Marvel’s Eternals film, directed by Chloé Zhao upon release, was the most standalone project in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film, which was Marvel’s most existential and theological to date, was released in the fall of 2021 to mixed reactions from audiences and critics. It was the first film of the MCU to receive a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it currently has the lowest Cinemascore of the franchise, with audiences giving the film a B-rating (tied with Quantumania). However, the stark new tone and direction that Eternals brought to the MCU has certainly earned it a dedicated cult fan base.

Even with Kevin Feige’s detailing of Phases Five and Six, along with the unveiling of The Multiverse Saga at San Diego Comic-Con a couple of years back, there has yet to be any word of when (or even if) the characters introduced in Eternals will ever show up again in the MCU. Despite the film’s less-than-stellar reception, Feige and other Marvel Studios producers have continued to speak about the impact of the film on the MCU.

In the documentary Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Eternals, which was released in February 2022, Feige teased that “The impact the Eternals will have on the MCU will be nothing less than redefining the cinematic universe entirely.” Zhao also states in the documentary, “The film is going to have a big effect on the future of the MCU to a point where it makes me geek out so much as a fan that I was able to make a film that could ripple through the MCU like this.”

With statements like that, it seems likely that the Eternals are bound to show up again in the MCU at some point, even if those plans have yet to be announced by Marvel Studios. Now that The Multiverse Saga has been mostly following through on its solid roadmap, here is where the Eternals could show up again:

Update October 26, 2023: With the Eternals two year anniversary fast approaching, this article has been updated with projects the team could show up in to reflect the future of the MCU.

Marvel Animation (Marvel Zombies, What If…?)

Although there is debate around the canonicity of the animated shows produced by Marvel Studios, the studio seems to treat the series as asides within the MCU under the overall umbrella of their multiverse approach. The first season of What If…? is the only animated series Marvel Studios has released thus far, but they laid out their plans for a second season, as well as Marvel Zombies, X-Men ’97 and Spider-Man: Freshman Year at Comic-Con last month. It is yet to be seen how X-Men ’97 will relate to the MCU, but the rest of the shows directly pull from and are inspired by the events of the live-action films and shows in the primary film universe.

Season one of What If…? showed that the studio’s animation team has a strong desire to revisit as many characters as possible from the MCU, so it stands to reason that the Eternals could show up in the second and third seasons as well. Potential “What If” stories with the Eternals could be “What if the Eternals helped fight Thanos?” or “What if Ikaris joined the Avengers?”.

While it’s extremely unlikely that any Eternals will show up in X-Men ’97 or Spider-Man: Freshman Year, there has already been one character from the film confirmed to be returning for Marvel Zombies: Ikaris. The MCU’s Superman-like Eternal, played by Richard Madden, will return in a half-zombie form in Marvel Zombies, which holds a gritty TV-MA rating. This marks the first official instance of an Eternals character appearing in another property after their debut film. Though Ikaris’s fate in the core MCU is unknown, considering he flew directly into the sun at the end of that film, the character’s inclusion in Marvel Zombies shows that Marvel Studios is interested in continuing his story in some capacity.

An Eternals Sequel

A direct sequel to Eternals is the most obvious point at which audiences would see the Eternals again. The ending and post-credit scenes of Eternals leave a lot of dangling threads for their story in the MCU, which shows that Feige, Zhao, and the rest of the Marvel Studios team certainly had plans for continuing their story. There has been no official announcement about an Eternals 2, and there have yet to be any reports about the development of a sequel. With the film’s underperformance at the box office and it’s less-than-stellar reception from critics and audiences, there’s a possibility that Marvel Studios has pulled the plug on their plans to develop another Eternals movie altogether.

However, if Feige has shown anything over his nearly 15-year tenure as the head of Marvel Studios, it’s that he almost always looks for ways to follow through on what he sets up in the MCU’s films. He didn’t give up on the Thor franchise when it hit rocky waters with The Dark World, and now the God of Thunder has experienced a massive second wind with Ragnarok and Love and Thunder.

There are still many open spaces on the release calendar for Phase Six, and one of those spots could easily go to another Eternals film. It’s apparent that everyone who worked on Eternals was passionate about the material, and even Feige believed the film was one of the best the MCU had made. Considering that, there’s a chance that Feige wants to see another Eternals film just as much as those who love the movie. So, not all hope is lost for a proper sequel to Eternals.

Blade

In terms of the MCU’s live-action films, it seems that the most likely imminent appearance of a character from Eternals will be in Mahershala Ali’s Blade film, which is currently set for release on February 14, 2025. Although Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman was a human, not an Eternal, one of the post-credit scenes for Eternals teased a connection between him and Blade. In the Marvel comics, Whitman is one of a few characters to dawn the mantle of the Black Knight and wield the Ebony Blade. Eternals teases a complicated family history for Dane, which likely centers around the Black Knight and the cursed (and creepy) sword. The post-credit scene in question shows Dane opening a case with the Ebony Blade in it. As he goes to grab the sword, the voice of Ali’s Blade is heard off-screen asking, “Are you sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?”.

While this doesn’t outright confirm that Harington’s Dane will be in the Blade movie as the Black Knight, and there has yet to be any official confirmation from Marvel Studios regarding Harington’s involvement in the upcoming film, it does create a connection between the two that is likely to be developed upon sooner rather than later. Marvel is always looking for ways to interweave their films together, even when the movies in question aren’t the most well-received. They even revisited Thor: The Dark World in Avengers: Endgame, their biggest film to date. The inclusion of the Black Knight in Blade would be an excellent way to introduce Marvel’s vampire hunter into the MCU while connecting him to preexisting material within the universe.

The Marvels

The crossover sequel to Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel seems like a more likely place in which the Eternals could pop up again. The first Captain Marvel film is one of the most space-oriented films that the MCU has produced, and The Marvels will be the same. The character of Captain Marvel has been established as an Avenger whose primary focus is on helping the people of other worlds and galaxies. That is why she was absent for much of The Infinity Saga, and the Ms. Marvel series establishes that the public is aware of her interstellar heroics so Carol Danvers might come into contact with the Eternals who were taken by Areshem.

On top of that, the Ms. Marvel show was also the first MCU property to directly reference Eternals, as Kamala Khan and Kamran discuss Kingo’s various in-universe films. While The Marvels might not feature a direct appearance by Kingo, Kamala could find out one of her favorite movie stars is also a superhero, which would make for an incredibly humerous moment. So far, there have been no mentions of the Eternals appearing in The Marvels, but they could always be snuck into things as a welcome surprise.

Fantastic Four

This one is sort of out there, but it still is not out of the realm of possibility. While not much is known about The Fantastic Four, including a cast, as due to the SAG-AFTRA strike going on, no talks can be had; there are many rumors circulating around the film. One is that the movie will feature Galactus as the primary villain, and given that he devours planets, it is safe to assume he would come into conflict with the Celestials and might tie the Fantastic Four and Eternals together.

This would be a nice twist on the material. In the comics, the Fantastic Four have connections to the Inhumans, but after that series bombed, Marvel has pivoted away from those characters. With the Eternals also being a species of ancient alien super beings the Eternals could fill that void. They could transition into becoming supporting characters for the Fantastic Four characters and allow the Fantastic Four a bigger link to the wider MCU.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars

Even in a world where nothing from the Eternals is referenced in the entirety of Phases Five and Six, it would be hard to believe that these characters wouldn’t show up at all in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. The Avengers films always mark the occasions of the most crossover between MCU properties, and with Eternals being a part of Phase Four, there’s a very good chance that these characters will factor into The Multiverse Saga's climatic events of The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars in some way. Even if they only show up for a brief appearance, similar to the unexpected inclusion of the Red Skull in Infinity War and Endgame, including the Eternals in these two films is a sure-fire way to ensure that everything from The Multiverse Saga is relevant to the ultimate two-parter finale.

Considering Secret Wars is likely to be a crossover event that surpasses the character count of even Avengers: Endgame, there’s a high likelihood that the characters from Eternals will show up during the film in some capacity. If they don’t, and these characters are entirely left out of The Multiverse Saga moving forward, that would then make the Eternals film a massive weak spot of the entire MCU’s story. Over the last 15 years, Feige has built the MCU into a franchise in which every entry, whether it be a film or Disney+ series, is important or expanded upon at some point. It’s doubtful that Eternals (again, a film that Feige loves) would be entirely left behind. So, for any Eternals lovers out there, take a deep breath, trust in Feige’s plan, and know that, at most, you’ll probably only have to wait until 2026, or a bit later than that, to see these characters again.