WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Eternals, now in theaters.
At first glance, Eternals pivots on the romance between Ikaris (Richard Madden) and Sersi (Gemma Chan). Their duality’s based on duty and love, which ultimately divides them as their true purpose is revealed on Earth. However, as intriguing as their dynamic is, the best couple in this film is actually Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) and his husband Ben (Haaz Sleiman).
Now, it may not initially seem like they’re as central to Eternals‘ plot but upon deeper inspection, their love is what saves the day. When Sersi seeks a solution to stop the rise of the Celestial, Tiamut, and the destruction of Earth, she and Ikaris visit Phastos, who’s hidden away in a small American suburb. Phastos wants the family life, though, not looking to be a hero or invent anymore, as all it’s brought is death and destruction rather than progress. He’s disillusioned because his work has been used for wars and bombings like Hiroshima instead of the grand scope he thought of when he made the steam engine. But as he rebukes the offer to go stop the new batch of Deviants, Ben intervenes.
In a heart and soul moment, he indicates Phastos has a greater purpose and it’s saving the world. This leads to a nuanced montage of Phastos reading his son a bedtime story, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first explicitly gay moment as the husbands kiss goodbye. It’s truly powerful and this love allows Phastos to create the Uni-Mind, which helps them stop Tiamut in the finale. More so, he’s driven by family and sheds his cowardice, making it clear even with Ikaris siding with Arishem, he’ll die fighting for Ben and their son. It stands out more as Sersi and Ikaris simply get trapped in whether or not to obey their creator in Arishem and let Earth die.
What also resonates with this gay romance is when Sersi’s crew ends up being kidnapped by Arishem for judgment at the end of Eternals, the Celestial will see how her love for Ikaris got broken in such a superficial manner, and how her passion for Dane Whitman still needs finessing. Fellow abductee Kingo is also not as connected to humanity. Thus, the only one who truly has a deeper love for mankind and could spare them the creator’s judgment when they’re mind-probed is Phastos.
Should Arishem truly understand the love Phastos has, echoing what Ajak wanted them to find, he may decide not to punish Earth. This different kind of love, after all, transcends the Eternals’ intra-species love, which Druig and Makkari, and Thena and Gilgamesh appear to share too.
And to top it off, on a social justice, equality and representation level, Phastos and Ben stand out more, as it’s beautiful to see two dads nurturing a kid. As a gay man, Sleiman has said this diversity is important on the press circuit, with Angelina Jolie (who plays Thena) also stating countries banning the film for this are ignorant. It sums up how substantial this romance is both in and outside of Eternals, making it resonate a bit more for its relatability and ultimately paving the way for heroism.
To see how Phastos’ love outshines them all and saves Earth, Eternals is in theaters now.
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