Ma Dong-Seok Joins the Cast of ‘The Eternals’
The third major cast member of Marvel’s The Eternals may have been decided, as Marvel look for an international star in the form of Ma Dong-Seok. Dong-Seok is most well-known for his role in the South Korean zombie movie Train to Busan.
The Wrap got a new exclusive in the form of one of the cast members of The Eternals, with Dong-Seok reportedly joining the ensemble of Marvel superheroes. This will make for Dong-Seok’s first appearance in an American film. So far, The Eternals has cast Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjiani. The film is said to have an abundance of characters, so more casting information is likely to come down the road, and pretty soon.
The Eternals themselves are a race of superpowered beings who served as the inspiration for various ancient legends, religions, and mythologies. Created by godlike alien beings known as the Celestials, the Eternals regularly faced off with their nefarious predecessors, the Deviants, to protect ordinary humans from being destroyed by monsters.
Jack Kirby’s little-known Marvel franchise is incredibly obscure, but the lore he developed for it is associated with several major Marvel characters, including Atlanteans, Lemurians, Olympians, Mutants, Celestials, Skrulls, Genis-Vell, Phyla-Vell, Moondragon, Thanos, and even the likes of Robert E. Howard’s Conan, Kull, and Set (if Marvel are able to obtain the license to use those characters, who did not debut in Marvel Comics). Since the franchise is so heavily-tied to an abundance of Marvel characters and concepts, The Eternals is ultimately an incredibly-important project to develop.
The movie could lay the groundwork for potentially decades of films, particularly as Marvel make use of tons of characters that were previously licensed to Fox. Since those characters can finally appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now that Disney bought the company and have subsequently regained these licenses, The Eternals could lay the groundwork for tons of other concepts, setting the stage for the likes of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men to appear years later. It’s hard to imagine that after eleven years of movies, Marvel’s ambitious shared universe setting is just getting started.
The Eternals is currently in development at Marvel Studios and is currently without a release date. Production is expected to begin in September and conclude in January of next year.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
