That said, Eternals did appear to have more going for it than the standard MCU fare. It was directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao and counted among its cast some of the best young actors of our generation, including Brian Tyree Henry and Barry Keoghan. Harington also got to reteam with Westerosi brother/cousin Richard Madden in the film.
Eternals met with terrible reviews and often ranks among the worst of the franchise’s entries. Yet, few would blame Harington for the film’s shortcomings. His playful take on a normal guy who finds out that his girlfriend’s ex is Ikarus, essentially Superman, gave Eternals some much needed energy.
Or, to put it less charitably, Harington stood out in Eternals precisely because he wasn’t a superfan of the comics. But it’s not common to hear someone in a fan franchise express such disinterest in the source material. Edward Norton name dropped Frank Miller when talking about The Incredible Hulk and Benedict Cumberbatch has spread pictures of him with Doctor Strange trade paperbacks on social media.
That said, Harington is part of a growing number of performers who don’t feel the need to pay deference to the source material. Recently, the ever-irascible Harrison Ford used the most practical of terms to describe his decision to join the MCU as Thunderbolt Ross and the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World. When asked by Variety what it took to get him to join the franchise, Ford responded, “It took not caring. It took being an idiot for money, which I’ve done before.”
Assuming they exist, super-fans of Red Hulk or the Black Knight might take exception to the actors’ flippant perspectives. However, it’s important to remember that actors need room to create their own characters, instead of simply walking through the steps of stories that have already been told.
It’s hard to believe that Harington will ever come back to the MCU after Eternals, but given the shocking cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine, maybe he’ll answer the call from Marvel again.