Marvel Star Hospitalized After Assault
A Marvel star was recently assaulted in Ireland.
This article is more than 2 years old
An actor set to make his big-screen premiere as a Marvel character could’ve used the help of a crimefighter about a week ago. News just surfaced yesterday that Barry Koeghan — one of the stars of the upcoming Eternals — was assaulted in Ireland last week.
According to Sunday World, Koeghan was in Galway, Ireland when the assault took place last Sunday, August 15. The Marvel actor was, according to an unnamed local, visiting friends he had been introduced to while abroad. Before the attack he was spotted at a pub, and at some point he posed for a picture with a local hairdresser who posted the pic on her Instagram. Sometime after 3:30 AM, Koeghan was spotted in front of the G Hotel where he was staying. His injuries, including cuts to his face, were visible, and Koeghan was rushed via ambulance to a hospital at Galway University where he was later released. Apparently, Koeghan was not interested in making an issue of the assault. The Marvel actor didn’t file a complaint and no arrests have been made.
Sunday World notes that the attack on the Marvel’s Eternals star comes only a day after another Irish celebrity — Olympic taekwondo fighter Jack Woolley — was attacked seemingly at random in Dublin. Speaking to the Irish Times, Woolley said he was one of a crowd of people who were attacked, and that his attacker said he’d punched “the wrong person” immediately afterward. Wrong person or not, Woolley needed reconstructive surgery on his lip after the assault, and claimed he “got off light” compared to other victims present.
Regardless of the reason for the assault, Koeghan apparently had a notion something bad was going to happen. According to the Irish Post‘s report on the incident, at some point after the assault the Marvel actor posted a mysterious message on his Instagram Stories, which read “Note to self, I told you so. Sincerely, Your Intuition.”
It isn’t clear just how serious Koeghan’s facial injuries were, though it’s likely that will become apparent soon. On one hand, with the release of Marvel’s Eternals getting closer, the actor will likely be expected to do press for the film. On the other, per the Irish Post, he’s currently filming The Banshees of Inisherin alongside Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and if his injuries are to the degree that he’d need to stop filming, that news will likely be made public.
Barry Koeghan will play Druig in Marvel’s Eternals. While it isn’t yet clear just how closely the film will stick to the source material, in the comics Druig is known as a power hungry schemer. In the 13th century he marches alongside the armies of Genghis Khan, used torture to interrogate victims for the KGB, and in the current Eternals comic is working in secret alongside Thanos.
Among Koeghan’s other more memorable roles were his appearance in 2017’s Dunkirk and his role as a thief in this year’s The Green Knight. Marvel’s Eternals will not be be the only superhero movie he shows up in in the next couple of years. He will also play Gotham City’s Stanley Merkel in 2022’s The Batman.
