Marvel's Eternals Star Kumail Nanjiani Says He Originally Signed on for 'Six Movies, a Video Game, a Theme Park Ride'

We haven't received much input from any of the characters in Marvel's Eternals since the movie was released in 2021, and aside from one What If? episode and a brief mention in Captain America: Brave New World, it's uncertain if the MCU will take them seriously again. However, according to actor Kumail Nanjiani, there may have been much more significant plans for his character to play a larger role in the MCU over time.

On a recent episode of the Working It Out podcast, Nanjiani discussed his response to Eternals' release and how it was received by viewers, stating that he originally joined Marvel for "six movies, a video game, a theme park ride." At the time, he believed, "This would be my job for the next ten years...I'd be making Marvel movies every year, and in between I'd be doing my own things, whatever I wanted. But none of that came to pass."

It's likely that any major plans Marvel had for him and the other Eternals were shifted when Eternals was poorly received by both critics and fans, and despite a strong opening at the box office, interest quickly declined and the film ended up over budget. In 2022, Patton Oswalt seemed to hint at an Eternals 2 also directed by Chloe Zhao, but unless Nanjiani is doing an excellent fake-out here, it appears that this is not currently happening.

Kumail Nanjiani has previously spoken openly about how the critical and public response to Marvel's Eternals affected him personally. In March, he discussed how Marvel had anticipated the film would be a major success, he believed the movie was good himself, and he encouraged audiences to feel the same way.

So when it launched with average reviews and weak audience reaction, Nanjiani said he was deeply upset. "It was really, really hard and that's when I thought, 'This is unfair to me. It's unfair to \[my wife\] Emily," he said in March. "I can't approach my work this way anymore, something has to change.' So I intentionally started therapy."

Nanjiani repeated similar feelings on the recent episode of Working It Out, adding that the last 15 minutes of his latest stand-up set address this exact subject.

We rated Marvel's Eternals a 7/10 in our review, stating, "Eternals is beautifully shot and superbly acted, but it attempts more than it can handle in its third act."