Marvel’s newest movie Eternals is a pretty ambitious film. The director Chloe Zhao, Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige, and many others have advertised this movie as being different from any other movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I would have to agree; this movie is vastly different from anything we’ve ever seen in the MCU so far, but I don’t think it worked in its favor. In my opinion, I didn’t hate the movie, but I don’t think I liked it either. I don’t know if it’s because it is different, that the movie is bad, or because we have seen something so similar for a long time that something different feels bad. All Marvel movies tend to follow a specific formula, there’s no question about that, but Eternals doesn’t do that so it sits in an odd place in the MCU.

I will admit when I first watched the movie I was fully expecting a movie like the Avengers or Shang-Chi. But Eternals isn’t the type of movie where you can turn your brain off for 2 hours. Yes, all the Marvel movies that have come before have all been jam-packed, action movies, and recently have leaned more towards deep stories and characters. But with a 10 character cast and a large period in which the movie is explored, the movie’s not too reliant on fight scenes or action because at the end of the day it’s not that kind of story. There is action in the movie, but there are more important things that are meant to be thought about such as the themes of friendship, moral dilemmas, and the definition of family.

There are a lot of character traits that could easily be missed if you’re not paying attention. The film talks about how living on a planet for thousands of years can change a person and how these characters quite literally have the power to change the world. However, they were instructed not to, and now living with this decision of whether to break protocol or follow ethics changes how they perceive their purpose. But because this movie is such an ambitious task, not all the elements are properly executed.

Due to the large cast, not everyone develops enough characterizations or connections to the audience. At times some characters can feel disconnected from the audience and others could feel really connected to the audience. These characters are also breaking a lot of boundaries in comic movies with having such a diverse cast of POCs and so many female leads. As Wayne Hills senior and film lover, Vanessa Brown, says “I think that Eternals is doing a great job at breaking down boundaries and is overall entertaining.”

Two characters I was not expecting to be my favorites were Lauren Ridloff’s Makkari and Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos. Makkari was a pleasantly surprising character with beautiful running visuals and a great representation of the first deaf superhero in the MCU and Phastos had a compelling backstory and motivation for the movie. Plus it’s awesome to see that as the MCU’s first openly gay character, Phastos has a well-done story without making oversimplifications or falling into stereotypes. It’s even greater to see that Disney refused to make any edits or cuts to the movie that would remove any of his scenes in countries like Saudi Arabia, a country where the movie is now banned from being shown.

This movie has been mired with controversy and outcry since its announcement during Marvel’s Phase 4 reveals, almost 2 years ago. The film was criticized by internet trolls for gender-bending and allowing POCs to portray characters who were traditionally depicted as white men in the comics. This is a common trait that usually followed many of Marvel’s movies; the studio is criticized for changing a character’s gender or race and as a result, is accused of being unfaithful to the comics.

The movie has gotten largely disappointing reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with a rotten Tomatometer score of 47%. But is this a sign of a larger issue, or is the movie just bad? In my opinion, not it is not bad. It is not so bad to warrant the hate it has gotten. The reviews that this movie has received can be what is largely called “review bombing”: a method in which internet trolls spam bad reviews for movies for often prejudicial or bigoted reasons. In the case of this movie, the inclusion of POCs, a deaf actress, gender-bent characters, and a gay character made many trolls angry. Vanessa Brown agrees, saying, “this film is breaking a lot of walls in the film industry, like having so many female leads and people of color as leading roles. As well as having a female director. This might prompt such hate.”

Salma Hayek’s Ajak, Lauren Ridloff’s Makkari, and Lia McHugh’s Sprite were all depicted as white men in issue #1 of The Eternals comic line in 1976. Most argued that the inclusion of women in these roles was unnecessary and led to the belief that women characters should be allowed to be changed to men. However, what is often overlooked is that characters who are women in the comics are women because a large part of their character depended on them being women. This also applies to other characters of different races such as Shang-Chi, Black Panther, John Stewart, and Black Lightning, and even extends to those who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community like Aqualad, Batwoman, Jonathan Kent’s Superboy, and Tim Drake’s Robin. In the past and in a world of comics where mostly white male characters dominated, characters who identified with a different gender were a different race, or were part of the LBGTQIA+ community stood out because of their origins and their identity were important to who they were as characters.

When asked about his opinion on the criticism that the movie has levied, Wayne Hills teacher and superhero fan Christian Goebelbecker, said, “I don’t think it is a coincidence that the critical reception of Eternals, a film that by most measures is one of the most diverse films in the MCU, has been panned.” This is the first MCU movie that has prided itself on being different and its diversity was also its selling point. However, this also made it a prime target for internet trolls to hate on the movie for prejudicial reasons. “It takes the MCU in a new direction, and it features a cast that represents this refreshing change,” he expanded.

Changing the genders of these characters and allowing POCs to portray these characters not only diversifies the cast and gives opportunities to those who normally wouldn’t have them, but it also gives more opportunities into what kind of stories they could explore because of their differences to their comic counterparts. In all honesty, I was wondering if the movie would show how the Eternals would react to the politics of the world and how people of different races or genders were mistreated, especially since a majority of these characters are part of groups that used to be and continue to be marginalized. To my disappointment, they didn’t delve into that, but it does leave the door open for future possibilities.

Goebelbecker also puts it, “Eternals is being criticized not for its shortcomings as an ambitious, but occasionally slow and confusing epic, but rather the fact that it is not representing the audience that thinks everything should be made for them.” More often than not, when new characters are introduced or pre-existing characters are changed, fans like to complain that comics have become too political. However, they fail to understand that comics have always been political. Captain America is a perfect example as his first comic appearance has him punching Adolf Hitler. Moreover, he has more than once been disillusioned with being the symbol of America to the world and has questioned his faith in a country that he admits is flawed. Even recently in the MCU, Sam Wilson hung up his Falcon attire and donned the mantle of Captain America as per the wishes of his predecessor, Steve Rogers, and people were still mad. It wasn’t because of comic accuracy that Sam Wilson became Captain America in the comics too. Fans were unhappy to see a Black man carry the stars and stripes.

Eternals is a different movie. It is by no means a perfect movie, nor is it a terrible movie either. It is fully understandable if you don’t like this movie and, truthfully, I don’t think I do. Regardless of your own enjoyability, the criticisms and hate that this movie has received is unprecedented and ultimately highlights an ever-present problem in the world of comics and comic book movies as a whole. This movie is worth a watch because it truly is decisive and it’s really hard to know if you like it or not if you haven’t already watched it.