The future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a flux, and The Eternals may replace Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - by accident rather than intent. Marvel Studios likes to play the long game, and Kevin Feige has already had meetings about their 2025 slate. Unfortunately, their short-to-medium term plans have been severely disrupted over the last few months.
In July, Disney fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after a number of the writer-director's old tweets resurfaced on social media. Gunn was one of the architects of Marvel's future, working closely with Feige to decide the cosmic future of the MCU. Although Marvel still intends to use Gunn's script for Guardians 3, production has been put on hold indefinitely. Given the film was intended to set up the next decade of the MCU's cosmic movies, this is a dramatic change to the slate, and its repercussions will be felt for years.
Related: All The Damage Firing James Gunn Has Had For Marvel
Attention is now focused on The Eternals, a surprising Marvel film that could be a prequel to the entire MCU. The script has been written by Black List writers Matthew and Ryan Firpo, rising names in Hollywood following their spec script Ruin, and Chloé Zhao (best known for indie-favorite The Rider) has been brought on board as director. But is it possible The Eternals will (perhaps unintentionally) replace Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3?
- This Page: Eternals Is taking Guardians' Place
- Page 2: Why This Problem Will Only Get Worse
Eternals Now Releases In Guardians of the Galaxy 3's Year
Marvel is keeping their post-Phase 3 slate under wraps as much as possible, and no official releases have been confirmed after 2019. Matters have been complicated by the fact Disney has removed a Marvel movie from its 2020 schedule. This may not be related to the firing of Gunn, of course; Disney is currently shuffling its schedule around a little ahead of its impending acquisition of 20th Century Fox. The Mouse House don't put their own films up against one another, and their commitment to releasing all completed Fox movies once the deal has been finalized poses a difficult logistical challenge.
For all the questions posed over the 2020 slate, though, it's generally believed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was intended to release that May. Gunn had completed the script, after all, and Chris Pratt had confirmed filming was scheduled to begin in January 2019. Gunn himself had strongly hinted that it was aiming to release in 2020 as well.
Related: Predicting Marvel's 2020 Movie Release Slate
The latest reports suggest that, instead, Black Widow will now release on May 1 (the date that was presumably being saved for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), with The Eternals slated for November 6. That makes sense; those are the two projects known to be most advanced, with scripts finished and directors on board. This, in itself, demonstrates a careful split in terms of focus, with Black Widow continuing the terrestrial plots (and reportedly presenting Black Widow's backstory), while The Eternals explores the cosmic side of the MCU. In thematic terms, then, The Eternals appears to have taken the place of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Eternals, Not Guardians, Will Define The MCU's Cosmic Future
As a consequence, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will no longer launch the post-Phase 3's cosmic future. Instead, that role will be occupied by The Eternals, the third Marvel film to hit the box office after next year's Avengers 4. A leaked plot synopsis has suggested that The Eternals will be set millions of years in the past, revealing the ancient experiments conducted upon humans by an alien race known as the Celestials. Given the Celestials have already been tied to the Infinity Stones, and Thanos himself is an Eternal Deviant, this is essentially a giant MCU prequel.
But the focus on the Eternals potentially introduces a number of key ideas to the MCU as well. In the comics, they're tied to a number of colonies on alien worlds (most notably Titan, Thanos's homeworld). And those ancient Celestial experiments did more than create a new evolutionary offshoot of humanity; in the comics, four billion years ago, a dying Celestial's blood leached into the Earth, introducing the potential for superhumans. The Celestials are even responsible for creating the dormant X-gene into the human race; when the X-gene eventually activated, it led to the rise of the mutant race. Looking beyond the Earth, the alien shapeshifters known as the Skrulls were also created by Celestial experiments.
It's difficult to say how many of these ideas will be developed - or, perhaps, teased - in The Eternals. Still, the fact remains that this project has the potential to introduce the potential for so many new ideas into the MCU. Although The Eternals took Marvel lovers by surprise when it was first announced, it makes sense; it serves as a potential launch-pad for the MCU's future, both cosmic and Earth-bound. That's very similar to the role Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was expected to play.
Page 2 of 2: Guardians of the Galaxy 3's Delay Causes Problems For Marvel Studios
Marvel Stills Wants GOTG 3... But It's Being Pushed Way Back
It's important to note that, at this time, Marvel remains committed to making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Although Marvel already has a shortlist of prospective directors, reportedly including Dee Rees (Mudbound), Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones) and S.J. Clarkson (Star Trek 4), it's not expected to begin filming until 2021. That would mean the film wouldn't release until 2022, a full two years after Marvel had originally intended.
There are probably two reasons for this. The first is that there's been a severe backlash over Gunn's firing, which has become something of a public relations nightmare for Disney given the fact he was fired as a result of a politically-motivated campaign against him. An array of major Hollywood stars have come out in support of the writer-director, and a Change.org petition calling for Disney to rehire Gunn has over 424,000 signatures. A group of fans recently paid $4,000 to set up a billboard near Disneyland calling for the Mouse House to rehire Gunn. So, it's wise to put Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on the back-burner while things cool down.
Related: Why Disney Fired James Gunn as Director But Are Keeping Him as Writer
The second problem facing Marvel, though, is the matter of scheduling. The Guardians films feature some A-list actors, including the likes of Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana. Both have a lot of non-Marvel commitments, including the Jurassic World and Avatar franchises, and juggling these schedules will be difficult. It's important to note that, once the Fox acquisition is complete, the Avatar films will be a major strategic priority for Disney. This has been described this as the "crown jewels" of the purchase, in large part because Disney hopes the "World of Pandora" Disney Parks lands could rival Universal Studios' Wizarding World. They hope to synergize film release dates and the opening of further theme parks. As important as Marvel may be, it's unlikely Disney will allow the MCU to disrupt these plans.
But that presents an issue. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was intended to launch the cosmic future of the MCU, so the problem with an interconnected universe like the MCU is that one delay affects everything else. The more Marvel pushes this film back, the more severe the impact will be. It's certainly plausible that the meetings Feige has reportedly been having about the MCU's future includes ways to circumvent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's importance in the MCU's Phase 4.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Gets Less Important Over Time
And that culminates into one simple fact that may cause major problems for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: the film will get less important as time goes by. Marvel may be willing to put this one film on hold, but does that mean they'll do the same with all the ideas it was intended to set up? The studio isn't going to stop making cosmic movies until 2022, after all - The Eternals is proof of that. Now imagine a scenario where a director has a great idea for introducing an element that was actually going to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - would Feige nix it because of a project that's on hold? Making matters worse, none of these other writers and directors have seen Gunn's script, so they may not even know their ideas have an impact upon it.
Logically, then, the longer Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is delayed, the more the script will likely need to be amended (that, in itself, risks creating more PR problems for Disney, given Dave Bautista publicly threatening to quit unless Gunn's script was used). Meanwhile, the film's role in the MCU will change. No longer will it serve as the launchpad for the MCU's cosmic slate; instead, it will gradually slip into just being another Marvel movie. In strategic terms, it will move from being the cornerstone of the MCU cosmic films to just another brick in the building. And then, eventually, a director will pitch an idea that uses a Guardians of the Galaxy character, introduces someone who was going to be key to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, or directly contradicts Gunn's script. When that point finally comes, Feige will have to make some difficult decisions.
The MCU is changing shape in the aftermath of James Gunn's departure. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was intended to launch a new wave of cosmic films, that role is now being played by The Eternals, and the consequence is inevitable; little by little, the studio's focus is changing. Marvel may not have canceled Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but the project is most certainly in trouble.
More: Marvel's Eternals: Every Update You Need To Know
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