Marvel Had One Request For The Eternals Movie After Its Biggest TV Flop
"Eternals" is the Marvel Cinematic Universe's three-hour Oscar-bait film about religious trauma. So it's kind of wild that the studio bigwig's primary concern regarding marketability was filming location. According to "The Reign of Marvel Studios," a 2023 book written by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards (via an exclusive excerpt shared with TVLine), director Chloé Zhao was forbidden from filming in Hawaii. It wasn't because of the ongoing over-tourism controversy, but rather because Marvel refused to allow any potential connection to be drawn between "Eternals" and "The Inhumans."
For those who skipped the MCU's ABC TV series phase, "The Inhumans" follows a royal family from the titular, genetically modified subset of humanity. To phrase it generously, the production was not well-received and Marvel canceled it shortly after Season 1 wrapped on the air. The reason any of this is relevant is because "The Inhumans" was filmed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. As both the short-lived series and Zhao's then-upcoming film center on comparatively obscure teams of super-powered people, Marvel felt that some might consider the Hawaii link one bridge too far for "Eternals" to garner any positive social currency.
Instead, "Eternals" was filmed in various locations such as the Canary Islands, Spain, and London. But despite distancing itself from "The Inhumans," "Eternals" still failed to win over audiences. As of this writing, it remains one of the MCU's lowest-performing installments. Only "The Incredible Hulk," a film that almost predates the MCU, and "The Marvels," the MCU's most recent release, sit beneath it.
Eternals suffered from its own problems
Marvel need not have worried so much about "Eternals" suffering from a connection to "The Inhumans" because Chloé Zhao's film underperformed at the box office all on its own. Shortly after its release, Forbes accused "Eternals" of being the only MCU project to not bill itself as anything other than a superhero film. In comparison, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" was marketed to audiences as a spy thriller that just happened to feature superheroes. Forbes then claimed that Marvel's success is bolstered by its films living in other genres and that, without one, "Eternals" proved itself generic.
The Direct offered a comprehensive list of suggested causes, such as a two-dimensional villain, an absence of chemistry between romantic leads Sersi (Gemma Chan) and Ikaris (Richard Madden), an excessive runtime, and an even more excessive band of new characters with commensurate expositional drag. "Eternals" also suffered review bombing prior to its release.
"Eternals" might not have been allowed to appear correlated with "The Inhumans" but Marvel demanded no such barrier when "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" went into development. The 2022 film features an extended cameo for Black Bolt (Anson Mount) as an active member of the Illuminati, making "The Inhumans" one of the few ABC properties to tie back into the larger MCU, if only briefly.