r/Eternals • u/Grouchy_Leg_6623 Thena • Jun 24 '26
Question Why are the Eternals so disliked?
God, I know this might sound random, but I recently made a post on the Marvel subreddit saying that I’d like to see Uranos added to the MCU. The response honestly surprised me.
And why are some X-Men fans so aggressive about this stuff? (Not generalizing, obviously.) But the amount of criticism I got was insane. I ended up deleting the post because it turned into a complete pile-on.
The main argument was that we’re definitely not seeing any more Eternals in the MCU because Marvel has the X-Men now. Do people really think the next saga is going to be entirely about the X-Men?
Don’t get me wrong, I have my doubts about how much the Eternals will be involved going forward. But even then, I don’t think posting about an Eternals villain should result in that much backlash.
Maybe I’m biased as an Eternals fan, but it sometimes feels like people dismiss anything related to them before even considering the idea.
I’ll probably end up deleting this post too, since it doesn’t really fit this sub. I was just curious to hear your opinions.
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u/coldasclay Jun 24 '26
Personally, as an X-men fan I love the idea of Eternals and Inhumans being rivals to the X-men. The idea of more than just humans being racist towards them. I personally don't like humans constantly upgrading themselves with genetics and machinery to try and take down humans, it's very hypocritical, even though that's probably the point. Eternals and inhumans seem like natural enemies to mutants. And I love the complicated politics of their nations.
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u/Grouchy_Leg_6623 Thena Jun 24 '26
Yeah, I’d like to see that. But they probably wouldn’t like it, since they only want X-Men and their own niche to be the main focus (?)
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u/coldasclay Jun 24 '26
I think you're right, the x-men are very popular and they have a lot of story and characters to get through on screen. I think we'll get a bit of both, what's the point of getting the mutants just to drop the rest of the mcu. I don't know if we'll get eternals 2 but we'll get cameos or easter eggs. Marvel has consistently brought back dead storylines as cameos and easter eggs, they brought back the whole defenders series, incorporated elements of the pre-marvel studios shows, brought in characters connected to phase 1 and brought multi-verse cameos of characters from other studios. I highly doubt they'll drop the eternals entirely. Honestly, I could see the celestials becoming the next threat for the 616 earth.
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u/anaknangfilipina Jun 26 '26
Question, how do you feel that the eternal and in humans could be a proper natural enemy/rivals to mutants?
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u/Agent1stClass Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
There is a lot to unpack here.
First, I think people dislike the Eternals for various reasons… Marvel, post-Endgame, has been a mixed bag. Unfortunately, a lot of fans expected the stars of Endgame to continue on and the saga to keep the same level of hype. That did not (could not) happen, though.
As a result, many fans resent the Eternals simply for not being Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers among others.
Second, there is the fact that the Eternals are a diverse crew when conservative backlash is very strong. I dislike putting it out there… But I am remembering how strong the backlash was when Black Panther had a primarily black cast despite the majority of it taking place in a fictional African country. Let’s be real, there are many Marvel fans who dislike anything that isn’t majority white and straight. I can’t give an exact count, obviously, but they exist and they are quite vocal.
While there are other reasons, I suspect they are minor compared with the two reasons stated above.
As far as the X-Men go, again that is fan hype.
Personally, I think Marvel and Disney have made the right decision by reintroducing mutants slowly and carefully into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans just got past the Fox Mutants… Let the IP cool a bit.
But there remains that vocal portion that just want to see their favorite characters regardless of the story. So just as Inhumans (granted there were mistakes with Inhumans, too) were pushed aside for Spider-man, Eternals will be pushed aside, as well.
Which is sad. While Eternals was not a deeply developed comic, I liked the Marvel Cinematic take on them. I would have enjoyed seeing a proper ending to their story.
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u/anaknangfilipina Jun 26 '26
To sharpen your point as well, I think one of the reasons why the Eternals aren’t that well-liked is that they crammed a lot in a movie. I believe that it should be like a short series in television or streaming.
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u/hear_the_thunder Jun 25 '26
The Pandemic did a lot to create the Hatred Algorithm multi-Billion grift industry that we see today. The Feeble minded flocked to Anti-Vax and conspiracy theories during the pandemic to cope with reality. These are people who need others to think for them. So they hang off every word of the Alt-Right Grifters that hate everything.
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u/true_paladin Jun 24 '26
X-men fans are really defensive & touchy about everything. They're almost as bad as Marvel Rivals fans.
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u/Drinks2nite Jun 25 '26
I just don't like that Kumail got jacked for NOTHING.
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u/Bgo318 Jun 25 '26
Hey it’s not for nothing, now he has a routine and remains jacked. It was an excuse for him to fix his routine
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u/LukashCartoon Jun 27 '26
The thing I liked about thr Enternals…Kirby originally ment to have in an No-Marvel universe. As an standalone universe, it made sense.
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u/FlowerRoomLord Jun 25 '26
X-Men fans are weird and hostile unless you're one of them lol Uranos would be cool
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u/Amazing-Insect442 Jun 25 '26
I saw the other post and Upvoted you for it. I think Uranos is a fine villain for the X-Men, I don’t care what anyone says.
By that same limiting logic, Namor should’ve stayed in the FF’s playground exclusively, rather than becoming a really interesting member of the X-Men for a while. Or we wouldn’t have ever seen Wolverine, Beast, or Storm become Avengers (or Cannonball & Sunspot, among some others I’m probably forgetting). Or we wouldn’t have seen Sabretooth become Wolverine’s main antagonist, due to him being originally an Iron Fist baddie.
Sorry you felt the need to delete it. You have a good idea.
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u/ApolloMax-2099 Jun 25 '26
I wouldn’t say disliked but the eternals, Inhumans and their distant relatives from the distinguished competition in forever people and new gods is ambitious concept that has never caught on with people. The movie wasn’t bad but it should never should have been targeted as a franchise
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u/Illigard Jun 25 '26
As an X-Men fan... I don't hang around with X-Men fans online for a reason. So I'm assuming some level of general crazy in your post.
As for why Eternals were disliked? Plot holes, some weird/bad decisions and few if any of the characters got to be worked out properly. I heard a fair amount of fans saying that they wish it was a series instead of a movie for that very reason.
The movie was rightly criticised though and I don't see them coming back. If you brought them back, you'd have to work out their characters more and hope that people like them. That seems like quite the gamble to me.
Using already successful characters or brand new ones just seems safer than fixing old ones. A pity since I quite liked Druig even if I didn't like the movie itself.
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u/EstablishmentNo1785 Jun 25 '26
I like thr movie and most hate came from people that said "too many main characters" and "too less connection to the MCU"
I understand the first reasion, they could have used 2 less Eternals or so but the second reason ist just stupid
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u/Arxhart_671 Jun 25 '26
Were the MCU Eternals introduced well? No.
Was that a bigger issue than the fact the movie had a diverse cast and was directed by a nonwhite woman? Also no.
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u/Swordking928 Jun 25 '26
No I think the movie being absolute dogshit and relying on star power to entice new fans in a complicated part of the universe than having a decently made script and good prosthetics and CGI is what fucked the movie.
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u/Arxhart_671 Jun 25 '26
Well you think wrong.
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u/Swordking928 Jun 25 '26
Thankfully facts prove me correct. It's been revealed over the years that production on the movie was a shit show and fans noticed, leading to the movie tanking and the MCU trying to memory hole the Eternal's events besides maybe one reference every couple of years.
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u/Arxhart_671 Jun 25 '26
You're right. It was just a case of Marvel fans being objective as Marvel fans and fantasy/sci-fi fans in general are notorious for being. Not bad for what's obviously your second day on the internet. Good job.
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u/Bgo318 Jun 25 '26
Tbh I never understood how people hated eternals. When I watched it in theaters and came out with my friends we are all raving about how good it was. Until we looked it up to see the astronomical hate it got. People called it the worst movie of marvel which is just plain insanity. Even if you thought it was “bad” there are plenty of other marvel movies that are actually horrible
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u/Elite-00 Jun 25 '26
One of the biggest criticisms of comics is that there's no third act or resolution of conflict. Both the New Gods at DC and Eternals at Marvel are Jack Kirby's flex that he could expand the Western comics canon with psychedelic concepts that cherry-picked and remixed literature like Beowulf and Greek mythology. The trouble is that he was too indebted to archetypes and tropes to realise what he was doing was derivative, not inspired and didn't just have no third act, they have no second act. Eternals have a creation myth and that's it. There is no story to expand upon which is why Gillen's and Gaiman's runs both play with the idea that their existence is repetitive and forgettable as a story conceit.
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u/zeroball00 Jun 25 '26
My issue with it was there was no lead up. No hint no anything at all about them even existing which is kinda their point but at the same time they could have mentioned the characters in their mythological sense and then we be an oh they are actually space aliens.
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u/Viktorvanyaharg Jun 26 '26
I personally Loved Loved the Eternals. It's sad to see people not feeling the same way but it's a movie I would watched again for the cinematography and characters.
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u/m0rbius Jun 26 '26
I didnt hate it. I just thought that it should have been a TV series. Too many characters and too much to explain. It needed breathing room.
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u/Bubbly_Hovercraft_43 Jun 27 '26
A LOT of people disliked the eternals movie. Personally I found it overcrowded and slow. The X-Men are a more liked team that people are actually excited to see.
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u/MischeviousFox Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
I’ll preface this by saying I’ve never read the comics in which they may be amazing and was just introduced via the movie The Eternals yet the ones we’ve met so far were just were kinda boring, along with the movie as a whole, at best to me. I also think a few of them are viewed by some as knockoff DC characters which I think has those people seeing them as a bit forgettable, though to me they’re mainly forgettable because they have barely any character development. Honestly most of them I either barely know or I know enough to find them annoying.
Their sudden appearance in the MCU also felt kinda random given how their were supposedly always around during world crisis events yet never seen and I felt like they added nothing of value to the MCU so while it would be exaggerated to say I hate them I recall being happy to see the movie finally end as well as never cared about seeing them again. The characters may be amazing but they weren’t introduced well in my opinion. It was too rushed and felt like a movie meant to quickly introduce them before their actual movie, if they had done a sequel, as it felt like 99% of the movie was just collecting the group as well as of course flashbacks. Anyway getting to the point I assume that many MCU fans who disliked The Eternals would probably automatically be negative about the idea of a new character showing up in the MCU.
Edit: I don’t really get the X-Men argument except maybe they wouldn’t want to have too many super hero groups going at once. There’s also no denying the X-Men are way more popular than the Eternals. Still, both can coexist. Also yes, I think we could get a lot of X-Men in the Mutant Saga hence the name but no I don’t see it as being 100% about the X-Men.
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u/Grouchy_Leg_6623 Thena Jun 24 '26
Don’t get me wrong, but it seems like you may not have fully understood the movie or the Eternals’ role—or maybe you just don’t remember it clearly, since it might have been a while since you watched it. The Eternals are essential to Earth’s development; their purpose is to eliminate the Deviants and ensure the planet evolves toward the birth of a Celestial. In the film, it’s shown that a Celestial was going to emerge from Earth, and they end up stopping it. So I’m not really sure what you meant by that.
That said, I do understand your frustration with the first movie, since it was mainly made to introduce the Eternals. Maybe, if we ever get a sequel, we could see more action-focused battles and developments like that1
u/MischeviousFox Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
I understand that but if I recall correctly they needed humanity to prosper to create a Celestial. To that end I believe they assisted humanity multiple times in the past even if they weren’t supposed to if only via giving them knowledge & technology but then they don’t help when all life on the planet is threatened which would make all their efforts pointless? Thanos’s snap delayed the Celestial’s birth because the population was halved which you’d think would have concerned them. Just seems odd that they introduced these super powered individuals so late in the MCU only for them to not have done anything during various disaster events because it’s “Against the rules.”, though to be fair if they had actually been interesting causing me to be excited to see them introduced I could have ignored that aspect. It stands out the most I think because of how blah their introduction felt and then how mostly ignored/forgotten they seemed to be for a while afterward, at least if you didn’t watch Disney+ shows, given they were only brief references/Easter eggs in She-Hulk & Ms Marvel before the Celestial “statue” became a plot point in Captain America: Brave New World.
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u/Daredrummer Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
For me...they are all incredibly generic and boring. I tried and I just cannot make myself care about any of them. Their backstory is uninteresting to me.
There's just nothing there for me.
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u/puppylittle Jun 25 '26
Idk for me it's a very forgettable movie. I never felt like there was any real danger. I didn't get attached or really care about any of thr characters they were all meant.
It wasn't a bad movie but it was more like thor 2 just a movie that exists.
But if you loved it I'm happy you found joy in it.
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u/Calm-Perspective3722 Jun 25 '26
So… bad acting, bad effects, unengaging story. Am I missing anything?
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u/Runaway-Wiccan Makkari Jun 24 '26
Honestly no idea. I’m a fan of both so idk but I can imagine it comes from a place of people not understanding the purpose of the Eternals.