“Eternals” director, Chloe Zhao, was able to tell the story of these super warriors and maintain the natural story of diversity and coming together despite ethical differences. Each Eternal has a very unique personality and a one-of-a-kind way of spending their immortal lives on earth. Salma Hayek’s character, Ajak, was the crew’s motherly figure acting as the leader of the Eternals and the only one who was able to talk directly to the man giving the Eternals their orders. She spent time in the post-deviant world caring for the younger eternal named Sprite, portrayed by Lia McHugh. The development of each character’s storyline was much different than the normal action superhero marvel is used to. Characters like Druig, played by Barry Keoghan, and Phastos, portrayed by Brian Tyree Henry, are not your normal kind of hero. After giving up on the human race they were sent to protect, they decided to put a pause on their heroics and spent their lives trying to achieve their own kind of lessons.

The cool part of Zhao’s retelling of the beloved Marvel comics was that each character’s story teaches the viewers a lesson. The common Greek myth of Icarus is dramatically told through Richard Madden’s character of the same name Ikaris. In his story arc, Ikaris tries to take on more than he can chew and ends up hurting the people he cares about. While another Eternal, Kingo, portrayed by Kumail Nanijani, has a hard time feeling needed after the split of the Eternals. So, he becomes a multimillion-dollar Bollywood actor, who still finds himself useless to the people around him. Seeing these stories of heroes who have real human problems that they work through without the use of their superhuman abilities is heartwarming and truly inspiring to hear about. 

“Eternals” had something for everyone, people looking for romance, comedy, and of course action. I found the romantic sides of the movie almost refreshing and exciting to have in a Marvel movie. The romantic chemistry between Druig and Makari, another eternal character played by Lauren Ridloff, was an immaculate portrayal of a subtle love story between two people who would genuinely die for each other. For instance, they seemed to always have each other’s backs in fights against the deviants. However, the love triangle between Ikaris, Sprite, and Sersi felt out of place and often did not truly fit the storyline. The three characters did not seem to have a heavy romantic side and then midway through the movie Sprite admitted to having jealous feelings towards Sersi and Ikaris’s romantic relationship. Romance has not been a large contribution to the MCU, but in the “Eternals” case when done well, it truly helped sell the story of these immortals sharing the same experiences as everyone else. 

Zhao’s retelling is new and exciting, it is so extremely different from other Marvel movies, but honestly, that is just what makes the movie even more of a must-see. Die-hard Marvel fans might have a tough time adjusting to her way of portraying these beloved superheroes, however, the movie has a way of keeping the audience engaged throughout the whole showing.