Marvel need not have worried so much about “Eternals” suffering from a connection to “The Inhumans” because Chloé Zhao’s film underperformed at the box office all on its own. Shortly after its release, Forbes accused “Eternals” of being the only MCU project to not bill itself as anything other than a superhero film. In comparison, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was marketed to audiences as a spy thriller that just happened to feature superheroes. Forbes then claimed that Marvel’s success is bolstered by its films living in other genres and that, without one, “Eternals” proved itself generic.
The Direct offered a comprehensive list of suggested causes, such as a two-dimensional villain, an absence of chemistry between romantic leads Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Ikaris (Richard Madden), an excessive runtime, and an even more excessive band of new characters with commensurate expositional drag. “Eternals” also suffered review bombing prior to its release.
“Eternals” might not have been allowed to appear correlated with “The Inhumans” but Marvel demanded no such barrier when “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” went into development. The 2022 film features an extended cameo for Black Bolt (Anson Mount) as an active member of the Illuminati, making “The Inhumans” one of the few ABC properties to tie back into the larger MCU, if only briefly.
