Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies, Phase 4 | Tagged: eternals, marvel, movies

Eternals Had An Alternate Ending That Was Much Bleaker

Published Wed, 29 Dec 2021 09:17:10 -0600

This article will be talking about a different ending that director and writer Chloe Zhao wrote for Eternals. That means we're going to talk about the actual ending, so if you've managed to stay spoiler-free and want to remain that way, consider this your spoiler warning.

14 HQ Images from Eternals Showcases the Entire Cast — (L-R): Gemma Chan and director Chloé Zhao on the set of Marvel Studios' ETERNALS. Photo by Sophie Mutevelia. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

The ending of the movie sees the remaining Eternals [Sersi, Kingo, Phastos] that either didn't leave on the ship [Thena, Druig, Makkari], get turned into a human [Sprite], or fling themself into the sun because they got rejected by a woman [Ikaris] taken away by the Celestial Arishem for preventing the birth of another Celestial. That leaves things pretty open-ended as to what will happen to our heroes and is a little dark, to begin with. However, it sounds like the original ending was much darker. Zhao recently spoke to Empire, and she explained that another ending she had was even bleaker.

No. I have never made a film where the ending is what I wrote! You find it in the edit. Editing is a third of the filmmaking process, and when you show it to people, that's when you find the ending. I don't think I've made a single film where the opening and ending stay the same as the script, just because the scenes are fluid as we shoot. And we actually had another ending that is really bleak. Bleak. I didn't hate it, because I'm used to films that are more melancholy. But I don't think it went down well with audiences.

When asked to elaborate just how bleak she was talking about this other ending for Eternals, Zhao compared it to something from The Twilight Zone and explained that it didn't leave many places for anyone else to go.

It used to end with everybody back on the ship, minds erased and just going on to another planet, like The Twilight Zone. I remember when it goes to black, everyone was like, "I don't know what to do." And also, it's the MCU, and you want to be excited for what's next.

Zhao and her creative team absolutely made the right call changing the ending of Eternals. The movie sets itself up for more while also leaving the door open for someone else in the Marvel universe to just handwave something away if they decide not to explore that angle. It was a bit jarring because it wasn't a traditional ending, but it isn't the first time, and it won't be the last time we get one of those unconventional endings in Marvel. We got another one just a month and a half later.

Marvel Studios' "Eternals" follows a group of heroes from beyond the stars who had protected the Earth since the dawn of man. When monstrous creatures called the Deviants, long thought lost to history, mysteriously return, the Eternals are forced to reunite in order to defend humanity once again.

Eternals, directed by Academy Award Winning director Chloé Zhao, and stars Gemma Chan as humankind-loving Sersi, Richard Madden as the all-powerful Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as cosmic-powered Kingo, Lia McHugh as the eternally young, old-soul Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as the intelligent inventor Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as the super-fast Makkari, Barry Keoghan as aloof loner Druig, Don Lee as the powerful Gilgamesh, with Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, with Salma Hayek as the wise and spiritual leader Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as the fierce warrior Thena. It was released in theaters on November 5, 2021.