How The Eternals Escaped Thanos' Infinity War Snap

The Eternals trailer hint that the superheroes survived Thanos' (Josh Brolin) snap in Avengers: Infinity War — how? As part of Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios is tipped to introduce several new players in the franchise. That includes the Eternals — a race of immortal beings created by the Celestials and sent to Earth to protect humanity from the Deviants.

While the new group of superheroes has yet to make their debut in the MCU, they apparently have already been in existence for thousands of years. The main Eternals team consists of 10 members: Angelina Jolie as Thena, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Barry Keoghan as Druig. As revealed in the trailers, they have been living among humans. While the story of the Eternals, directed by Academy Award winner Chloe Zhao, will span centuries, but its main narrative takes place in a post-Avengers: Endgame world.

Given Eternals' long existence in the MCU, questions about their whereabouts during the fight against Thanos were one of the biggest mysteries coming into the film. Its latest trailer answers this query: the Celestials mandated them to never interfere with human affairs unless the Deviants are involved. This effectively moves the conversation forward about the movie, but it also poses a different question: how come they weren't affected by the Blip? Based on what's known about the Eternals thus far, they seem to be fully aware of the events of Infinity War when the Mad Titan snapped half of life out and Endgame when Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) brought them all back. This could mean that none of them were snuffed out of existence and considering the fact that it's supposed to be random, it's dubious that not one of them was taken out. However, there may actually be an in-universe explanation for this. Firstly, it's possible that Thanos didn't include the Eternals in his Infinity Stones mandate, after all, their existence shouldn't be a problem in terms of his perceived resources problem since they're not a typical living being.

Secondly, perhaps some of the Eternals were actually affected by the snap. But if Marvel Studios stick closely to the team's powers from the Marvel comics, they all have the ability to mentally control their molecules, allowing them to restore their bodies if they are destroyed. If anyone of them were dusted by Thanos in Infinity War, they could've easily rebuilt themselves. Since it would be difficult to track down every single victim in the immediate aftermath of the Blip, the Eternals could easily return without revealing their true nature. After that, they could've quietly slipped back into civilization, watching the commotion unfold after the Avengers failed to stop the Mad Titan achieve his misguided goal of balancing the universe.

Of course, it's also possible that Marvel Studios simply say that the Eternals were all extremely fortunate to not be affected by the snap. After all, that's exactly what happened with the original Avengers; each one of them survived the decimation in Avengers: Infinity War because Endgame needed all of them back together for one final outing. Despite the lack of explanation in-narrative, the public had no qualms about it. If the MCU can get away with that the first time, they can do it again in Eternals.

More: What If The Eternals Were In Infinity War: Would Thanos Have Lost?