Not many people today look back on or talk about Eternals, Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao's Marvel debut, which was meant to establish a fresh and somewhat different team of superheroes. But things didn't exactly go as planned. Instead of becoming the massive hit Marvel had hoped for, Eternals wound up as one of the lowest-grossing entries in the MCU - and also one of the worst-reviewed, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 47%.
Now Kumail Nanjiani, who played the character Kingo, has opened up about how the failure affected him personally. In an interview on Mike Birbiglia's podcast, he revealed that the poor reception left him crushed:
"I had waited a year and a half during the pandemic thinking, 'When this comes out, everything changes.' But then it came out, got bad reviews, and bombed. I realized I needed therapy to deal with it."
Adding to the sting, Nanjiani had already signed contracts for six films, a video game, and even a theme park attraction. He thought his future in the MCU was secure. Instead, he was handed a cold reality check he won't soon forget.
What did you think of Eternals? What could Marvel have done differently?
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