Warning: SPOILERS for Eternals ahead.
Marvel's latest movie, Eternals, is absolutely packed with Easter eggs - and rewrites the history of the entire MCU. Stan Lee may be Marvel's most famous creator, but he worked with talented figures such as Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, who haven't always received the credit they deserve. In 1976, Kirby returned to Marvel Comics to introduce a group of ancient aliens known as the Eternals, although he didn't originally intend to weave them into the Marvel Universe's overarching narrative. Now, in 2021, they've finally been brought to life on the big screen in a movie that also includes dozens of Easter eggs about the larger MCU.
Eternals is unlike any other Marvel movie to date, a blend of Marvel Studios' bombastic house style with the naturalistic bent of celebrated filmmaker Chloe Zhao. Eternals rewrites the history of the MCU, embedding the Eternals in the history of Earth and its mythology, but it also carefully positions this unique franchise as part of a wider universe - an approach very different to the one employed by Kirby back in the 1970s, who only reluctantly began making nods to other Marvel characters in their comics.
Attentive viewers will spot Easter eggs and subtle comic book nods throughout Eternals, as well as some smart references that help embed these ancient aliens in the evolution of human society. Some are ties to what has come before while others are nods to what MCU Phase 4 and beyond holds. Here are all the MCU Easter eggs in Eternals.
"Before the Six Singularities..."
Eternals is a record-breaker for the MCU as it features an Easter egg in its first few seconds. The opening text crawl, which starts with a Biblical "In the beginning...", reveals that Arishem predates "the six Singularities." This is a reference to the Infinity Stones. In Guardians of the Galaxy, the Collector revealed the Infinity Stones were six singularities that predated the universe and were forged into their most famous form of what he called "concentrated ingots." There's been some speculation the Celestials were the ones who forged them; certainly, the Collector showed footage of one Celestial wielding the Power Stone.
The Domo
The Eternals' ship is called the Domo, and the name in itself is an Easter egg to comic book lore. There, Domo is the name of an Eternal who serves as an on the Eternals' planet Olympia. He's an analog for the New Gods character Metron, right down to traveling in a hoverchair. Clearly, Marvel Studios has no intention of introducing Domo as a character, so they've simply applied the name to the spaceship instead.
The Black Knight's Ring
Sersi gives Dane Whitman the gift of an old ring bearing his family crest, which she claims she bought on eBay. In reality, given this is an ancient historical artifact, it's entirely possible she has had it since the Middle Ages. Although it's not clear in the Eternals movie itself, merchandise has confirmed the crest on the ring is the symbol of the Black Knight, which hails back to the days of King Arthur. The original Black Knight was created by Stan Lee and artist Joe Maneely back in 1955, in a sword-and-sorcery comic set in the days of Camelot, and he wielded the enchanted (and cursed) Ebony Blade. The mantle of the Black Knight has been ed down the generations through his bloodline - and Dane is indeed the current Black Knight in the comics.
Multiple References To The Blip
The Blip - a five-year period that began when Thanos snapped his fingers in Avengers: Endgame - is the biggest event in the MCU's lore to date. It's referenced twice in Eternals, with news footage suggesting human scientists speculated the tremors affecting the Earth were associated with the Blip. A further flashback scene revealed the Blip left Ajak particularly impressed with humanity's resourcefulness.
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At one point, the WandaVision.
Dane Whitman References Doctor Strange
The Masters of the Mystic Arts had been a secret for millennia until Avengers: Endgame. As seen in WandaVision, the whole world seem to have had pretty much a blow-by-blow of the final battle against Thanos (although there's some evidence the Avengers quietly left out the time travel). That means Doctor Strange and the Masters of the Mystic Arts are now public knowledge, confirmed when Dane Whitman's point of reference for Sersi's powers is to assume she's a sorceress like Doctor Strange and to ask if she can turn him into a giraffe.
The Eternals' Ties To Babylon
Given the Eternals landed in Mesopotamia, it's perfectly appropriate for them to settle around Babylon. The Eternals are associated with Babylon in the comics as well, with Gilgamesh ruling there for a time, and the Eternals Ajak, Zuras, Ikaris, and Thena battling Deviants over the city in Eternals: The Herod Factor #1. The Deviant leader Kro had an opportunity to kill Thena in battle but chose to spare her, which was the beginning of a longstanding (and heretical) relationship between the two.
Sprite Also Inspired Peter Pan
In the modern era, a book cover for J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan suggests Sprite - the girl who never ages - was also the inspiration for J.M. Barrie's fictional hero, the boy who can never grow old. It's an amusing touch and raises the question of whether Disney exists in the MCU to make an animated adaptation. This idea is lifted straight from the comics, where the similarities between Sprite and Peter Pan are even more obvious given the Eternal is traditionally male.
The Eternals Knew Thor
The "Eternals Saga" was one of the most important stories featuring the Eternals in the comics, and it was told in the pages of The Mighty Thor; this marked the beginning of Marvel's attempts to integrate Jack Kirby's space gods into their wider comic book universe. Appropriately enough, dialogue in Eternals reveals they have a history with Thor and the Asgardians in the MCU as well. They participated in the Battle of Tønsberg in around 1,000 AD, helping the Asgardians battle against the armies of the Frost Giants. Apparently, on another occasion, Thor visited Midgard and was deeply impressed by the Eternals.
