Kumail Nanjiani Explains How ‘The Eternals’ Is Different From Every Other Marvel Movie

Marvel Studios is releasing two films this year, one of which is the highly anticipated, The Eternals. A handful of Marvel Comics films associated with the brand will also be released in 2020, like Sony’s Morbius and Venom 2, but only Black Widow and The Eternals officially belong in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Kumail Nanjiani is one of the stars of the upcoming team-up flick and will portray Kingo Sunen, a near-immortal who traditionally fights in the ways of the samurai. This is the first superhero role for the now bulked-up Kumail, who has recently commented on how The Eternals will stand apart from the rest of the movies in the MCU.

The actor sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss what fans can expect from the new movie, and how it’s different from its predecessors.

“It’s really, really an epic. And it’s really such a science-fiction story. It’s a superhero story, but in some ways, it’s the most sci-fi of all the Marvel movies and it’s the most epic of all the Marvel movies. And the story spans thousands of years. So it’s really not like any of the other Marvel movies.”

While some might classify comic book movies in the sci-fi genre, they traditionally are labeled as superhero films and lack a lot of the stereotypical science fiction aspects. The characters of The Eternals garnered their powers from cosmic energy, one of the first nods to science-fiction. There will be a small connection to Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, the only films to mention the Celestials, who had a large role in the creation of the Eternals, who have existed for millennia.

While Kumail has made The Eternals seem like a massive event of a film by calling it an “epic,” he also noted that a lot of shooting made it seem more like an independent movie.

“But the other thing is, making this massive movie in many important ways still feels like you’re making an independent movie, in the sense that it really feels like a family and it feels like it’s really about characters and relationships and very small moments,” he added.

Kumail also noted the very diverse cast of the movie, including Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Brian Tyree Henry, and Don Lee. The actor joked that moviegoers never get to see a group of people like this together, something that has him very excited about the film.

Kumail remembered being shown a still from the film of him and the rest of the cast in their uniforms that only heightened his feelings regarding the epicness of it all. The Big Sick actor then added that he loves superhero movies, and this is exactly the type of film that he would want to see, only hyping fans further for its release.

The Eternals lands in theaters on November 6, 2020.