While it’s no secret that while I am a huge Jack Kirby fan, who collected the comics this film is loosely (with the emphasis leaning heavily on "loosely"!) based on, I cannot endorse this Cinematic adaptation especially during its opening day which is tomorrow.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64773733/Dnsspy9VsAEIwMb.0.jpg)
Y'see, Kirby when had this vision of an ensemble team if Supergods, it had meaning in a high conceptual context although inspired by Chariots of the Gods and self-referenced from his previous work from New Gods, the Eternals took on an original premise of its own when you include three species and the arrival of Space Gods, that were very tantamount to the Comics.
Kirby's Eternals had a limited run during the mid-seventies however, what was presented was grandiose epic in scale but far from pretension as the reader can ascertain what Kirby tried to establish. Sure, it was filled with comic clichés and b movie dialogue but the overall execution of this Science Fiction and God mythology mash-up with an intriguing storyline and spectacular cosmic battles pre–Dragon Ball Z, was among the King of Comics' most iconic self-contained projects.
Now fast forward and here we have Marvel Studios' adaptation of The Eternals, and from what I have read or seen from the trailers, this movie looks far from promising to the extent that it was poorly received by many if not most critics. As in the worst MCU film since Thor the Dark World.
And its no wonder, the actors chosen, do not in the slightest bear any resemblance to their respective roles from the comics be it Kirby or Neil Gaiman's magnificent interpretations. To compound things much further, Marvel Studios has taken liberties to gender swapping characters such as Ajax, Makkari and even Sprite for shits and giggles. Thena and especially Sersi "the party animal" were amongst the more popular a listers but, it seems that Disney wants to further pander the female demographic after that patronizing scene from Avengers Endgame.
I'm all for diversity and representation, but swapping prominent characters instead of developing new ones that were not from the source material, is extremely lazy! And while I'm at it, let's talk about that "250 lb elephant" in the room-Phastos! In the Eternals vol.2 comics post Kirby, Phastos was a brilliant engineer Eternal who was a pacifist yet would go into battle whenever Ikaris needed his aid, yet in this movie Phastos is overweight and Gay. Oh, did I forgot to mention that he's black? 😳 Of course it’s not Phastos' black identity affiliation I'm concerned about as he is black in the comics but once again, the duplicitous folks at Disney has branded a straight black Eternal into an LGBTQ character or rather, caricature.
I cannot and will not cosign with this decision as its covertly racist when you have most White heterosexual characters and a token black man who is homosexual. My perception is not "Woke science," but unapologetic skepticism of using a black person as the guinea pig for other people's agendas. As in the case of Superhero franchises such as Arrow, The Watchmen, Black Lightning and now Eternals. I don't see any other ethnicity having an LGBTQ Superhero character within that subgenre if so, there might be an uproar from those communities. This is duplicitous pandering at best!
If you want to introduce a new MCU Gay character, why not Starfox, at least he's being played by Harry Styles who my Stepdaughter happens to be a fan of.
As for the main antagonists i.e. the Deviants, they appear more like beastly monster archetypes from 80's independent horror cinema, as opposed to bearing a humanoid aesthetic. Deviants although hideous to the human eye, were technologically advanced in weaponry and vehicles to compensate their lack of superhuman capabilities. Judging from the trailer, the setting seems western focused and isolated, confined to one area. No, this is not the Eternals I and many others who are familiar with the comics, was hoping for.
