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As Marvel’s Eternals plays out, the movie unravels a sinister twist. However, it falls flat because of Invincible’s secretive, murderous arc.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Eternals, now in theaters.
As Marvel’s Eternals plays out, it has layers of a crime procedural as the heroic aliens have to figure out who murdered one of their own on Earth. No one should be this powerful, which leads to clues that a new strain of Deviant is indeed the culprit. However, in the final act, the movie unravels a sinister twist as to the true killer’s identity, but it falls flat because of Invincible.
It’s revealed that Ikaris is the one who killed Ajak, as he didn’t want her stopping the plan for Earth to be destroyed so Tiamut, a new Celestial, could be born. But the issue with this is it’s telegraphed way too early and also, given Ikaris’ power-set, it’s predictable for anyone who’s seen Invincible.
Invincible has Omni-Man killing the Guardians of the Globe early on, with the show not even hiding it that much. He was simply preparing the planet for his Utopians to invade, take over and make it a better cog in their galactic coalition. In his eyes, the cosmos needed this to evolve, which is also what Ikaris and Ajak initially believe because Arishem, their boss, conditioned them to understand one dead planet allows more to be created.
This isn’t a bad twist but the execution doesn’t help. Viewers can spot Ikaris’ god complex early on, coming off like a warped Superman, akin to Omni-Man. The moment he goes missing in the opening act and then conveniently returns to save Sersi, it’s clear Ikaris isn’t telling the truth. This makes her similar to Mark/Invincible as she tries to stop the deceit in the end, but had she looked closely at Ikaris’ behavior, the signs are present early on.
Sersi’s ex-lover is devoted to Arishem in an extremist fashion, obsessed with being Ajak’s successor, and from the way he’s always insisting Deviants killed their mother figure, there’s a series of clear tells. Many scenes don’t even shy away from Ikaris sulking and being obstinate after Sersi’s given Ajak’s leadership orb. Eternals should have been subtle and hidden his expressions, crafting more tension and drama, and ultimately a bigger surprise.
It doesn’t help that Ajak’s love for Earth is foreshadowed midway through when she mentally connects to Arishem, hinting that Ikaris the wannabe general will usurp her. Arishem reminding her of her place should have been left for later on in Eternals, along with other scenes of Ikaris wanting the throne. Had he waited to backstab them right when Tiamut was emerging, that could have surprised the audience immensely. At this point, the film could have then shown him meeting and chiding Ajak for her betrayal, Ajak’s fealty to Arishem wavering and Ikaris’ ultimate murder by throwing her to the Deviants.
That’s the kind of creative blindsiding that many superhero movies lack due to their adherence to decades of comic lore. Instead, the flashbacks don’t work in the chronological arrangement as is, as audiences are left knowing and waiting for Ikaris to attack his kin. It ends up feeling a lot like Omni-Man trying to trick, distract and eventually convince Mark, with the Eternals similarly telling Ikaris to shove it. Sadly, Eternals loses traction this way, which is sad because the emotions, characters and overall narrative were there to make Ikaris a truly deceptive tyrant who inevitably realizes the error of his ways.
To see how Ikaris’ heel turn falls flat, Eternals is in theaters now.
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