Eternals director Chloe Zhao broke down and explained the major decision made by Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo in the film’s finale.
Major spoilers ahead for Marvel Studios’ Eternals.
Eternals‘ third act began with the crew learning that Ikaris was privy to the Celestial’s plan for the great emergence and that he was simply distracting the team with the Deviants so the plan could go ahead. Should the great emergence happen, billions of humans would die, but the birth of the Celestial Tiamut would lead to billions of other species flourishing. By stopping the emergence, the Eternals would essentially be eradicating potentially billions of other life forms.
The moral debate that the Eternals faced in the film was fascinating, but one of the standout moments from Chloe Zhao’s film was when Kumail Nanjiani’s Kingo agreed with Ikaris and the Celestials. Despite his love for humanity, Kingo believed it was more important for other civilizations to get their start. Instead of fighting his teammates like Sprite and Ikaris, Kingo opted to divorce himself entirely from the final battle, one of the film’s most jarring and inspired moments.
Chloe Zhao broke down the major decision in an interview with Uproxx, describing it as one of the most important moments in the entire film.
“That is one of my, personally, most important moments in the film. Because we would like to, through this film, the idea to challenge some of the foundations of this genre. We really do feel like we’re entering the revisionist stage of superhero genre – I think at the edge of it. And the idea of black and white morality, the ideas of humans are automatically worth saving. What does strength look like? And also, the idea that you have to always punch your way through everything. You have to be violent physically to be heroic, as long as you’re on the right side.”
“[Kingo] loves Earth, but he has strong beliefs, just like Ikaris. He’s no different than Ikaris in terms of his faith for the Celestials and believing in the greater good: The fact that human beings and Earth doesn’t have the right to break out of the natural order. He believes that. However, the big difference between him and Ikaris is that he might believe something personally, but he does not believe that he should hurt other people for his beliefs.”
Despite divorcing himself from the final battle and allowing his teammates to solve the problem themselves, Kingo was taken alongside Sersi and Phastos by Arishem. It’ll be interesting to see if we get to see what happens to the trio, as well as the other surviving Eternals. Seeing as the film was critically panned, and producer Nate Moore suggesting that a sequel isn’t on the way, Kingo’s future seems uncertain.
Here is the synopsis for Marvel Studios’ Eternals:
“The story takes place across two time periods. One storyline is set in the past when they operated as a formidable team and a close family unit. The second storyline is in the present, when the group has fractured and split apart, content to live among humans, hiding in plain sight. The prevailing threat of the Deviants, which once again threatens the existence of mankind, means the Eternals need to put their differences aside and regroup.”
Chloe Zhao directed Eternals from a script she co-wrote with Patrick Burleigh, Kaz Firpo, and Ryan Firpo. The cast of the Marvel Studios project includes Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kit Harington as Dane Whitman, Salma Hayek as Ajak, and Angelina Jolie as Thena.
Eternals is now in theaters. Stay tuned for all the latest news surrounding the film as well as the future of Marvel Studios, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Uproxx
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