Marvel Studios released a teaser trailer for its upcoming film, Eternals, yesterday and the movie—set to release in November—appears to be refreshingly different from the overwhelmingly male and Caucasian cast we are used to seeing in superhero films.
Featuring actors like Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani and Gemma Chan, the multi-starrer promises to be a diverse and inclusive movie. It’s even directed by a woman of Asian descent, Chloé Zhao, who just won the 2021 Best Director Oscar for Nomadland!
Previously, barring newer films like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, women and people of colour have always been pushed to the sidelines in such films. In this trailer, we see Asian people, women, African American folk, and one of the most successful Latina actresses, too. This makes sense given the subject of the film because the Eternals are an immortal alien race who have lived on Earth to protect humanity without interfering in their lives. That they mirror the diversity of the planet makes complete sense as they live among humans as normal people.
