It seems only fitting that, following a year-long drought, Marvel Studios would come back with more theatrical releases than ever--three, to be exact, all within a seven month window, all interspersed with the new streaming TV shows set within the MCU. There is more Marvel content in 2021 than there's ever been and the risk of running into superheroic burnout is higher than ever. Thankfully, with this latest big screen release Eternals, Disney and Marvel are showcasing a willingness to break their own mold more than ever and bringing some much needed changes to the traditional Marvel Studios formula.

Like Shang-Chi before it, Eternals tells the story of a brand new cast of characters, never before seen or even hinted at within the MCU. They're a band of ancient immortals who have existed on Earth for thousands of years on a mission to keep an onslaught of monsters called Deviants at bay. Unfortunately for them, they were able to eradicate the Deviants pretty early on in Earth's history so they've mostly just been hanging out in secret since then. The reason for this secrecy is a strict order given by their creator, a Celestial being named Arishem, who insists they must never interfere with any human conflicts unless the Deviants are involved.

It's all a little contrived, to be sure, but fans of Marvel comics and superhero history at large will appreciate the decadence of it. The Eternals, Deviants, Celestials, et all, were the brainchildren of the godfather of American superheroes, Jack Kirby, who's contributions to not only Marvel and DC but to the genres of sci-fi and fantasy as a whole are as massive as they are underappreciated. Though the MCU has made a conscious effort to skew more towards an overt Kirby inspiration in recent years (Thor: Ragnarok is a great example of this), the studio's house style of pseudo-realism and formulaic action has largely trumped the bombast and eccentricity Kirby's characters frequently brought to the table.