Before Avengers: Endgame premiered, word on the street was that audiences would see every big Marvel Cinematic Universe hero come together in one epic sequence to stop Thanos and his forces once and for all. Fortunately, that was almost the case, as everyone followed Captain America's call to fight (except for Black Widow and Vision, who bit the dust earlier in the story). So the logical question is: How can Disney ever hope to top this? Well, it's easy: By doing the same, except with more characters.
Avengers: Doomsday is nearly here, and anticipation is at an all-time high for Marvel to raise the bar for superhero adaptations yet again. But while it would be easy to assume every hero introduced from Phase 4 onwards will show up in the fight against the Ruler of Latveria, it seems that won't be the case.
Kathryn Hahn, the amazing actress behind Agatha Harkness, revealed that she won't appear in the upcoming crossovers. Furthermore, reports indicated that Moon Knight would be missing out on the multiversal adventure as well (even though it was recently indicated otherwise). Now, yet another Marvel star confirmed their absence from the movie, and it could mean very bad news for a big group of heroes.
Makkari "not likely" to return in Avengers: Doomsday
During an interview with The Direct, Lauren Ridloff was asked if she would reprise her role as Makkari during the events of Avengers: Doomsday. Unfortunately, she stated that the beloved speedster Eternal might not return in the highly-anticipated crossover (via her sign language interpreter):
"Not likely. I don't know, my magic eight ball is telling me not likely."
Knowing that Makkari could miss out on the movie also begs the question of whether the same scenario will apply to the Eternals as a whole. When Marvel Studios revealed the first part of the cast for Avengers: Doomsday, not a single Eternal made it onto the list. On the other hand, entire teams like the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Thunderbolts were confirmed to make an appearance. Granted, there's a slight chance that Marvel is simply trying to keep a few surprises until the release date. However, things don't look promising when looking at the character's history on the big screen.
Eternals was the first-ever MCU movie to be considered a critical failure, even when Kevin Feige claimed its initial pitch was among "the best he's ever heard". Furthermore, the movie likely resulted in a loss for Disney, considering its not-so-subtle budget of $236.2 million plus marketing expenses and a box-office of only a bit over $400 million. After such a poor response, Kevin himself revealed that there were "no immediate plans" for Eternals 2, and it seems the movie was scrapped internally at the studio.
Granted, Kingo made a return in What If...? Season 3, and the giant Celestial frozen during the events of Eternals was a major plot point in Captain America: Brave New World. So it seems Marvel is open to the return of these characters and stories even if it isn't on their own standalone sequel. However, Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be a really crowded project — so much so that not every single character will be able to have some minutes of screen time. With that in mind, it would make sense for another beloved group of characters (such as the X-Men) to steal the spotlight while the Eternals are relegated to the sidelines, at least until the Multiverse Saga is over.
Hopefully, Marvel won't simply pretend like the Eternals never happened in the long run. That being said, it's best if we all lower our expectations of seeing any of them during Avengers: Doomsday, especially after Lauren Ridloff's statement.
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on May 1, 2026.