The expansion of the MCU on a Multiversal scale meant that Marvel Studios had to bring in new faces in the franchise to elaborate upon the next big narrative, and Eternals was the project that they hoped would prove to be that springboard for new heroes to take to the skies. Alas, while the commercial success wasn’t as bad, the critical performance of the film left much to be desired.
But before these omnipitent beings made their appearance in the MCU, there was a project that was being created by John Ridley for the silver screen by Marvel Entertainment, which has since been scrapped. While talking about his proposed show, Ridley opened up about the horrific opening scene of the first episode where there would be graphical and disturbing content from the get-go.
John Ridley Had A Disturbing Opening Scene Planned For His Eternals TV Show
While Marvel Studios may have dominated cinema since its advent in 2008, Disney planned to expand the influence of the company on all fronts, which naturally meant on the silver screen side of things as well. Thus, with the popularity of shows like Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Netflix’s list of Marvel series, Marvel Entertainment brought in John Ridley to create an Eternals TV show.
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But what the showrunner had in mind was far more terrifying and jarring than what the audience saw in the film created by Chloe Zhao.
In a recent episode of ComicBook Club Live, Ridley opened up about how he was brought to the drawing board to create the proposed Eternals TV series. He revealed that he had devised a better version through the show than what Marvel Studios ended up doing with the Angelina Jolie and Richard Madden starrer.
For this version, the American Crime showrunner painted a picture of a very disturbing and graphic opening scene that would’ve scarred many fans. He said:
“My version started with, the first thing you see is a young man, probably about 18 years old, and he’s sitting there. He’s sitting there for a moment. And then he lifts his hands. He has a drill in it. And he turns the drill on. And he puts the drill to his ear. And he starts pushing it in. And then it goes from there. That’s the start, right? That’s how it starts. And then I think you see… another kid… He sleeps in the bathtub, covers himself with foil. It’s just a really weird story about these people who are, I mean, it’s just weird.”
In hindsight, most people might feel like Marvel made the right call, but some fans would’ve loved to see this version come to life on-screen.
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Why Did Eternals Fail?
While the aforementioned TV project was scrapped due to Marvel Entertainment’s acquisition by Marvel Studios, the resulting big-budget flick that was later released in the MCU didn’t live up to the hype.
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For starters, the film was way too long, which isn’t a bad thing in itself, but the interest that it had to keep consistent for the fans to love it was absent. Apart from that, there were way too many heroes to take in at once, contrary to a solo superhero film that people were used to from the MCU except an Avengers film. Along with that, the film was released when superhero fatigue had just started to set in with the audience, which led to its downfall.
Eternals, streaming on Disney+.
