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With a cast that includes members of the Avengers, Thunderbolts, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and leading members of Wakandan society — not to mention solo heroes like Shang-Chi — Avengers: Doomsday almost feels like a guide to what’s happening in the MCU (and beyond: we see you, Gambit!) these days. Which raises the question: is Marvel just trying to pretend the Eternals movie didn’t happen?

That’s an oversimplification — after all, the Macguffin in February’s Captain America: Brave New World is the Celestial left over from the climax of 2021’s Eternals, so it’s clear that the entire movie isn’t being quietly dropped off into a memory hole completely. Nonetheless, Chloé Zhao’s movie introduced an entirely new race of superhuman into the MCU, and ended with multiple plot threads that felt as if they were preparing to be followed up, whether it’s the group of Eternals looking to warn brethren on other worlds about the possibility of Celestials being born out of their planets; the introduction of Eros, Thanos’ adoptive brother; or Dane Whitman discovering the Ebony Blade, which would transform him into the Black Knight of Marvel comic canon… and not one character from the movie made it into the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement.

To be fair, there are a lot of characters in Doomsday already, as the five-hour-plus casting announcement made all too clear. It’s possible that the powers that at Marvel simply thought that any Eternals character would be lost in the crowd. It’s also worth noting that the Eternals aren’t the only Marvel franchise missing entirely from Doomsday: no-one from The Marvels was represented, nor did a Hulk, or a Spider-Man get to show up, either. And whatever happened to the promised return of the legendary Star-Lord?

Some characters need to be held back for Avengers: Secret Wars, perhaps. Although even then, let's wait and see how many Eternals make the cut. 

Avengers: Doomsday will be released May 1, 2026. It’ll star more than half the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it feels like, although no Eternals.

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