Pop star Harry Styles has officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his debut as Eros in Eternals. Because he only appeared in a post-credit scene, we’re just seeing the start of what’s to come with the character in the MCU. The casting has generated a lot of discussion with fans when Styles first showed up as they speculate over when Eros might pop up again elsewhere.
Speaking about Eros in a new interview with Empire, Chloé Zhao reveals that she originally wanted him to appear earlier in the film. Seeing his arrival has been a long time coming for Zhao as she had personally been lobbying for it with Marvel boss Kevin Feige. She had already spent so much time thinking about storyline possibilities for Eros and suggests there’s a lot of territory to explore with him as the brother of Thanos, master of the Blip.
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Zhao explains how in the comic books, you can see the “beautiful, heartbreaking influence” Eros has had on his brother. The director notes she loves Thanos as a character because she has to use her imagination to explain why the villain thinks the way he does. It also has Zhao wondering how much Eros knows of his brother’s deeds and what Thanos is thinking, and she’s come up with her own little backstory for the MCU version of the character. Zhao also notes how Eros had to be Harry Styles, otherwise, she wasn’t interested in using him at all.
It’s unclear when Harry Styles will pop back up as Eros in the MCU, as Marvel likes to keep as many of these things as secret as they can. Because of the interest in his casting, it seems likely we’ll see him again sooner rather than later. Until then, you can check out Eternals when it starts streaming on Disney+ on Jan. 12, 2022.
