Another day, another movie we were so looking forward to seeing getting delayed because of this damn ongoing, global pandemic...
Because 2020 is, well, 2020, and none of us deserve nice things, Marvel Studios has decided to push back the release of many of its highly-anticipated Phase 4 film titles, including The Eternals.
Originally planned to hit theaters on November 6 of this year, and then pushed back to February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down most of the world, the upcoming MCU flick is facing yet another delay, now scheduled to start its theatrical run on November 5, 2021, nearly a whole year after its initial release date.
The reasons for the delay are completely understandable (the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much ravaging many parts of the world and it's still not that safe to be going to movie theaters en masse just yet), so hopefully getting to see The Eternals on the big screen will be well worth the wait. Last summer, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige told Good Morning America during the D23 Expo that the film was going to have an explicitly gay, married superhero, a first for the popular Disney-owned studio known for its robust roster of comic-themed live-action films.
"He's married, he's got a family, and that is just part of who he is," Feige told GMA about a then mysterious gay character when talking about the diversity of the highly-anticipated project that includes the likes of Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani, and Brian Tyree Henry.
Then earlier this year, gay actor Haaz Sleiman confirmed who the mysterious queer characters was when he said he would be playing the husband of Brian Tyree Henry's Phastos.
"I just shot a Marvel film with the first openly gay superhero, The Eternals,” Sleiman told NewNowNext about his role. "I’m married to the gay superhero Phastos, played by Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry, and we represent a gay family and have a child."
We've been looking forward to explicit LGBTQ+ representation in the MCU for a long, long, LONG time, so we'll gladly wait a little bit longer to see how The Eternals turns out!
The Eternals is now scheduled to hit theaters on November 5, 2021. Other Phase 4 titles have also been pushed back, with Black Widow now scheduled to open on May 7, 2021 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to open on July 9, 2021.
