This feature contains spoilers for Marvel’s Eternals. Check out our spoiler-free review if you haven’t seen the film yet.
Eternals is a film of epic proportions, for better or worse. Each of us goes into a story of this magnitude with different perspectives on those highs and lows, but one of the most stand-out aspects of Marvel’s latest entry in Phase 4 is how faith is a low-key player in the narrative that has huge implications in the story as a whole.
The film follows ten immortal beings created by the Celestial Arishem to combat the Deviants. Sersi, Ikarus, Thena, Gilgamesh, Ajak, Kingo, Sprite, Phastos, Druig and Makkari each hold their own unique powerset and use them to meet the will of Arishem who, for all intents and purposes, is their God. But with those unique powers comes their individual belief systems. Though the Deviants pose their own kind of challenge to Arishem and his plan, it’s the faith of the Eternals that the Celestial was never really ready for. That is to say that though Eternals looks like another space epic for Marvel, its story really boils down to the dangers of blind faith and how vexed godlike creatures are by the free will of those that they create.
Given how different the Eternals’ main duo and lovers Ikarus and Sersi are, it appears at first glance that they have the most profound contrast in their belief systems. He chooses to follow their God while Sersi puts her faith in humanity. But at the end of the day, both are willing to go to war over their respective ideals. Their motives separate them, but their actions make them more similar to one another than either would ever willingly admit. Instead, it’s Ikarus and Kingo that seem to be the farthest apart when it comes to how their beliefs translate to action. Rather than faith in Arishem, Kingo is driven by his hero worship of his brother. That devotion is highlighted all throughout the film, including in his frustration that Ajak would name Sersi leader over Ikarus, but the clearest example is in his latest film. Though separated from the entirety of his family, Kingo chooses to pay homage to Ikarus by playing him in his newest Bollywood feature.
Faith can be used for both good and evil, but blind faith is one of the most destructive tools in the multiverse. Though Ikarus and Kingo are both examples of this toxicity, they play with it on different sides of the proverbial coin. One moves through destruction while the other chooses inaction and, while Kingo’s passivity is infinitely more interesting than yet another powerful being choosing to mow down anyone who dares stand in his way, both paths play a part in the temporary crumbling of their dysfunctional little family.
For Ikarus, his motivation is rooted in his blind faith in Arishem’s will. The Prime Celestial — sometimes known as Arishem the Judge — sees humanity, the Deviants, and even the Eternals as lesser beings. As a result, he has little concern with questions of morality. This trait is passed to Ikarus who, despite loving his family, truly believes that their sole purpose is to bring about the end of humanity so that the Celestial Tiamut may be born. His unyielding belief in their creator means that he would turn against them all, even the love of his life and the leader he idolized, in an attempt to ensure the universal order laid out to him by his god.
Ikarus’ path isn’t a new one. We’ve watched the most powerful men in both fact and fiction tread down it countless times. Kingo, on the other hand, presents a more interesting story. Despite Sersi being chosen as the leader of the Eternals after Ajak’s untimely death, Kingo constantly refers to Ikarus as “boss” and believes him to be the leader. In his eyes, his brother is physically the strongest, and that's why he’s the one the team should follow. So, when the time comes for the familial split, Kingo chooses to leave as well.
Some viewers have struggled with the fact that Kingo disappears for the main battle and doesn’t return until the final scenes of Eternals, but his absence itself isn’t what’s interesting here. It’s the contrast of departure that makes him stand out against his murderous brother. Kingo believes Ikarus is right, and he finds his family foolish for putting their faith in Sersi’s plan, but he actively refuses to respond violently. He tells the rest of the Eternals that he won’t hurt them because of what he believes in, so he leaves. And then that’s it.
Ikarus uses his blind faith to justify his intentions to raze his family and his beloved to the ground; Sprite uses the pain of unrequited love to justify the attempted murder of her best friend; Druig robs an entire village of humans of their free will in favor of peace; but Kingo looks at it all and simply refuses on the grounds that he will not allow his own personal beliefs to result in the harm of other people. Kingo’s inaction fails the Eternals and there’s certainly a long conversation to be had about the fact that inaction in the face of injustice is siding with the oppressor. But his refusal to let his own ideals result in the direct harm of his family is certainly the most interesting choice made in Marvel’s latest film.
