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While Eternals is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to reference DC’s Superman, another Marvel film has it beat by 19 years.
Marvel’s Eternals has proven to be an experimental outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only does the film bring in all-new characters, but it also has a different aesthetic from other MCU outings and is one of the first MCU films to have an Oscar-winning director at its helm. But there’s one aspect of the movie that has truly baffled fans. In a TV spot, it was revealed that Eternals includes a scene that references an iconic superhero that is not part of the Marvel brand.
In the scene in question, a boy who appears to be Phastos’ (Brian Tyree Henry) son excitedly runs up to Ikaris (Richard Madden) and confuses him with Superman. He points out the fact that Ikaris can shoot “laser beams” out of his eyes, a trait that the character does, in fact, share with the Man of Steel. Ikaris points out to the boy that, unlike Superman, he doesn’t “wear a cape.” While the scene is mainly meant to be an Easter egg and a tribute to the character, it seems to have surprised many fans because no previous MCU entries made any references to its main competitor.
It should be noted, though, that this is not the first time a Marvel film has referenced Superman. Back in 2002, the first installment of Sam Raimi’s now-iconic Spider-Man trilogy had more than one callback to the DC character. One particularly noteworthy moment happened not long before the film’s climax. While commenting on the fact that Peter Parker “does too much,” his Aunt May says, “you’re not Superman, you know.” This scene, which also appeared in the movie’s trailer, was meant as a humorous moment, as Aunt May was not aware that her nephew led a double life as a superhero. Even so, like Eternals, the Superman reference did leave certain viewers wondering how Spider-Man knew about the character.
Of course, when watching the original Spider-Man, it is easy to deduce what this means within the movie’s context, even if it is never explained. After all, he is not the only DC character to be mentioned in the film. For instance, Peter shouts “Shazam” while trying to figure out his organic webs. These passive references imply that these DC characters exist as fictional comic book characters in his world, whereas Spider-Man is a “real” superhero.
This theory could further be supported by another scene in Spider-Man 2. During one scene, Peter asks his Aunt May what happened to his comics and she reveals she threw them away. While it is never specified what comics those were, it does suggest that Peter grew up reading them. As such, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Superman and Shazam were somewhere in his comic book collection, considering the references made in the first Spider-Man.
With this in mind, it seems obvious that Eternals, along with the MCU in general, is following in the same footsteps with regards to its DC references. After all, it has already been established that superheroes were a popular comic book genre in their world, with Captain America: The First Avenger showing that his comics exist. Therefore, chances are that characters from the DC universe could also be popular in Marvel’s world, but in a fictional capacity. It would explain the boy’s excitement over seeing a Superman-like figure, and it is also an interesting layer of worldbuilding as well.
To see how DC fits into the MCU, Eternals is now available on Disney+.
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