

Confirming that they were in fact the old man Zuras, former legendary leader of the Eternals, who we loved and who I think is a fantastic character, but I think we all realized in the room that he's too good a character. There's so much richness there, and Ajak and Zuras were at odds conceptually within the family, and so it became a pretty logical choice with Chloe [Zhao], and Nate [Moore], and Kevin [Feige], to be like, “We love this character, but I think... leave some room for what comes next.”

Ryan Firpo: And Zuras' role, and a lot of his characteristics, kinda got folded into Gilgamesh. I think in the early drafts, Zuras was the one who went and took care of Thena and lived with her out in Australia.

But we realized there was a lot of crossover between Zuras and Ajak because Ajak was the clear leader but Zuras was in the canon the one-time leader. So we just kind of folded pieces of each character into Gilgamesh. 

And the other character was Valkin, who was actually a healer, and it was a really funny situation because it was Valkin in the past but in the present day he was a luchador in Mexico, and his character was Vampiro. So it was a weird thing, a kind of two-for-one Eternal cameo in there. But then we decided to fold Valkin's healing powers into Ajak, and just condensed because there's a lot going on in this movie so the fewer characters the better."

With Eternals' two-and-a-half-hour runtime following 10 characters across 7,000 years of human history, Zhao and Marvel chose to focus on the team's more iconic and memorable members, with Zuras and Valkin being seen as less of a priority. In the comics, Zuras was a former leader of the Eternals capable of energy projection who first had control over the Uni-mind, as well as being Thena's father. Valkin meanwhile was Druig's father and Ikaris' uncle, who led a faction of Polar-based Eternals before making his way into space.

Zuras and Valkin's absence from Eternals not only makes sense in order to focus on a smaller, more manageable cast of characters but also works to create a cohesive canon for their on-screen incarnations. Though the MCU's Eternals are a family in a way, the team was created by the Celestials to prepare Earth for the Emergence, rather than being born through bloodlines and belonging to separate factions, so Zuras and Valkin would lose those roles and relationships. However, much like how Zhao would like to expand on the Eternal's connection to Thanos, it is possible that future MCU projects involving the Eternals may include Zuras and Valkin as some of the Eternals that Thena, Druig, and Makkari head off onboard the Domo to search the cosmos for, with their inclusions being used to expand the Eternals' MCU mythology.

Next: Eternals Movie Future: Sequel, Avengers, Spinoff

 

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