The Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally addressed Eternals' Celestial plot hole about Tiamut thanks to She-Hulk: Attorney At Law episode 2. Chloé Zhao's Phase 4 MCU movie was always bound to create some massive questions for the franchise. The Eternals living on Earth for thousands of years was a big enough reveal for audiences to digest, but Eternals' ending raised an even bigger plot hole. It was revealed that Tiamut the Celestial was growing inside of Earth and was ready to be born, destroying the planet in the process. The Eternals stopped this from happening to save humanity, but that meant Tiamut was frozen in the middle of the ocean.

While most MCU movies leave lingering questions, Eternals having a Celestial emerge from the ocean is about as big as they get. The moment had since begun to frustrate MCU viewers as Marvel never addressed any of the fallout from a game-changing world event. In the time since Eternals' release, there have been more references to a Captain America musical and Doctor Strange's Spider-Man identity spell than the most shocking global event since The Blip. Understandably, some began to wonder if Marvel was ever going to address the Celestial-sized revelation.

Now, Eternals' Celestial plot hole has finally been addressed by Marvel in She-Hulk episode 2. Early on in the episode, Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) is using her computer and the camera shows the website she is looking at. It is at this moment that She-Hulk references Eternals' Celestial Tiamut by having an article linked on the website with the headline: "Why There Is A Giant Statue Of A Man Sticking Out Of The Ocean." The headline indicates that those in the MCU do not understand who Tiamut is or how he got there. But, She-Hulk episode 2 at least acknowledges Eternals' massive Celestial mystery and shows that people in the MCU are just as curious to know more as viewers are to see the fallout.

MCU Phase 5 Can't Keep Ignoring Eternals

She-Hulk's Eternals reference is just one of a few connections Marvel has made to the movie in Phase 4. The MCU needs to change in Phase 5 and stop ignoring what Eternals introduced. Marvel Studios has not confirmed any plans for the Eternals characters going forward, including appearances in other MCU projects or announcing Eternals 2. The divisive response might not have helped elevate the franchise's importance, but Marvel can not continue to act like Eternals' events never happened. There are teases that Kumail Nanjiani's Kingo will be referenced multiple times going forward, but that is not enough.

The Eternals might not be confirmed to factor into the Multiverse Saga plans at this point, but the MCU has multiple chances to involve the characters and storylines in Phases 5 and 6. Eternals' Tiamut reveal could even be mentioned again in Phase 4 if Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has Namor (Tenoch Huerta) show how the Celestial's emergence disrupted life underwater. Otherwise, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could use its cosmic setting to include some Eternals, while Blade bringing back Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) could tie up some loose ends. The key here is that She-Hulk: Attorney At Law needs to be the start of more Eternals acknowledgments in the MCU.

New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law release on Thursdays on Disney+.

Even as the fate hangs in the balance in Marvel's A.X.E.: Judgment Day event, the heroic Eternals continue to lie to the X-Men, and the Earth, about the true cost of an Eternal life, and this lie may change the direction of mutantkind for years to come.

The impetus for Ikaris' heroic Eternals break from the rest of Eternal society in Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic's recent Eternals series was their discovery that anytime an Eternal is killed and resurrected by the Great Machine, a human life is sacrificed to empower this resurrection process. While Eternals like Ikaris, Sersi, and Thena were disgusted by this discovery and fled to the Deviant city of Lemuria, they have continued to choose not to tell their human and mutant allies about this uncomfortable truth, even as Druig's rule as the Prime Eternal takes the rest of their race into an all-out war against the X-Men.

The first phase of Druig's horrific attack on mutantkind was two-pronged, sending Thanos' evil grand-uncle Uranos to slaughter the mutants on Arakko while deploying armored Eternal warriors and the kaiju-like Hex Eternals to assault the nation of Krakoa. In A.X.E. Judgment Day #2 the X-Men of Krakoa succeed in killing the Hex named Syne the Memotaur, and it is revealed that a human named Arjun was killed by the Great Machine to use his life force and resurrect Syne, meaning that the mutants just accidentally murdered a human, unintentionally breaking the first law of Krakoa, "Kill No Man." Of course, the X-Men have zero clue that the Eternal's immortality rests on the mortality of man, and X-Men #13 - written by Gerry Duggan with art by Carlos Villa and Matt Milla - shows that the Eternals, even the "heroic" ones, have no intention of letting the X-Men or Avengers in on their secrets. Jean Grey desperately reaches out to Ikaris, imploring his help in ending the battle. Ikaris is able to tell Jean that the X-Men must destroy Uranos' armory, where the Hex's power stems from, but he only offers his help to access the armory if Jean promises the X-Men won't kill any Eternals.

It may seem like Ikaris is doing this out of loyalty to the Eternals, but clearly he is doing it because he is horrified that a murdered Eternal equals a dead innocent human. Still, it begs the question: "Why not tell Jean Grey and the X-Men about this?" The Eternals recently lied to the Avengers about the return of Thanos, who almost destroyed the entire planet, and this lie backfired greatly, leading to the Avengers distrusting the Eternals. Sadly, it seems like these supposedly wise immortal beings have not learned their lesson.

If the X-Men kill an Eternal they will effectively also be killing a human - an offense which is against one of the three central laws of Krakoa. Not only could this change Krakoa's entire outlook on the death of humans, perhaps separating them even further from their humanity and causing a greater divide between mutantkind and the humans of Earth, but their incidental murders of humans could cause the newly resurrected Celestial to judge them harshly, evne though it was the Celestials who created the Great Machine's resurrection protocols.

As the war between the X-Men and the Eternals wages on, with Celestial judgment looming in the background, the Eternals' continued lies about the true cost of an Eternal resurrection could cause the X-Men to accidentally slaughter innocent humans, altering the trajectory mutantkind's entire future.

With new announcements expected from Marvel Studios at D23, many are wondering whether Eternals 2 will fill one of the eight empty slots in Phase 6. So far, only Fantastic Four, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars have been announced for Phase 6, and while these came as welcome surprises at 2022's San Diego Comic Con, there has been a huge amount of speculation about what upcoming projects will fill in the gaps. Since its release in November 2021, anything relating to Eternals has been strangely absent from the MCU, but that may be about to change.

Taking place from September 9 to 11, 2022's D23 Expo will see many new announcements from the world of Disney. Marvel Studios' presence at the event is highly anticipated by MCU fans, especially after some surprise confirmations of release dates and new projects for the MCU at Comic-Con. However, there were some notable absences from the Comic-Con reveals that have left viewers wondering where some rumored projects will fit into the MCU's future, including the likes of Spider-Man 4, Shang-Chi 2, and Eternals 2, so there is a possibility that these titles might make an appearance at the D23 Expo.

Eternals' cliffhanger ending stirred up immediate speculation of a sequel, and when nothing was revealed about a potential Eternals 2 at Comic-Con, the focus shifted to the upcoming D23 Expo. Eternals introduced many new characters and a world-changing narrative to the MCU that hasn't been mentioned since, so it would stand to reason that a sequel will be announced at D23. The Eternals' futures in the MCU are uncertain, but with two major Avengers films coming in 2025, they must be making their return soon.

Eternals 2 Has To Happen Soon (Or The Post-Credits Looks Bad)

The post-credits scene of Eternals featured the debut of Patton Oswalt as Pip the Troll and Harry Styles as Eros, the much more attractive brother of Thanos. These introductions garnered a huge response from audiences and seemed to set up something big happening in the Eternals' future, but there is yet to be a pay-off for this cliffhanger ending. It would be great for Marvel Studios to give audiences some insight into the future of these characters at D23.

After the Celestial Arishem took Sersi (Gemma Chan), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry) from the Earth in the final moments of Eternals, the remaining members of the team, Thena (Angelina Jolie), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), and Druig (Barry Keoghan), began a search of the cosmos for their missing kin, joined by Pip and Eros on board the Domo. With this seemingly being the start of their journey together, it seems strange that their mission would be put on hold for years while other MCU projects are released. The only way this could work is if Eternals took the same approach as Guardians of the Galaxy, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 taking place a few months after the first film instead of the three-year release date gap.

An announcement of Eternals 2 at D23 would help to cement the grand narrative woven in Eternals further into the MCU and validate that surprising post-credits scene. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars coming up at the close of the Multiverse Saga, Eternals 2 would be the perfect candidate to fill one of the eight gaps left in Phase 6. Luckily, thanks to the D23 Expo, MCU viewers hopefully won't have to wait long for some new announcements.

Over the decades, the Marvel Universe has been home to countless powerful teams. But not all groups have lasted, and many more have formed as a means to an end. For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this direction could be a fantastic way to introduce another short-lived team and give them a purpose that could justify how powerful they were. And the best part is that it could get done in a film like Eternals 2.

In the first Eternals, the film ended with half of the team remaining on Earth before being kidnapped by Arishem, and the second half traveling to space to find fellow Eternals and warn them of what the Celestials were doing. However, the space group got stopped by Starfox, who sent them on a mission to save their friends from Arishem. But with Eternals 2 seemingly confirmed, this could be the start of a new era for the team and the perfect chance for them to cross paths with the larger MCU.

During a particular run of Guardians of the Galaxy by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, Thanos had recently been killed but revealed to his brother Starfox that he planned to resurrect himself in the body of another. That spurned Starfox to create his own team of Dark Guardians, consisting of Gladiator, Wraith, Frank Castle from Earth-TRN666 and Nebula, to kill Thanos' potential vessel. However, when it got revealed that Eros was the vessel, it caused the Guardians and Dark Guardians to join forces to fight the Black Order and Hela and stop Thanos' grand plan.

While this worked well in the comics, the MCU's landscape isn't as secure and has left the door open for new iterations of these stories and teams to form. For example, Wraith, Gladiator and Cosmic Ghost Rider have yet to get introduced. However, Starfox could easily have Makkari, Druig and Thena take their places because they're strong and know how dangerous Thanos could be. That said, there's still a matter of what will be left of the Guardians come Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. With it unclear who could live or die, it's possible that some of the more important players could get swapped and include new names like Nova, Adam Warlock and Beta Ray Bill.

Nevertheless, having these Eternals and potentially Nebula, Rocket and Gamora join the team, the Dark Guardians could have a cold-blooded roster that would stop at nothing to ensure Thanos wouldn't return. Plus, it could offer a chance for a new Black Order to form since everyone got destroyed in Avengers: Endgame. That said, no matter who the enemy could be or how the story could unfold, it'd be clear that the best outcome from this would be that both the Guardians and Eternals could have a clearer picture of where each franchise is going.

There's no doubt that a new Eternals story should focus solely on the Eternals and their interactions with others and the MCU. However, there's no reason it shouldn't also set up the future and give the group an opportunity to strive for a more present purpose, like stopping the return of Thanos. Now that the Eternals no longer have to obey Arishem, they could interfere with the world as much as they'd like and ensure no other world-ending events should take place. In the process, it would also be the chance to introduce a powerful and violent team no one would expect.