The MCU’s Most Misunderstood Gem Turns 4 Today — Where’s Its Sequel?
Eternals got roasted for daring to be different. Buried under a 47% Rotten Tomatoes score and a wave of knee-jerk backlash, Marvel’s boldest swing may also be its most misunderstood.
Four years ago today, Marvel rolled out Eternals and the internet acted like someone swapped a roller coaster for a philosophy class. The reputation stuck — 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the MCU’s lowest — but the movie itself is more misunderstood than misfired. And yeah, I think it still deserves a sequel.
What threw people off
Eternals did not play by the usual Marvel rules. Under director Chloe Zhao, the tone is slower and more reflective, with big questions about purpose and faith baked into the sci-fi spectacle. Instead of sprinting from plot point to plot point, the movie parks the camera on its characters and lets their centuries of baggage drive the story. That shift — from plot-first to character-first — was a shock to an audience used to quippy momentum.
The other problem: there are a lot of them. Ten new heroes show up with almost no MCU runway, and the film also speed-runs major cosmic ideas like Celestials and the Emergence. It is a lot to absorb all at once, and some of it lands like a lore dump.
On top of that, motivations that are actually pretty tragic got flattened into good guy vs. bad guy takes. Ikaris and Sprite aren’t moustache-twirling villains; they’re deeply conflicted people making impossible calls after millennia of loyalty and unspoken love. If that didn’t read for you the first time, I get it — the movie asks you to meet it halfway.
About that 47%
Yes, Eternals still sits at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes — one of the MCU’s lowest scores — and the blowback was loud. But the film’s aspirations are clear, even when the execution gets wobbly. That’s why I land on 'misunderstood' more than 'misfire.'
The case for a sequel
Beyond whether you liked it or not, the movie left a pile of dangling threads the MCU has basically ignored since November 5, 2021. A follow-up isn’t just wishful thinking — it’s housekeeping.
- Arishem the Judge yanks several Eternals off Earth and promises judgment. That’s not a small cliffhanger.
- Tiamut’s giant, half-formed body is sticking out of the ocean. That should matter to someone besides Reddit.
- Harry Styles popped in as Eros (yes, Thanos’s brother) and then vanished right back out.
- Kit Harington’s Dane Whitman is clearly on the path to becoming the Black Knight, and then... nothing.
- And there are more character arcs that were set in motion and never resolved.
It has been four years. Whatever didn’t work the first time can be course-corrected, but those story promises deserve actual answers.
So, was it bad?
Different? Absolutely. Overstuffed? At times. But 'worst MCU movie ever' feels like lazy shorthand for a film that took a big swing. I’m firmly in the 'give it another shot' camp — with a sequel that tightens the pacing and pays off what Eternals started.
Do you want an Eternals sequel, or are you good leaving it as a one-and-done? Tell me where you land.
Eternals is streaming on Disney+ in the US.