Eternals Biggest MCU Plot Holes & Headscratchers

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s Eternals.

Marvel’s Eternals trades compelling narrative for almost endless exposition, with the latest MCU installment introducing multiple plot holes and headscratchers as a result. Eternals has garnered some decidedly mixed reviews in the days following the blockbuster’s release, with critics praising Eternals‘ themes and stunning visuals while simultaneously panning the film’s story and pacing. Director Chloé Zhao’s vision is certainly grandiose as it spans the last 7,000 years in human history, but the price of her design is Eternals‘ plot, which is riddled with inconsistencies as the movie tries to cohesively balance the immediacy of the end of the world with a long history lesson.

Eternals centers around ten superheroes sent by the omniscient Celestial Arishem the Judge to cleanse the Earth of the Deviants, a bestial, savage race who devour humans in droves. The Eternals are instructed to aid humanity’s growth alongside eradicating the Deviant threat, a task these immortal beings excel at over the course of the Marvel movie. The Eternals are forced to band together again to save the Earth they have grown to love from The Emergence, a cataclysmic event that heralds the birth of the new Celestial Tiamut.

Eternals is a movie that suffers massively from its inability to condense its ambitious, sprawling storyline. From the birth of the cradle of civilization to nightclubs in contemporary London, Zhao’s Eternals is quite literally all over the place, both in terms of geographical location and narrative consistency. Here are the biggest plot holes and headscratchers that arise from the aftermath of Marvel’s Eternals.

Arishem’s Inconsistencies

Eternals introduces one of the most powerful MCU entities to date in the form of Arishem the Judge, an all-powerful Celestial space god responsible for shepherding the creation and destruction of life across the universe. The Eternals themselves were created by Arishem, with each Eternal swearing unending fealty to enacting his vision across the galaxy. The Eternals are clearly terrified of Arishem’s power, with several Eternals, including Ikaris and Kingo, outright refusing to go against their omnipotent master’s design.

Yet Arishem’s ability to influence proceedings and even stop the Eternals’ interference with Tiamut’s birth seems wildly inconsistent. Arishem is shown in several scenes to be able to stop chosen Eternals Ajak (Salma Hayek) and Sersi (Gemma Chan) in their tracks to commune with them via their implanted orbs. Yet the incredibly powerful watcher of the universe fails to do anything when his own constructs turn against him and eventually kill one of his own kind to save Earth. While the Eternals explain Arishem’s character is a shepherd of life, Arishem eventually seeks judgment against Sersi and company by entering Earth’s atmosphere and stealing the Eternals that betrayed him away. This begs the question as to why Arishem did not simply reclaim his Eternal constructs earlier and allow Tiamut to be born completely uninterrupted, leaving a gaping plot hole for Eternals to contend with as a result.

Bizarre Accents

One of the most jarring elements right from the off in Eternals is the broad range of contemporary accents that the Eternals have as soon as they step from The Domo onto Mesopotamian land. There are Irish, English, American, and Indian voices that the Eternals are imbued with right from their birth, which seems odd considering each Eternals’ history is being created in Arishem’s World Forge in outer space. The Eternals as constructs should initially sound the same before they begin to assimilate into Earth’s cultures, making the immediately modern-sounding voices of each Eternal grate contextually. It seems as if each Eternals actor is using their regular voice, with no thought given as to how or why each Eternal sounds markedly different despite all deriving from the same point of origin as intricate, Celestial-created robots.

Flawed Eternals

Alongside the Eternals’ wide range of modern accents is the stark fact that each Eternal is fundamentally flawed despite their “perfect” design by Arishem. The Eternals are said to be akin in appearance and potency to minor gods, with their perfection designed to last for eternity as they watch over the planets they are ordered to guide. This description would suggest each Eternal is perfect by design, with all Eternals similar in future appearance and power-level, yet this could not be further from the case.

Chloé Zhao’s Eternals deserves many plaudits for championing diversity and equality across the ten major Eternals characters, yet the fact remains that some of these choices are jarring canonically. For example, Sprite is trapped in the prison of a young body, with no explanation as to why this is the case or how this reflects a perfect design. This extends to the Eternals’ powers, with each character having significant weaknesses to offset their strengths, which work against their purpose of being Earth’s eternal guardians. Most baffling of all is the decision to include the disease Mahd W’yry, which directly points to a failure of the construct’s design that was designed to last forever.

What Was The Point of Kro?

Ahead of Eternals‘ Marvel release, one of the biggest talking points to emerge from the film’s early trailers was the excitement surrounding Warlord Kro, the leader of the Deviants. Bill Skarsgård’s Kro looked to be a menacing and worthy adversary for the Eternals, but his significance to Eternals‘ plot was greatly exaggerated in hindsight. While the decision to start Kro as a bestial entity and have his character evolve as he absorbs Eternal energy is a fascinating one, his character simply does not do enough in the film’s final reckoning to be considered worthy of inclusion. Kro ultimately is brushed aside with consummate ease by Thena (Angelina Jolie) while only managing to absorb two Eternals, with his ultimate purpose never truly revealed. This is a huge waste of an otherwise interesting character by Eternals, whose decision to make Ikaris evil translates as the subversion of audience expectations purely for subversion’s sake.

Thena’s Selective Mahd W’yry

While Angelina Jolie delivers a commendable performance as the increasingly frayed Thena, her disease Mahd W’yry ultimately conspires to be one of the biggest headscratchers in the entire Eternals movie. Following her surprise attack on her Eternal comrades as her mind deteriorates due to years in service of Arishem, the Eternals decide to split up so that Thena can keep her memories. Thena attacking the Eternals is teased many times throughout the film, yet her Mahd W’yry actually seems to get more stable as Eternals‘ plot progresses. By the Eternals story’s final, climactic battle, it appears Thena has completely shrugged off the disease that has plagued her for centuries as she swiftly slices up Kro after initially appearing to enter a trance-like state. This selective use of Mahd W’yry cheapens the disease’s initially compelling impact, with the final victory in Eternals feeling hollow as a result.

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