A still image from Marvel’s first look at Eternals. (YouTube)
Marvel has given a first look at its upcoming film Eternals, which will see Brian Tyree Henry play openly gay superhero Phastos.
The hotly-anticipated film is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, which tells the story of a race of humanoids who serve as defenders of Earth. The feature film will follow the Eternals as they reunite to protect humanity from the Deviants, their evil counterparts.
There was much excitement among Marvel fans when the film was first announced in 2018, but a cinema release has been postponed twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The studio finally gave fans a first glimpse of the film in a YouTube video uploaded on Monday (3 May).
The video – titled “Marvel Studios Celebrates The Movies” – kicks off with clips from the studio’s past blockbusters, including Avengers: Endgame, before moving on to upcoming releases such as Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals.
The brief clip of Eternals gives fans a first look at Salma Hayek as the Eternals’ spiritual leader Ajak, and also introduces Angelina Jolie as Thena, a fierce warrior who can form weapons out of cosmic energy.
The clip also introduces Marvel fans to Richard Madden as Ikaris and Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo – but sadly, Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos is nowhere to be seen.
Queer fans will be ‘proud’ of same-sex relationship in Marvel’s Eternals
The film, helmed by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, was originally scheduled for release in November 2020, but it was pushed back to February 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The film’s release was later rescheduled for a third time and is now due to hit cinema screens in November of this year.
Actor Haaz Sleiman previously confirmed that he will play Phastos’ husband in the upcoming film.
“My gut feeling is you’ll be so proud,” Sleiman told NewNowNext in January.
“What Marvel has been able to accomplish, I’m so proud of them because they approached it in a very thoughtful way, and Phastos is one of the biggest superheroes in the film. I’m his husband, an architect; we have a child.”
Meanwhile, Zhao told SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle in February that Marvel has taken a “big risk” with Eternals, saying the film has a distinct visual style.
“I think this is where Marvel really took the risk that we knew we wanted to shoot on location because by shooting wide-angle lenses on locations, it’s going to affect how you do visual effects,” Zhao explained.
“It’s going to affect how you do the action. There’s a lot that will feel and look differently.”