Kumail Nanjiani Responds To Eternals’ Negative Reviews: “Not Very Much Of It Has To Do With The Actual Quality Of The Movie”

MCU actor Kumail Nanjiani recently responded to all the negative reviews that Marvel’s Eternals received. Released in 2021, Chloé Zhao directed Eternals, featuring an impressive cast of names playing a family of immortal heroes who were created by cosmic beings known as the Celestials in the MCU. Although the movie was very divisive, Nanjiani believes the negative reviews had less to do with the actual movie itself.

During a recent episode of Micheal Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside of You, Nanjiani spoke about his experience on Eternals playing Kingo and his response to the negative reviews that saw Eternals breaking the MCU’s overall “Certified Fresh” streak on Rotten Tomatoes. According to Nanjiani, there were quite a few factors that played a hand beyond the movie itself.

It seems as though Marvel Studios’ overconfidence played a significant factor considering the early embargo lift for a film that was very much an attempt to break new ground beyond the typical MCU mold. Likewise, it certainly didn’t help that the film was significantly review-bombed ahead of the movie’s actual release due to its more diverse cast and LGBTQ representation.

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Why The Eternals Reviews Were So Negative

The Circumstances Weren’t Great

It’s also worth remembering that Eternals was one of the first movies to be released in the wake of the pandemic, following Black Widow and Shang-Chi’s releases in 2021. To that end, the timing was likely not in Marvel’s favor for an ensemble movie like Eternals with such a large cast of characters who’d never been introduced in the MCU prior, alongside the fact that Eternals was unlike any MCU seen before.

At the same time, the moments when Eternals does fit the MCU mold aren’t the greatest. For all of its dynamic themes and compelling characters, the overall plot was seen as very formulaic and somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, Nanjiani is likely right that Marvel Studios shouldn’t have been so confident that such a gamble would do well. To that end, had Eternals been released later on down the line, it’s possible that it could have seen more success than it ultimately did.

Eternals

Eternals is the 25th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is part of its fourth phase. Over 500 years ago, when the ten Eternals complete the task given to them by the Celestial Arishem to wipe out the invasive alien species known as Deviants that roam the earth, the group decides to go their separate ways as they find themselves at odds with how to continue their interactions with humanity as they grow and learn. Blending into society, the Eternals continue to live their lives in the modern day until the Deviants emerge again. When one of the Eternals is supposedly slain by a deviant, events are set in motion that will reunite them once again to discover why the Deviants have returned and what the true intentions of the Celestial have been for all these millennia.