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Made in us
Norn Queen






So this is coming out tomorrow and I have my tickets purchased for tomorrow night. Figured I would get the thread started. It looks like the reviews are mixed, but in my opinion they seem to be based on a lot of nonsense. "This isn't like other marvel movies so you won't like it" or "This isn't like other marvel movies so you will like it".

Me, I am really excited. This is the movie thats going to introduce some real deep marvel mythology. And we are not seeing this movie for the sake of the eternals as a team. This is here to introduce stuff thats going to matter going forward. I predict the activation of the x gene and mutants.

We will find out soon!


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




Huh. Most of the reviews I've seen aren't mixed, they're simply bored.

This is here to introduce stuff thats going to matter going forward

Eh. To a degree, I guess. But that kind of conflicts with the central premise of the MCU, which is that you don't need to watch everything.

Given its the Eternals, it could also be the same problem the comic version has- they really don't matter very much. What they do in their own corner of the setting is largely irrelevant to everyone else. Superhero team #214 just isn't that exciting.

But at least they aren't the Inhumans.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/11/04 03:53:08


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






I can also see its ensemble cast having issues since it goes against the general MCU formula of having the characters being introduced separately before bringing them together. In this case, we have way too many new people for any meaningful development and the deviants look like generic CGI villains, so you're spreading yourself thin on expository info for introducing the characters while not having any worthwhile looking villains for the movie. I would also say that their whole schtick of being immortal and not doing anything while Thanos did his thing is also another mark against them, since "Celestials said no" is kind of a crap excuse and only makes their intervention now with the Deviants make them look bad, especially when they're clearly still interacting with humanity. It's one thing if they were only observant, ala the Watcher, but they are clearly involved in human lives even if its not in a protecting sort of way.
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Reckon I’m gonna go see it. I’ve avoided reviews for fear of spoilers, and I don’t know much about their comics, so going in as blind as I can.

Though this month I’m mostly looking forward to Ghostbusters Afterlife….

   
Made in ca
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






 Grimskul wrote:
their intervention now with the Deviants make them look bad


The Celestials said "no" to everything else but left them on Earth to specifically deal with Deviants when they pop up so that isn't an exception but their primary purpose. Essentially it is "don't interfere with the way humanity plays out but stop the deviants from taking over and/or destroying humanity". They can still talk to people and interact but not take over and rule or massively derail the timeline. Having Biscuits and Gravy with Bob at the town diner is ok but being the ruler of Europe not so much. Same with wars started by humans.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





Thinking any non Avenger adjacent film post End Game might be struggling, a 2h 30 run time seems indulgent and dropping a whole new team more or less out of nowhere is an even harder sell

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/11/04 07:46:41


"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in gb
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If anyone can pull it off, it’s the MCU?

   
Made in us
Norn Queen






I... don't think the deviants are the real villains of the film. I think the threat of a celestial judgement is.



These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






 Lance845 wrote:
I... don't think the deviants are the real villains of the film. I think the threat of a celestial judgement is.



Isn't that worse in a sense? Are we going to get another sky beam of "oh no, they started the countdown nuke for earth because deviants have been detected/or we didn't obey the laaaaaw". There hasn't been any build up to this so I doubt the audience are going to be invested in whatever stuff Celestials might do to earth or what their plans were if the Eternals didn't follow their commands (especially since they're effectively non-entities in the MCU given their lack of presence barring Ego who explicitly talked about being "alone").
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




Setup for Celestials is GotG 1, not 2. They're in the collectors video exposition about the stones, and Knowhere is the severed head of one.

Ego is just a celestial being (the living planet), not a Capital C Celestial. They sort of borked that explanation though.

Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Mixed reviews honestly kind of has me excited about it. I suspect I won't like all of it, but from what I've heard its main issues are that its overly ambitious and doesn't always hit. It's also apparently very driven by character dialog over action sequences. It sounds interesting even if its not good by the standards set elsewhere in the franchise. Like, the opposite of Ant Man and the Wasp.
   
Made in us
Courageous Questing Knight





Texas

On an outside observation, yeah, way too many heroes to cram into their first movie without any set-up. I guess we are to believe they were born this way and have just existed all this time in the background, so no explanation needed?

In any case, I am with Doc, that I do not know the comics and have not read reviews and will look forward to spending the 2.5 hours.

My Novella Collection is available on Amazon - Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Dreamt-Michael-Leonard/dp/1505716993/

 
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






 Grimskul wrote:
 Lance845 wrote:
I... don't think the deviants are the real villains of the film. I think the threat of a celestial judgement is.



Isn't that worse in a sense? Are we going to get another sky beam of "oh no, they started the countdown nuke for earth because deviants have been detected/or we didn't obey the laaaaaw". There hasn't been any build up to this so I doubt the audience are going to be invested in whatever stuff Celestials might do to earth or what their plans were if the Eternals didn't follow their commands (especially since they're effectively non-entities in the MCU given their lack of presence barring Ego who explicitly talked about being "alone").


I don't think so. The deviants would just be either a bunch of animals or mustache twirling villains trying to destroy for the sake of destruction. The end would just be a big punch off.

The celestials though... Its not something you CAN fight. Being worried about celestial judgement is an eventual inevitability. Its closer to a disaster movie. Knowing the volcano is going to erupt and not being able to stop it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And as others said. Ego is not a celestial. HE thinks of himself as a celestial. But thats his own ego considering himself godlike. The celestials are something else entirely.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/11/04 21:39:42



These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





 MDSW wrote:
On an outside observation, yeah, way too many heroes to cram into their first movie without any set-up. I guess we are to believe they were born this way and have just existed all this time in the background, so no explanation needed?


They're very much a family unit so they don't really need or even really benefit from setting them up individually. The idea is they grew up together then went out wandering the earth (hence having names like Icarus, Athena, Gilgamesh, etc) but keep in touch and reconnect over the centuries. Set up is kind of the interesting part of their story, more than any of their present day adventures, and I suspect alot of the divisive response is the slow burn storytelling that probably results in.

As for Eternals, Celestials, and Deviants in the comics. Mostly speculation on my part, but if you want to go in totally blind:

Spoiler:
Celestials are generally depicted either as big G gods with the Eternals acting more like mythical god/demigod offspring or Celestials are depicted as Angels in the sense that they run the universe for the actual One Above All.

Deviants are a little quirkier. They are absolutely the least used aspect of the mythology, but I'll say that the likelihood that they are not truly evil and the Celestials are the real bad guys in the vein of Captain Marvel is... very very high.
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






 LunarSol wrote:
 MDSW wrote:
On an outside observation, yeah, way too many heroes to cram into their first movie without any set-up. I guess we are to believe they were born this way and have just existed all this time in the background, so no explanation needed?


They're very much a family unit so they don't really need or even really benefit from setting them up individually. The idea is they grew up together then went out wandering the earth (hence having names like Icarus, Athena, Gilgamesh, etc) but keep in touch and reconnect over the centuries. Set up is kind of the interesting part of their story, more than any of their present day adventures, and I suspect alot of the divisive response is the slow burn storytelling that probably results in.

As for Eternals, Celestials, and Deviants in the comics. Mostly speculation on my part, but if you want to go in totally blind:

Spoiler:
Celestials are generally depicted either as big G gods with the Eternals acting more like mythical god/demigod offspring or Celestials are depicted as Angels in the sense that they run the universe for the actual One Above All.

Deviants are a little quirkier. They are absolutely the least used aspect of the mythology, but I'll say that the likelihood that they are not truly evil and the Celestials are the real bad guys in the vein of Captain Marvel is... very very high.


Spoiler:
I suspect that the devients are the Eternals of another planet that got judged and was wiped out. The devients now try to undermine the celestials work as revenge. The way the humanoid devient (can't remember his name) says "You can't protect any of them" isn't a threat. It's a sorrowful statement of fact born from experience. The celestials are coming. You love these people, and there is nothing you can do to protect them from whats coming.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in de
Battlefield Tourist






Nuremberg

I find myself pretty disinterested in marvel movies now. I went to see every single one up to Endgame in the cinema, sometimes more than once, and enjoyed all of them to some extent.

But now I'm just not that interested in any of the ones that have come out. Maybe I'll watch them later but I'm not going to the cinema with the covid rates the way they are for these.

   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

That’s where I am, too. I don’t see myself returning to movie theaters at all this year.

   
Made in us
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Southeastern PA, USA

I'm just not interested in the Eternals. I never found them compelling, and frankly they were Kirby's lesser creation compared to the New Gods. I get that the movie might be a totally different thing, but my natural reaction is a yawn. There are other DC and Marvel teams/groups I'd feel similarly about.

Having said that, I find it hard to believe that this film deserves to be 15 RT points worse than Thor: The Dark World. I suspect it's better than its rating and a solid watch, just as certain other Marvel films aren't worth their rating.

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 gorgon wrote:
I'm just not interested in the Eternals.


Pretty much this. I enjoyed Loki and Falcon and Winter Soldier but they were available to watch at home and I still haven't watched What If?. As for movies still haven't seen Black Widow but I did see Shang Chi. Someone asked me if I was going to see this and the best I can muster is a shrug. I'm in the same seat as Da Boss on the whole thing.

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Melbourne

I really liked it, it would almost certainly make my top 5 MCU if I sat down and ranked them.

It wasn't perfect, some of the humour missed the mark because the standard Marvel banter doesn't work in as many places as it does in normal MCU movies, and the style of film isn't necessarily as rewatchable as the normal MCU films either.

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Texas

I guess it will be explained, as I have many questions...

If this is part of the MCU and after Endgame, why did they not intervene in a universal baddie looking to wipe out half of the universe (and Earth)? It does not get much more deviant than that.

In the comics, are they also part of the greater MCU universe? After the human super-heroes evolved, was there just no reason for the Eternals to get involved in anything and just went against their legacy to sit back and watch?

Why was it necessary to make them part of the MCU? Might have been a better set up for this to be an unconnected group and movie - sure, made by Marvel, but separately.

I guess I will need to see the movie after all!!

My Novella Collection is available on Amazon - Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Dreamt-Michael-Leonard/dp/1505716993/

 
   
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Gargantuan Gargant






 MDSW wrote:
I guess it will be explained, as I have many questions...

If this is part of the MCU and after Endgame, why did they not intervene in a universal baddie looking to wipe out half of the universe (and Earth)? It does not get much more deviant than that.

In the comics, are they also part of the greater MCU universe? After the human super-heroes evolved, was there just no reason for the Eternals to get involved in anything and just went against their legacy to sit back and watch?

Why was it necessary to make them part of the MCU? Might have been a better set up for this to be an unconnected group and movie - sure, made by Marvel, but separately.

I guess I will need to see the movie after all!!


They vaguely mention it in the trailer, but the cliffnotes version of it is basically a Celestial said "No" and they were like "Sounds good, boss"
   
Made in us
Norn Queen






None of what I am about to say comes from the movie outside of the trailers.

 MDSW wrote:
I guess it will be explained, as I have many questions...

If this is part of the MCU and after Endgame, why did they not intervene in a universal baddie looking to wipe out half of the universe (and Earth)? It does not get much more deviant than that.


The Celestials told them not to. It works like this. The celestials travel around or appear in places in groups called Hosts. They do things to planets and on planets and to the things that live on planets for reasons that are not particularly clear and have different explanations depending on continuity. In a non-canonical series called Earth X, for example, the molten core of earth is a nascent Celestial. Most planets with molten cores and life are. They are basically celestial eggs. Galactus devouring planets is a galactic predator that keeps celestial numbers in check. The celestial modify the genetics of the species on the planet to create basically an immune system to protect the baby. Thats why earth has mutants and so many super powered people. They are a white blood cell system to attempt to protect the baby till it "hatches".

In 616 (the main universe in the comics) The Eternals are taken from prehuman stock, modified greatly and tasked with overseeing the experiment until the next Celestial Host arrives. They are given strict instructions on what they can and cannot interfere with because doing otherwise would tamper with the experiment. Other bits of the Prehuman stock are modified in a bunch of ways so that certain evolutionary paths are available and things are likely to occur in certain ways. Basically it results in the X gene. (An aside to this. Apocolypse's "survival of the fittest" is about ensuring that the population of Earth is deemed worthy and survives the next Celestial Host.His tech is actually some celestial tech and his ship is a celestial ship.) But also, later, the Kree come along and see how genetically capable humanity are and tamper with them further creating the off shoot that is the Inhumans as an experiment to make weapons for the Kree Skrull war.

The Deviants are just like the Eternals in the comics. Taken from pre human stock, modified greatly, except they are monstrous. Thanos is actually a descendant of the Deviants in the comics which explains why hes so damn tough and hard to kill. Thats right. Thanos is actually distantly descended from Earth.

In the comics, are they also part of the greater MCU universe? After the human super-heroes evolved, was there just no reason for the Eternals to get involved in anything and just went against their legacy to sit back and watch?


Yes, but very rarely if ever used for much. The Eternals in the comics are literally immortal in a way that is stupefying and would make them suck the tension out of any conflict. You could atomize them and they will reconstitute.

Why was it necessary to make them part of the MCU? Might have been a better set up for this to be an unconnected group and movie - sure, made by Marvel, but separately.

I guess I will need to see the movie after all!!


My guess is we are digging into the MCU version of all that history and mythology to bring things forward. Mutants are tied to this. The celestial Hosts are a big deal. The Black Knight is in this movie and I am sure thats so he can go do some stuff in future movies as well. This whole movie is going to be like introducing the Tesseract or the power stone. Except it's not one trinket. It's a swathe of trinkets in the shape of people and foundational events that shape why things are the way they are.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/11/05 19:08:12



These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in us
Last Remaining Whole C'Tan






Pleasant Valley, Iowa

 Ahtman wrote:
 gorgon wrote:
I'm just not interested in the Eternals.


Pretty much this. I enjoyed Loki and Falcon and Winter Soldier but they were available to watch at home and I still haven't watched What If?. As for movies still haven't seen Black Widow but I did see Shang Chi. Someone asked me if I was going to see this and the best I can muster is a shrug. I'm in the same seat as Da Boss on the whole thing.



I'm in a very similar boat as you are (but swap Shang Chi with Black Widow for me). I do love comic book movies and watch very nearly all of them, but genuinely have zero interest in Eternals. If I had free tickets in a sanitized theater by myself - so most powerful economic argument coupled with maximum safety - I still wouldn't go see it.

I'm still interested in the MCU in general, but these guys just genuinely didn't solicit any interest at all. I dunno why, it just feels like... we've done this before. I know that is true of almost every comic book movie but couple the "been there done that" with a bunch of what seem to be very uncompelling characters....

I did love the What If? series but I was a very very big fan of the What If? comics growing up so I am strongly biased.



This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/11/05 17:47:11


 lord_blackfang wrote:
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 Flinty wrote:
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Melbourne

For those who it isn't important to wait for the answer:

Spoiler:
The Celestials sent out eggs which live in the molten core of planets.

Eternals are a form of artificial life created by the Celestials to protect planets from Deviants, until the population reaches the required level to trigger the birth of the Celestial. After each emergence, the Eternals have their memories wiped before being sent out to repeat for the next Celestial.

It covers the wider mythology/purpose of the Celestials as creating galaxies and life, at the cost of single planets on an irregular basis (it was like 1 Celestial born every 100 million years). Thanos' actions didn't really interefere, since all he did was roll the process of birth back a little bit by reducing the population, the whole remake the universe idea from Endgame may have been a different kettle of fish, but it never happened so.....

Implied in the mid-credit scene: Thanos is an Eternal, because his brother appears.

Deviants were also created by the Celestials, I don't think the reason was given, but I felt it was implied that they were an earlier Eternal variant that found out the truth.

Implied: like the Eternals of the movie, Thanos didn't know the truth of the Celestials because it renders his goal meaningless.

None of the other comic history lance mentions seems to have carried across (no Hosts, no Kree involvement unless they later get outed as causing deviation in a future movie. As they only fight Deviants, we have no frame of reference for how powerful Eternals are relative to human super-heroes/mutants, and we see them injured and killed. It's unclear whether they self-heal, or whether only the team leader has the healing power. It's also unclear how much of their powers are tech-based an how much are part of them.

The Black Knight doesn't play a part in the movie, apart from a few quips (his jokes generally do land), and the 2nd post-movie scene where he opens a box with the Ebony Blade in - there is a nice little nod to it earlier in the film that implies it's physically similar or identical to Excalibur, which is shown to exist).

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Norn Queen






Alright. Saw it.

Non Spoilers/opinion. I liked it. It's not Winter Soldier (and none of the other Marvel movies are) but it's good. Top... 40-30%? Pretty good considering there are now almost 30 movies. The Celestials are treated with the awe inspiring size they deserve. There are little details I missed in the trailers like... Arisham has rings of asteroids around him. It's pretty sweet to treat them as being so big that they collect debris in orbit around them. The acting all around was pretty great. The history and mythology they build is pretty neat. Some characters are under used.

Spoilers.

Spoiler:

I never thought they would ACTUALLY go with the Earth X explanation. I fully thought the Emergence was the emergence of the x gene and the threat was going to be a celestial host/judgement. I was shocked it was a baby celestial story. Pretty amazing. However they do set up a Celestial Judgement from Arisham the Judge and that is pretty cool. Kro (the deviant who is never named in the movie but it's totally Kro) is under used. He acts as a red herring threat and he is threatening and dangerous but he is mostly background noise. More could have been done with him, but there was already a lot going on in the movie.

The X gene is semi eluded too in a very vague way. Talking about how humans are different and their potential in several spots in the movie. But nothing in this movie directly relates to it. Again, very unexpected. Shocking really. This was a perfect way to place the seed and it just never happened.

Post credits introduces Starfox (as Thanos's brother - comic accurate. Never thought they would do that) and Pip the Troll. What a crazy ass thing to introduce.


Glad this movie was made. I enjoyed it. Looking forward to where this all goes next.


These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
 
   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





Spoiler:
Pip ? Means we're only one baldly psyker off a full infinity watch...hmmm

"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
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Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Booked in to see it at 1pm. Big comfy seat, too. With no-one either side.

Rather looking forward to it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So….

Spoiler:
Its pretty good. And nice there isn’t a Big Bad as such.

Not at all sure what the point of Jurrn Snurr was though?

Didn’t stay to the very end, as someone was allowing their child to shriek really quite shrilly. Saw the Pip bit, but wondering if perhaps I missed another sting?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/11/06 16:21:46


   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Booked in to see it at 1pm. Big comfy seat, too. With no-one either side.

Rather looking forward to it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So….

Spoiler:
Its pretty good. And nice there isn’t a Big Bad as such.

Not at all sure what the point of Jurrn Snurr was though?

Didn’t stay to the very end, as someone was allowing their child to shriek really quite shrilly. Saw the Pip bit, but wondering if perhaps I missed another sting?


All you missed was Dane Whitman opening a box containing the Ebony Blade & reaching for it.
as he does so someone unseen asks him if he's ready for that.

Apparently, according to something I read in an interview with the director, that's the voice of the guy cast to play Blade. But, if like me, you don't know who that actor is, or what his voice sounds like, that moment doesn't mean anything.

The whole point of having Whitman in this movie was to introduce the character & give him a reason to pick up the Ebony Blade.
Looks like he's going to go after his GF..... Though I think taking on a Celestial is a bit out of the Black Knights weight class.

Oh, and there was the tagline promising that The Eternals Will Return. Yes, yes, of course they will....
   
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Melbourne

I wouldn’t have recognised his voice, but I suspect most people know who someone that headlined a series of True Detective, had more than 30 episodes of House of Cards, appeared in several epsiodes of Luke Cage, and has 2 Best Supporting Oscars in the last 4 years (as well as a bunch of all the other awards on the circuit) is.

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