Marvel Studios and director Chloé Zhao have assembled a massively talented cast for the upcoming blockbuster ETERNALS. At San Diego Comic-Con this summer, it was announced that the film will star Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh and Don Lee. But it turns out that they weren’t quite done building the ensemble at that point. At D23 Expo 2019, even more actors were revealed to be involved with the project, the biggest name among them being “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington.
The actor was brought on stage by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige during Disney’s live-action/animation feature presentation at the Anaheim Convention Center on Saturday, August 24, and it was confirmed that he will be playing the role of Dane Whitman aka Black Knight in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, it has not yet been revealed how exactly he fits into the plot of ETERNALS, but that makes sense given that we don’t actually know what the plot of the film is yet.
Introduced to the pages of Marvel Comics in 1968, Dane Whitman was the third character in the canon to take on the Black Knight mantle. He's a descendant of the original Black Knight, Sir Percy of Scandia, but really takes on the name because of his uncle, Nathan Garrett, who betrayed the family legacy by becoming a super villain. Dane inherits the enchanted, cursed family weapon, the Ebony Blade, and through heroics works to redeem the Black Knight title.
Again, there are currently no official details regarding what ETERNALS will be about, but Black Knight being involved is an interesting addition, given past developments in the comics and the spare bits that have been revealed about the Marvel Studios movie. What could potentially tie the characters together is the fact that the Eternals have been on Earth for 35,000 years, which means that they could have encountered many different Black Knights through the centuries, the line of succession leading to Dane Whitman. It should also be noted that the hero has been romantically linked with the Eternal Sersi, who we learned this weekend will be played in the upcoming blockbuster by CRAZY RICH ASIANS star Gemma Chan.
In addition to Kit Harington and Gemma Chan, it was also revealed that DUNKIRK and THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER star Barry Keoghan has also signed on to ETERNALS and will be playing the sadistic Eternal Druig.
ETERNALS is set to be the second film released as part of Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it will be heading to AMC theatres on February 12, 2021.
