The Eternals (2021)

Started watching this last night.  I am almost sure the title refers to the 2 hour and 28 minute run time, rather that the titular characters themselves.  Damn this movie is far longer than it needs to be now.  I thought this was an odd choice for a movie, since the Eternals were a new addition to the Marvel Universe.  Especially since they were actually not even set in the MU comic book universe to begin with.  They don't really make sense to exist there anyway, since Marvel had long established the real Olympian Gods have existed there.  Roy Thomas finally brought them together in a great long story line, leading up to Thor #300.  That was my main introduction to the characters.  The two pantheons had a brawl with their counterparts having some choice words for each other.

I have no real attachment to the characters, so I don't really care about the changes.  The whole concept doesn't make sense.  The Eternals didn't fight Thanos, Ultron, etc because they were forbidden to.  They can only fight Deviants on Earth.   What?  That beggars the question- why wouldn't the other heroes start helping them fight the Deviants that are now appearing again.  Are they going to tell the heroes NOT to help?  I would think both Dr. Strange and the Scarlet Witch would sense a Celestial hanging about.  And what about Star Lord who is ostensibly half Celestial (assuming Ego wasn't lying about being a Celestial)?  He has to be kin to them somewhere.

The way the Avengers worked was that we got introduced to the characters over a set of movies before the first team movie.  Debuting a team with so many members, most of which are unknown characters is a challenge, and I had to read who most of them were.  I have enjoyed it, but I am not sure where this movie will lead.  It was not the most profitable of Marvel movies.  The cast is a really good, though.