With the lack of traditional superhero arcs and fighting scenes, Chloé Zhao’s ‘Eternals’ grossed less than expected at the box office in 2021. While it ended up being one of Marvel’s worst-received films, John Ridley claimed that his version of the story was better.
On the Comic Book Club Podcast, the Oscar-winning writer revealed that he worked on an ‘Eternals’ show for Marvel TV in 2019. The project didn’t see the light of day due to the merger of Marvel TV with Marvel Studios, though. About his story, Ridley said:
“My version was the good version. […] It was so f**king weird. There was my version, a good version, which is good to me, which … That doesn’t mean anything. There was the version that [Marvel] ended up doing, which I don’t think that version was particularly good. I’ll be honest.”
What Were Ridley’s Plans For The Eternals?
While Zhao’s ‘Eternals’ leaned toward a sci-fi narrative with philosophical elements, Ridley had a different vision. He wanted to explore the ‘Eternals’ concept through a series of unusual and surreal visuals, starting with scenes like a character drilling into their own brain.
Ridley’s vision for ‘Eternals’ seemed to align more with the tone of shows like 2017’s ‘Legion’ and 2021’s ‘WandaVision.’ But this style was quite different from what audiences had come to expect from the MCU:
“[‘Eternals’ was a] really hard property to develop. […] [T]he best thing to happen for everybody was that it didn’t happen with me, because I don’t know that it would have been entertaining. […] And I do mean what’s entertaining to me is often not entertaining. Populist, which is great for a lot of the work I do. But this needed to be a little bit more popular.”
Will There Be An ‘Eternals’ Sequel?
While talking about the 2021 film, which made $402.1 million against a budget of $236.2 million, Kevin Feige and Chloé Zhao claimed that the Eternals’ story would change the MCU’s direction. They also expressed interest in bringing the team of immortal heroes back for a sequel, but Marvel Studios are yet to make an announcement on the project.
The Studios are currently working on the comic book universe’s Phase 5 and Phase 6. But they have scrapped any plans for a follow-up so far.
