Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” is now finally streaming on Disney+, giving those who missed the film in theaters last year a chance to catch up on the new MCU film — which is packed with new characters. To that end, we’ve rounded up a cast and character guide to all the new faces. Apart from the ten Eternals themselves, a few other famous folks make appearances in the Marvel movie that was first released exclusively in theaters on Nov. 5, 2021.
Directed and co-written by Chloe Zhao, the film follows a group of near-immortal beings and is set after the events of “Avengers: Endgame.”
The Eternals, a group of superhuman beings — each with a unique special power — re-emerge from living their ordinary lives to combat the rise of their evil counterparts, The Deviants. The Celestials, a group of beings even more ancient than the Eternals, created both the Eternals and the Deviants. The Deviants were created first, and the Celestials realized what mistakes they made in their genetic coding, so they attempted to remedy their first effort by creating the Eternals.
The Eternals supposedly killed off all the Deviants a long time ago, which led them to take up residence on Earth as ordinary people and live as humans do. But then when the creatures start to reappear, some more powerful than those of the past, the band gets back together again to subdue them, learning some hard truths along the way.
While the ten titular Eternals’ personalities and stories unfold onscreen throughout the film, some big name characters aren’t fully revealed or even introduced until the post credit sequence. Several characters and some of their corresponding cast members also hint at branching out in terms of depth for the MCU, on multiple levels. For more on the comic book origins of the Eternals, read here.
Sersi (Gemma Chan)
Sersi genuinely cares for the human beings on Earth, and her empathy resonates throughout the film, tying the other Eternals together. Introduced to viewers as a museum curator in London, she makes her true self known when she brings back her power to manipulate matter, transforming it across media, with physical touch.
Ikaris (Richard Madden)
Ikaris has multiple superpowers: those of flying and then projecting beams of cosmic energy from his eyes. He and Sersi have romantic history, and their personalities prove very opposite, especially as their intentions become known towards the end of the story.
Ajak (Salma Hayek)
The film introduces Ajak as the Prime Eternal, the leader of the group. As the longest living Eternal in the troop of ten, she bridges the gap between Eternals and Celestials, often communicating with the Eternals’ Celestial creator Arishem (voiced by David Kaye). In the comics, Ajak’s character was male, but Hayek makes her more maternal and gentle in her leadership of the Eternals.
Thena (Angelina Jolie)
Thena is the Eternal skilled in combat. She can summon any type of weapon and build it out of cosmic energy. Then she can dance circles around any opponent with her fighting style. She and Gilgamesh develop a close bond over the 7,000-year time span of the film.
Gilgamesh (Don Lee)
Gilgamesh’s power of super-strength compliments Thena’s fighting prowess. In his close relationship with Thena, he helps her snap out of her condition of “Mad Wy’ry,” a kind of mental process where her old memories of past planets interfere with her ability to see reality.
Kingo (KumailNanjiani)
Uprooted from his Bollywood lifestyle on Earth, Kingo brings humor, a means to film the adventures of the newly reunited Eternals, and the ability to shoot cosmic bursts of energy from his hands in projectile form, much like Ikaris does in a more continuous beam form from his eyes.
Sprite (Lia McHugh)
The youngest Eternal, Sprite can project convincing illusions, much like the mischievous Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston in the MCU). She uses her power for storytelling as well as to distract opponents, or to disguise and protect friends.
Makkari (Lauren Ridloff)
The first deaf superhero in the MCU, played by a deaf actress, Makkari moves at superhuman speed. Viewers get to witness she and Druig bond with the hint of a romantic relationship.
Druig (Barry Keoghan)
Along with Makkari, Druig is one of the “younger” Eternals, and he has the power of mind control. Though seemingly aloof, Druig does struggle with the idea of using his ability for a “greater good.”
Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry)
Phastos has one of the fastest moving minds of the Eternals. The first gay MCU superhero, he engineers all sorts of objects and technology, using cosmic energy to diagram and design them out of thin air.
Eros (Harry Styles)
Eros is introduced by Pip the Troll, a drunken little space dwarf (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who teleports onto the Domo space ship on which Thena, Makkari and Druig now reside in the first post-credit scene. Eros is the brother of the mad titan Thanos, hero of the galaxy, and, finally, a fellow Eternal. Eros, who also goes by the name Starfox, is portrayed by Harry Styles and strongly infused with the British singer’s cheeky charm in the short time onscreen.
Starfox’s attire looks very similar to that of the rest of the Eternals, and unlike his brother villain Thanos, lacks purple skin or alien appearance. His power as an Eternal is that of manipulating people’s emotions.
Dane Whitman (Kit Harrington)
Dane debuts as Sersi’s ordinary human boyfriend, who knows nothing about her larger hidden identity. At the end of the film and during the second post-credits scene (spoiler alert), Dane becomes more than just Sersi’s normal boyfriend. He is shown debating whether to open a case containing an ancient family heirloom.
Dane undergoes a further pep talk to touch the object, but before he can pick up the sword, a voice can be heard saying, “Are you sure you want to do that?” We never see this character, and only eagle-eared (and incredibly informed) audience members will even pick up on who it is: Mahershala Ali, who’s playing Blade in an upcoming MCU film.
It has since been revealed that Dane Whitman is a descendant of an iconic villain known as the Black Knight. First introduced in a 1967 issue of “The Avengers,” the character (created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema) was the third Marvel Comics character to claim the name Black Knight. The first was an actual knight, the second was a super-villain who used the sword and name but was very bad (also: Dane’s uncle), and the third is Dane.
