The potential sequel to one of the first movies to kick off Phase 4 in the post-Endgame era of Marvel stories just got a demoralizing update for fans of the project. A new report from Variety claims that Eternals 2 is not in development at Marvel Studios, despite the recent Brave New World trailer teasing a tie-in with the first film. The trailer shows Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) zooming past Tiamut, the giant Celestial that has been sticking out of the ocean for the better part of three years now. Eternals was helmed by Chloé Zhao, the Academy Award-winning director who also wrote the screenplay along with Patrick Burleigh and Ryan and Kaz Firpo. The film grossed just over $400 million at the worldwide box office, and currently sits at a “rotten” score of 47% from critics and a 77% rating from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s important to note that this is not final; just because Variety reports that an Eternals sequel isn’t in active development doesn’t mean that Marvel doesn’t have future plans for the Eternals either in their own movie or other crossover projects. It’s entirely possible that work on Eternals 2 is simply on pause at the moment while Marvel decides exactly how it wants to proceed with Robert Downey Jr. now returning to the franchise to play the legendary villain, Doctor Doom. It’s clear after Jonathan Majors was terminated and Kang was discarded as the feature villain of the Multiverse Saga that Marvel is still undergoing some structural change, so here’s hoping Eternals 2 is merely on pause, not canceled.

There’s Endless Potential for More ‘Eternals’ Stories in the MCU

News of another Eternals project has been up in the air since Eternals premiered in 2021 and concluded with the message “Eternals will return.” Many fans speculated that the best way to tell an Eternals story was via a Disney+ series, where each character could receive more screen time, which was one of the biggest knocks against the film. Because it was revealed that the Eternals were just robots created by the Celestials to do their bidding, there is endless potential to bring back even the characters who perished without tarnishing their deaths in the movie.

Eternals 2 is reportedly not in development at Marvel Studios, but Kevin Feige has not yet confirmed it is scrapped.

via Collider