The Eternals; director Chloe Zhao Image : Eternals #1 cover art by Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics); Chloe Zhao by Amanda Edwards (Getty Images)

Marvel’s been teasing its plans to bring Jack Kirby’s weird and wonderful cosmic-powered characters to the big screen for a while, but those plans just took a huge step forward: The Rider director Chloé Zhao has signed on to bring The Eternals to the big screen.


Both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety are reporting that Zhao will direct a script penned by Matthew and Ryan Firpo, known for their 2017 Black List spec script Ruin. Zhao had apparently been in the running to direct the Black Widow solo movie, before Cate Shortland got the gig.

The Eternals were created in 1976 by comics legend Jack Kirby, after he returned to Marvel following a stint with DC Comics; he also created the similarly cosmically-inclined New Gods (themselves being turned into a movie over at Warner Bros., helmed by Ava DuVernay). The Eternals are a human offshoot evolved by the cosmic deities known as the Celestials millions of years in Earth’s past, granting them powers. Hidden among Humanity, the Eternals use those powers to battle the Deviants, their evolutionary siblings-gone-wrong from the Celestial’s cosmic tinkerings. The Hollywood Reporter adds that Zhao’s film will follow the love story of two notable members of the team, “Ikaris, a man fueled by cosmic energy, and Sersi, who relishes moving amongst humans.”




We’ve reached out to Marvel for a comment on Zhao’s hiring, and will update this post if we hear back.