Eternals final trailer teases Deviants, Celestials and the world's end

The cast of Marvel's Eternals movie including Richard Madden, Salma Hayek and Gemma Chan
(Image credit: Disney/Marvel Studios)

The final trailer for Marvel's Eternals had arrived – and it appears that the MCU's newest (or should that be oldest?) superhero group will have plenty to contend with.

Released on Thursday, August 19, the last teaser trailer for the forthcoming movie finally gives viewers a look at the film's two sets of villains – the Deviants, including their leader Kro, and the Celestials – and reveals why the Eternals have finally come out of hiding.

The reason? The world is set to end in seven days. No pressure then.

Check out the new trailer below:

The trailer comes packed with new footage. We get a first glimpse at Kit Harington's Dane Whitman, Kro – who has a complicated history with Angelina Jolie's Thena in the comics – and two Celestials, who are the powerful cosmic beings who apparently created the Marvel multiverse.

The latter are seemingly key to the so-called Emergence that Salma Hayek's Ajak mentions at the beginning of the trailer, which we'll explain in more detail below.

Marvel's Eternals will be the next MCU Phase 4 movie following Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which lands in theaters on September 3. Eternals is currently slated for an exclusive theatrical release but, recently, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was coy on its prospects (per Variety) about heading to Disney Plus, too.


Analysis: what is the Emergence event in Marvel's Eternals?

Gemma Chan as Sersi looking worried in Marvel's Eternals

(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney)

There's a lot to take in from the latest Eternals trailer, but the biggest question that most Marvel fans have is this: what exactly is the Emergence?

With the Avengers bringing half of the universe's population back to life in Endgame, it appears that those returning individuals have unleashed a massive surge in cosmic energy across the MCU. This has caused the "Emergence to begin", according to Hayek's Ajak – and it doesn't sound like good news.

In our opinion, there are two possible options about what this Emergence event will entail.

The first relates to the Deviants – the monstrous, villainous alien race that the Eternals have battled for millennia.

With such a huge spike in cosmic energy, it's possible that the Deviants have come out of hiding themselves in order to siphon the energy for their own means. It's that, or they know that Earth's defenses (i.e the Avengers) have been weakened by such a brutal battle with Thanos' forces, so now is the perfect time for them to strike and become the new rulers of Earth.

Sure, they may not realize that the Eternals are still around (maybe the Deviants thought that the Eternals helped in the fight against Thanos?) but they'll know soon enough.

The second and more plausible explanation, though, relates to the Celestials.

In the comics, the Celestials return to planets like Earth, which they used to create and foster life as universal experiments, often to judge whether a world's dominant species is evolving as intended. 

These incidents are called Host Events and, if a planet's primary species isn't progressing as planned, the Celestials wipe them from existence and start again. We see this happen early on in the new trailer, with a huge tidal wave destroying a portion of the planet.

It's possible that these Host Events have been renamed to the Emergence in the Eternals movie, which is a simpler term to understand. 

So the Emergence will likely relate to the Celestials showing up once more to judge humanity. It would tie into the 'seven days before the world ends' line that Ajak relays to Richard Madden's Ikaris and, given the events of Endgame, maybe the Celestials feel that they have to find out why there was such a huge surge in cosmic energy that has its roots on Earth.

Either way, it won't be much longer until we find out for sure. Marvel's Eternals lands in theaters on November 5.

Senior Entertainment Reporter

As TechRadar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as this Moon Knight TV spot.

Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across. Got a scoop, interesting story, or an intriguing angle on the latest news in entertainment? Feel free to drop him a line.