Eternals keeps the surprises coming with two major cameos in the credits scene that tease the MCU's exciting future.
The mid-credits scene catches up with Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff) and Druig (Barry Keoghan) on board the Domo. They're planning to tell other Eternals the truth about their real purpose in life, but they have other concerns right now.
Their fellow Eternals – Sersi (Gemma Chan), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) – have "disappeared". They speculate that it's got something to do with Arishem, leader of the Celestials, who they defied by stopping the 'birth' of Tiamut in the movie's climax.
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Before they can get to the bottom of it, they're interrupted by a surprise arrival. In case you've got this far without knowing it, spoilers are ahead.
Eternals credit scene: Who is Eros?
Pip the Troll (voiced by Patton Oswalt) arrives on the Domo to announce the imminent appearance of Starfox, aka Eros, played by none other than Harry Styles. His MCU debut had long been a rumour and he's since got his own Eternals poster.
Eros promises Thena and co that he can help find his "fellow Eternals" as he's in possession of a yellow sphere, used to communicate with Arishem who we know has captured the other Eternals.
Following the release of the movie, director Chloé Zhao revealed that she only ever had Styles in mind for the role. "I kept tabs on Harry since Dunkirk, I thought he was very interesting," she explained.
"After meeting him I realised he is that character – the same way I cast the rest of my cast. There's so much of Eros in him. For me, if he says yes, and Kevin says yes, then it's a go. And I'm very happy they both did."
Given that Styles looks like, well, Harry Styles in an outfit he'd probably wear in real life, non-comics fans might not be aware that Eros is the brother of Thanos. Unlike his big bro though, Eros is all about peace and love.
He was born with the ability to stimulate pleasure in others (although it doesn't work on Thanos), while he can also harness cosmic energy to do things like surround himself with a personal force field and perform telekinetic stunts. Eros is essentially immortal in the comics and is more than 1,000 years old.
Given that Eternals changes their origin to synthetic beings – as opposed to being cosmic-powered humans – created by the Celestials, it's unclear if the origins of Eros will be changed as well since he is confirmed to be an Eternal too.
In the comics, Eros has occasionally teamed up with Thanos, but usually works against his sibling with the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy and more. Thanos might be gone (probably), but we could see Eros team up with the Avengers to face a similarly big threat in the future.
And there's always the multiverse and variants of Thanos out there...
What's interesting too is that Eros has been joined on his MCU debut by Pip the Troll who, in the comics, is typically the companion of Adam Warlock. That character will be making his MCU bow in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, played by Will Poulter, so could we see Eros and Pip in that movie too?
It's an exciting thing to speculate over, and the surprises don't end there as the post-credits scene also delivers something for the fans to savour. Again, spoilers ahead.
Eternals credit scene: Whose voice is it?
While Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) plays a fairly minor role in Eternals, he reunites with Sersi at the end of the movie and starts to talk about his "complicated" family history that he's uncovered.
We don't learn any more as Sersi is snatched away by Arishem, but we catch up with Dane in the post-credits scene.
It seems as though he's found the Ebony Blade and although he's unsure of it, he opens the box it's contained in. As he goes to touch the sword though, an off-screen male voice warns him: "Sure you're ready for that, Mr Whitman?"
That voice is none other than Mahershala Ali making his MCU debut as Blade, with Zhao confirming the voice cameo after the movie's release: "That was the voice of one of my favourite superheroes, Mr Blade himself. Blade, Blade, Blade, yeah!"
The movie's co-writer Kaz Firpo also revealed that it wasn't always going to be Blade, with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) also considered for that cameo.
"There was about, I would say half a dozen solid versions of those end credit sequences that we explored. I think so much of that process is about leaving doors open. That's really what it's about," he noted.
We assume that means Dane will play a part in the solo Blade movie and the two do have comics history, teaming up together in Captain Britain and MI13. It seems unlikely we'll see that comics run adapted for the Blade movie, but maybe there will be some nods to it.
In the comics, Dane is the nephew of the villainous Black Knight who, when he was fatally wounded by Iron Man, called on Dane to restore the honour of the Black Knight legacy by wielding the Ebony Blade.
The Ebony Blade is an indestructible weapon that can protect its owner from mystical attacks, but unfortunately is also cursed which means it slowly drives its user mad. Through his comics history, the Black Knight has been a member of various teams, including the Avengers and the Defenders.
We imagine the MCU wouldn't delve much into its King Arthur origins and would instead focus on turning Dane into a new hero. He's come across several notable characters in the comics such as Magneto, Kang, Doctor Strange, Thor, The Wasp and many more, so the possibilities for inspiration are endless.
For now, we'd expect the MCU's version of the Black Knight to help the Eternals in their potential fight for humanity against Arishem, but you can't rule out him becoming an Avenger in the future...
Eternals is available to watch now on Disney+.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
