Marvel's decision to make Ajak (Salma Hayek) the team leader in the Eternals movie is a surprising - but good - move for the film. It was confirmed when the movie was first announced at SDCC 2019 that A-list actress Salma Hayek had been cast as a gender-swapped version of Ajak, who would serve as the group's leader.
Directed by Chloe Zhao and scheduled for a February 2021 release, the second film on Marvel's Phase 4 slate will introduce audiences to a whole new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by centering on a race of super-powered immortal aliens. Known as the Eternals, these god-like beings have lived on Earth for thousands of years, all this time keeping their presence a secret from humans. The movie, which will take place after Avengers: Endgame, will see the Eternals' creators, the Celestials, send the team on a mission to defeat the Deviants, who are said to be mankind's oldest enemy.
Eternals is based on a group of characters created in the 1970s by the legendary comic book artist and writer Jack Kirby. Kirby featured the team in a short-lived comic book series, before it was eventually cancelled. Unfortunately, the Eternals only received limited appearances in Marvel Comics in the decades that followed. Now, they're being brought to the big screen, with most of the main characters from the comics being adapted to the MCU. And despite Ajak being gender-swapped, being the Eternals' leader is a big deviation from the comics. But regardless, this could be the right direction for the film to take.
Who Leads The Eternals In Marvel Comics
The person given the honor of leading the Eternals is called the Prime Eternal. Being the Prime Eternal comes with more than just the authority to command other of their race, though, as the abilities of the Prime Eternal are significantly stronger than average. For example, every Eternal possesses super strength, the ability to manipulate matter, and shoot energy from their hands and eyes, but a Prime Eternal can do these things on a much greater scale. The Prime Eternal is also granted one ability that's unique to them - the power to access the Uni-Mind, a ceremony that involves all Eternals combining into a single, collective entity. Since the Uni-Mind incorporates the knowledge and powers of up to a billion Eternals, it's capable of accomplishing nearly any feat.
In Marvel Comics, the character most strongly associated with the title of Prime Eternal is Zuras, Thena's father. Zuras, who is older than all the other Earth-based Eternals, is the character who established their home on Earth in the first place. After he died in the pages of Thor, Thena took his place, because "Prime Eternal" is typically an inherited position. That being said, there are other ways of gaining the title and all that comes with it. Ikaris, for example, succeeded Thena as the Prime Eternal after taking her into ancient machine called the Hall of Eternal Judgment, which allows an Eternal to challenge the Prime Eternal for leadership of their race.
Why Zuras Was Replaced For Marvel's Eternals Movie
Based on the names of the heroes appearing in the MCU, Marvel's Eternals movie features a rather comic book-accurate cast. Nearly all the major Eternals are being included, including minor ones like Kumail Nanjiani's Kingo. However, there is one glaring Thor movies.
In the comics, Zuras is similar to Thor's father, Odin, in more ways than one. Zuras' physical characteristics, commanding presence, devotion to his people, and more make it easy to draw parallels between Zuras and Odin in the comic, so it could be that Marvel Studios wants to avoid creating the same comparison in the movies. After all, Eternals and Thor already have a great deal in common; both are driven by the idea that an ancient race of super-powered beings exists somewhere in their universe. They resemble humans, and were once worshiped as gods. Naturally, Marvel won't want to make the similarities between the two stories even stronger, so giving the Eternals a leader that's unique to Asgard's could have been seen as a necessary change for the MCU.
Why Ajak May Be The Best Choice To Lead The MCU's Eternals
In most Eternals comics, Ajak is a ing character, someone of less importance than heroes like Ikaris and Thena, who have both been the Prime Eternal at certain points in their lives. Though the two of them have held the title before, Marvel may choose to have one of them grow into a leadership position, just as they did in the comics. Neither started out as the Prime Eternal. So who else should have the title? Gilgamesh is older than the other Eternals, but he's an outsider who rebels against the ways of his people, and Sersi, a fun-loving party girl, doesn't seem like the type to be interested in leading an entire race.
Ajak, on the other hand, brings something unique to the table that makes this character a good fit for the role. The comics have established that Ajak has an important job that makes him irreplaceable to the Eternals. Ajak is the one person capable of communicating directly with their creators. In the first-ever Eternals comic, Ikaris traveled to the Lost City of the Incas to wake up Ajak, as Ajak was the Eternal entrusted with greeting the Celestials upon their arrival to Earth. The Celestials pose a recurring threat to all civilizations that live on Earth, considering that they periodically visit the planet to judge the worth of its people. Ajak, as an archaeologist who has spent centuries studying the Celestials, knows more about them than anyone else in the Marvel Universe. Since pleasing the Celestials is essential to their continued survival, it makes perfect sense that the Eternals' leader should be someone who can act as a bridge between the Celestials and the Eternals. It could be that Ajak's relationship with the Celestials in the comics will factor heavily into how she's represented in Marvel's Eternals movie.
