Eternals ended with an enormous cliffhanger that for a time seemed like it would never be resolved. However, I believe that the impact of those events can be easily addressed in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, setting up the Marvel Cinematic Universe for an excellent future. While Eternals was not commercially successful, there was much to like about the film. Several details have remained important since, with the discovery of Adamantium in Captain America: Brave New World directly linked.
Still, many details of the ending of Eternals remain unaddressed. With the state of the universe and its MCU post-credit trend of recent years, it has taken a while for many teased stories to reach their full conclusions. Much of Eternals was clearly setting up for a sequel, although the response to the film has made that now unlikely. Still, the events of the film are important to the larger universe and cannot be entirely ignored. Fortunately, the plots of the upcoming Avengers films may address this quickly and concisely.
Eternals’ Ending Was A Pretty Mᴀssive Cliffhanger That’s Remained Unanswered Since 2021
Arishem The Judge Claimed That He May Return To Judge Earth
The ending of Eternals featured a complex battle that saw the new team turning against one another, with Ikaris willing to deal with the destruction of humanity so long as other worlds would be there to take its place. With his defeat, several members of the team were taken by Arishem the Judge to have their memories reviewed. Arishem spoke of how he would need to come to a conclusion, which could lead him back to Earth in order to cast judgment upon the planet in an enormous act of destruction.
There is an important future with cosmic consequences surrounding not just the characters from the Eternals team, but also from Arishem himself; however, the disappointing response to Eternals made a sequel no longer a priority.
This is a pretty significant closing that has not yet been revisited in the MCU. While it is certainly possible that Arishem would determine that Earth would be allowed to live on, this doesn’t seem the most likely result of his judgment. Either way, there is an important future with cosmic consequences surrounding not just the characters from the Eternals team, but also from Arishem himself. However, the disappointing response to Eternals made a sequel no longer a priority, and this has not yet been addressed since.
Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars Presents 2 Major Answers To Eternals’ Cliffhanger
This Thread Could Be Tied Up In Two Different Ways
Arishem, and in fact all the Celestials, are an enormous part of the cosmos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, there are two ways that this same idea of judgment could be confronted in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. The first would be in allowing the events to take place, including Battleworld, which would see humanity challenged by greater threats. If they were to win against Doctor Doom, they would have proven Earth’s importance, and would thereby have proven themselves worthy to Arishem.
However, there is an even simpler solution that the franchise could pull out of the events of Secret Wars. With all the universes colliding together, Arishem and the Celestials may in fact be done away with altogether. Through the convergence of universes, there is nothing to say that these figures could not be destroyed. I believe this is how the question will be answered by the characters of Avengers: Secret Wars, especially as it could be done without ever directly discussing Arishem or the Celestials.
Eternals’ Cliffhanger Answers Show Why The MCU Needs To Avoid Waiting To Answer Its Major Storylines
Too Many Questions Have Lingered For Too Long
The more time that pᴀsses since the release of Eternals, the less important I find the film feels to the larger universe. Events seem to be being retconned, with whatever plans were originally intended falling by the wayside. Unfortunately, with Eternals’ low box-office, the film has been mostly ignored. This has made features like the Celestial in the ocean, the post-credit scene with Harry Styles, and the ending with Arishem the Judge feel mostly meaningless, causing the loss of some faith in the franchise.
If the MCU does not answer the questions that it poses, then they cease to matter. If that occurs enough times, then the projects that the series creates will not seem as important from the outset. Marvel has carefully built a universe of important characters and excellent dynamics, but if introduced characters like Brett Goldstein’s Hercules never appear again, then the important details from the films they were introduced in suddenly seem less so. Marvel needs to ensure that their canon is clear and consistent, and that means addressing their own questions quickly enough.
The questions left from Eternals may not seem as important. Most audiences had a middling reception to the film, and there does not seem to be an insatiable hunger for more stories featuring those characters. However, for the stability of the MCU, it is important that pieces like this remain canon, and be treated as such. Marvel has worked hard to build a cohesive and coherent Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that will only continue to work so long as they continue to support it entirely.
Upcoming MCU Movies
-
Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
-
May 2, 2025
Powered by
-
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
-
July 25, 2025
Powered by
-
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Powered by
-
Spider-Man Homecoming 4
- Release Date
-
July 24, 2026
Powered by
-
Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
-
May 7, 2027
Powered by
