With production picking up for Marvel’s The Eternals, it’s expected we’ll receive casting updates during the various summer months after Avengers: Endgame premieres. So far, the only actors mentioned in connection to the movie are Angelina Jolie and Millie Bobby Brown, with nothing yet being official until Marvel posts an announcement.
Luke Evans has also been attached by many fan castings for a role, as he would fit perfectly with Marvel’s goal of casting an LGBT+ actor in a prominent role. At HN Entertainment, our dream role for him would be Hercules who is publicly bi-sexual in the Marvel Universe.
The Eternals as a franchise is an interesting prospect based upon their rich history with pantheons and cosmic entities. One pantheon they had extensive interactions with was the Olympian Gods. This was because Mount Olympus, the nexus between the Olympian’s home dimension and Earth, was located near Olympia, home of the Eternals. When Zeus learned about the Eternals, he made a deal with them to have the Eternals act as their representatives on Earth based upon a mutual physical similarity between various members of each group.
The casting reports for The Eternals listed an unknown character simply described as a Greek God. When considering various aspects Marvel would like to target, Hercules checks off multiple boxes for things such as audience familiarity, powersets, and brand potential. Hercules is an extremely well-known mythological figure, with Disney making a blockbuster animated movie about the character in 1997. Hercules also has a demigod powerset making him comparable to the Eternals. However, he’s very similar in that way to Gilgamesh, who is confirmed to appear in this movie and is known for being the strongest Eternal. Because of this, while many fans think this could be Hercules, there are also reasons for it to be another Olympian instead.
This Olympian, in this case, would be Zeus as he was the god responsible for the bulk of the interactions between the Olympians and the Eternals. It would also be interesting if the movie in a way chronicles the creation of the pact between the Eternals and Olympians. By this, the story would follow the circumstances, whether adapted or original to the film, which puts the Eternals and Olympians into communication with each other. It would be interesting to see how they explain the Olympians in the MCU as many would expect them to operate in a similar capacity to the Asgardians.
Speaking of the Asgardians, another character that would be a great fit for the Eternals would be Odin. This wouldn’t be in a major role but either a cameo or limited appearance. Odin during his younger and war-hungry days could be a great character to use as connective tissue. It could also provide more development of Odin’s character and maybe if receives well lead to further appearances by a younger Odin.
Personally, if Thor doesn’t get another sequel featuring the Enchantress or Gorr: The God Butcher, I think a Disney+ series featuring Odin and his challenges as a young prince or king would be interesting. It would also be a good way of explaining why Asgard is far more active than Olympus with contemporary Earth relations. Overall, it would also fit the “everything’s connected” slogan the MCU likes to use.
Comment below, what do you think about either Zeus or Odin appearing in The Eternals? Leave your thoughts down below and we’ll catch you on the next editorial!
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