Kingo Was Eternals Real Traitor (Worse Than The Villains)

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Eternals.

Ikaris (Richard Madden) was branded as a traitor in Marvel's Eternals, but Kingo's betrayal was ultimately much worse. Marvel Studios debuted its latest superhero team via the Chloé Zhao-directed project. This marks the first time that the MCU has introduced a whole new slate of characters since James Gunn's original Guardians of the Galaxy made household names out of Peter Quill and his unlikely band of anti-heroes. And as with every group that has multiple debuting characters, each with their own personalities and ambitions, arguments are always inevitable.

The Marvel movie debuted 10 main Eternals with different powers and roles—all were sent to Earth by the Celestials to protect humanity from Deviants thousands of years ago. After operating as a single unit for a while, they decided to go their separate ways after assuming that the last of the Deviants had been killed. But, when more evolved versions of the monster creatures appeared in modern times, the team was forced to re-assemble in order to accomplish their original mandate. Little did they know that the Deviants weren't really the primary reason for their reunion. It was later revealed that the Eternals were placed on Earth to protect it until the population reached a point to trigger the Emergence—the birth of a new Celestial, Tiamut, whose arrival would tear apart the planet.

In the end, Marvel's Eternals were split on their next course of action after learning about the Emergence. Despite Ajak (Salma Hayek) being initially okay with it, realizing the beauty in humanity in the five years after Thanos' (Josh Brolin) snap convinced her that people were worth saving. Meanwhile, Ikaris was adamant about following their mandate and ensuring that the Emergence took place. He was so committed to the cause that he even went on to kill Ajak in an effort to manipulate the rest of the team to follow Arishem's directive instead. Sprite (Lia McHugh) agreed with him and supported his choice.

Chloe Zhao Explained Why Kingo Didn't Return To Help The Eternals

Kingo and Karun standing in the desert in Eternals

Chloe Zhao has explained that she approached Marvel's Eternals from a revisionist sense and wanted to change a few things in the superhero genre as a whole. In an interview with Empire she gave an interesting testimony about heroism and how she wants to see the genre move forward. In terms of the traitor Kingo, Zhao explained that there are different types of heroism and the discussion of what it means to be a hero may be different for everyone. She believes that Kingo's refusal to show up for the final battle was, in a way, the only act of heroism the character could commit. Ultimately Kingo doesn't want to hurt other people for his beliefs, and as Zhao puts it "Ajak (Hayek), Kingo (Nanjiani) and Ikaris; those three have faith in our film. They do believe that human beings have no right to break out of the natural order, because so many more are going to be created." Kingo makes this final decision based on these beliefs as each of the heroes does. Ajak chooses to love, Ikaris chooses to kill her, and Kingo chooses to take a step back from the fight. While the choice to keep a hero out of the final battle is definitively the mark of a traitor, Zhao is looking to change those ideals by shaking up each character's interpretation of what it means to really be a hero.

Kingo's Eternals Betrayal Was Worse Than The Celestials Twist

Kingo readying a cosmic blast in his hands in Eternals

In hindsight, it made sense that neither Ikaris nor Sprite had issues with the idea of humans being unceremoniously slaughtered, as they'd been mostly indifferent to humanity for a very, very long time. Throughout their 7000 years on the planet, they hadn't made any significant relationships with anyone else other than their fellow Eternals. But things were different with Kingo. He consistently worked with humans as he had become a famous Bollywood actor. Kingo also made money off of their interest and love, so his decision to essentially not care about the decimation of humanity was ultimately far worse. However, this is the frustrating dichotomy behind Kingo's actions versus what Zhao's interpretation of them is. Audiences don't want to fault Kumail Nanjiani's Kingo because he stepped back based on his beliefs but at the end of the day, he's a hero who is sworn and bound to protect.

It's also worth noting that Kingo's assistant and trusted ally was a human being, Karun (Harish Patel), who has been with him for decades. He had known Kingo's secret for years and he never did anything to jeopardize his career by trying to reveal it. In the middle of a life-and-death situation in Marvel's Eternals film, Karun stayed by his employer's side, continuously filming even after Druig (Barry Keoghan) outright threatened him. Karun had been nothing but loyal to Kingo, and based on what's revealed in the movie, it did seem like they have had a great dynamic. So, for Kingo to flat out not care about the Earth getting destroyed by the Emergence, despite knowing that the catastrophe would also kill Karun, was heartbreaking. To be fair, like Ikaris, he was just all for following the mandate from the Celestials. But it's still chilling to think that Kingo can easily turn his back on the same people who made him the successful actor that he'd become, even if the idea brings his own beliefs into question.

Ultimately sitting out on the final Eternals battle was Kingo's compromise. He didn't want human beings to be killed in the Emergence, but he also wouldn't actively take part in stopping the catastrophe. That being said, considering the life he'd lived on Earth, his stance about the matter should have been clear—he should've joined Gemma Chan's Sersi and the rest to prevent Tiamut's birth.

Next: Eternals Makes Thor’s Infinity War Mistake So Much Worse