Story
Arsham is the Prime Celestial responsible for creating numerous worlds, other Celestials and Deviants. He realises he has made a mistake when the Deviants begin to adapt and take over. Arsham then creates a group of immortal heroes, the Eternals, whom he sends to Earth on a mission to protect the inhabitants and kill off the Deviants.
Led by the courageous Ajak (Salma Hayek), the Eternals spend the next 7000 years protecting the people of Earth, while tracking the Deviants and attempting to destroy them all. When they think that they’ve finally eliminated the Deviants, Ajak gives the Eternals permission to go off on their own and enjoy life on Earth.
Sersi (Gemma Chan) becomes a history professor who lives with the youngest Eternal, Sprite (Lia McHugh). Sersi has also fallen in love with a human while trying to forget Ikaris (Richard Madden), the strongest of the Eternals and her husband of 2000 years.
When a Deviant with the ability to heal itself appears in London, Sersi and Ikaris set off to find Ajak, only to discover that she has been killed and that the Deviants now have the ability to assimilate the powers of anyone they destroy. They go looking for the rest of the Eternals, including Kingo (Kumail Nanjani) a fifth-generation Bollywood star, and Gilgamesh (Don Lee), a powerful Eternal who has lovingly cared for Thena (Angelina Jolie) for centuries while she battles a dangerous disease.
Once reunited, the Eternals learn that the Deviants are now after them and that their mission is not what they believed it to be. The Eternals must decide: is the Earth and the humans they’ve been protecting for millennia worth fighting for? Or should they let Arsham’s original plan unfold?
Themes
Death; destruction of a species; natural disasters; genocide; betrayal; loss; grief; war and violence as a means to solve conflict
Violence
Eternals has frequent violence. For example:
- The Eternals fight numerous Deviants. The fights involve punching, throwing, slashing, slamming, burning with lasers and stabbing. One Deviant is punched so forcefully that his head explodes.
- A boy watches a Deviant kill his father. He’s nearly caught himself.
- A falling structure nearly crushes a young girl during an earthquake.
- A Deviant flings Eternals into buildings.
- Deviants attack villagers in Ancient Egypt while the Eternals fight on their behalf.
- Ajak’s lifeless, blue body is discovered in the backyard of her own property.
- Thena looks possessed. Her eyes glaze over and she begins attacking other Eternals. She slices at them with her sword, stabs some and puts her blade through someone’s hand.
- The Eternals fight Deviants in the Amazon rainforest. The Deviants eat a man. Trees and buildings explode. Sersi is thrown into a building while trying to protect children. A Deviant repeatedly stabs Ikaris in the back and later in the chest. Ikaris shoots lasers from his eyes to try to kill it.
- Kingo blasts the head off a Deviant and is covered in black, oily-looking blood.
- Sersi is trapped underwater by a Deviant trying to drown her. She’s later able to stab it and turn it into a grotesque-looking tree.
- Gilgamesh is repeatedly stabbed through the neck and chest while fighting a Deviant and trying to protect Thena. He dies slowly in her arms, the creature having drained his life-force and stolen his power.
- The bombing of Hiroshima and the aftermath is shown.
- Deviants feast on a company of oil workers.
- Ikaris throws Ajak off a cliff and watches while the Deviants destroy her.
- Thena fights Ikaris with her sword, while he blasts lasers at her.
- Ikaris crashes their spaceship by splitting it in half.
- Ikaris attacks the other Eternals, trying to kill anyone who stands in his way.
- Sprite stabs Sersi in the chest while volcanoes erupt all around her.
- A Deviant pretending to be Gilgamesh catches Thena. He entangles her in his tentacles and stabs them into her neck. He’s about to drain her power when she slashes him through the chest with her sword and chops him into pieces.
- Feeling awful about what he has done, Ikaris flies into the sun and kills himself.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in Eternals.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Eternals shows some use of substances. For example:
- Adults drink at a bar and Sprite tells a man that he has had too much to drink.
- Sersi dances with what appears to be a wine in her hand.
- Gilgamesh offers other characters mead, ale and homemade liquor that he has created using his own spit.
Nudity and sexual activity
Eternals has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Various characters kiss and embrace each other. They also look at each other suggestively.
- Sersi and Ikaris are shown with bare torsos, entangled in each other’s arms, while making love on the ground.
- Sprite is sad that she’s still seen as a child even though she has lived on Earth for over 7000 years. She has a crush on Ikaris and will do anything for him, but he’s in love with Sersi.
- One of the Eternals is in a homosexual relationship with a mortal man, and they share a kiss goodbye.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in Eternals:
- BTS is mentioned and some of their music is played.
- A Star Wars book is briefly shown.
- Ikea’s Fall collection is mentioned in relation to a table.
Coarse language
Eternals has some coarse language:
Ideas to discuss with your children
Eternals is a fantasy adventure movie from Marvel Studios. It focuses on events that happen after the Avengers: Endgame and features numerous special effects, along with a star-studded cast. The movie will be best enjoyed by mature audiences and fans of the Marvel franchise.
These are the main messages from Eternals:
- Protecting something you love is the most natural thing in the world.
- Despite the unspeakable horror humanity has brought upon itself, humans are capable of love, beauty and kindness.
Values in Eternals that you could reinforce with your children include unconditional love, teamwork, courage, empathy and compassion.
Eternals could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like:
- an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality
- genocide
- sacrifice of a few to save many
- violence as way to solve conflict
- betrayal of your family and those you love.