Another major character who died in Eternals might be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Rumors reported by Allkpop state that actor Ma Dong Suk, also known as Don Lee, who portrayed the Eternal Gilgamesh in the Marvel Studios film, might appear in another MCU project in the near future. According to “industry insiders,” Lee is currently scheduled for another unnamed Marvel project, though this has not been officially confirmed.
In Eternals, Gilgamesh met his demise at the hands of a Deviant in order to protect Thena (Angelina Jolie), who he had chosen to watch over thousands of years before so she could keep her memories. In a recent interview, director Chloé Zhao explained that the reason behind the character’s death was to further Thena’s development.
“She had no choice but to embrace her vulnerability, her messiness,” Zhao explained. “Before she had Gilgamesh and he gave her the most important thing: ‘remember, you have it in yourself.’ She can’t fight it with fire, she’s got to let that that [sic] water come in. Thena needed to lean into the soft side of her, and remember the memories that are going to heal her. This was written in the treatment, but losing Gilgamesh is a tough thing for the whole group.
Rumors of Lee’s return to the MCU come after reports that another dead Eternal, Richard Madden’s Ikaris, who perished at the end of the film, may return in a future Marvel Studios project as well. Following his thwarted betrayal of the other Eternals, Ikaris chose to make good on his namesake and fly into the sun at the end of the film, effectively killing off the character. If these reports of Madden’s return are true, it would go directly against a previous statement made by Eternals screenwriter Kaz Firpo, who confirmed that Ikaris was, in fact, dead.
“He can’t bear to face his family after what he’s done, which he realizes,” Firpo said in an interview with CBR in November 2021. “I don’t think that Ikaris even thinks that he’s wrong. I think that he just has so much regret. He’s very sorry. I think he’s sorry for the way he lived his whole life on this planet, and that’s a lot of burden to carry. So really, that act is basically saying, ‘I made a mistake, but I can’t face my family, and I can’t go on living.'”
Firpo explained that in an early version of the script, Ikaris was only going to be exiled by the other Eternals, but as filming continued, they realized it “needed to be definitive.” He said, “It really is a moment of saying, ‘It’s sacrifice.’ It’s sort of saying, ‘I can’t serve the Eternals. If I can’t serve the Celestials, and I can’t be with my family, then I choose this third option,’ which — for him — really is oblivion. So yeah, he dead.”
Eternals is now available on Disney+.
Source: Allkpop
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