Harry Styles Marvel Career Is Over?
Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani believes that Harry Styles is not going to appear in another Marvel movie.
As you may or may not remember (we wouldn’t blame you for being asleep by then), Harry Styles briefly appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a post-credits scene for Eternals. He portrayed Eros (also known as Starfox) and was in the company of Pip, and this led many fans to wonder if Styles would have a major presence in the MCU. Now, Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel 2 star Iman Vellani told the Associated Press of her doubts about Styles having a larger role in the franchise, saying “I really wonder if they’re going to go ahead and do something with his character or if they just teased it for the sake of it.”
Considering how formulaic interviews with Marvel stars can be, it was actually refreshing to hear Iman Vellani say what so many fans had been thinking ever since that post-credits scene in Eternals. It’s one thing to do some fun stunt-casting and have Harry Styles shock us all at the end of a Marvel movie to generate buzz, but not everything teased in the MCU has had a real payoff.
For example, even though we’re supposed to get a payoff in the third film, Guardians of the Galaxy fans have been teased with the appearance of Adam Warlock for multiple movies now with no satisfying resolution. And in some cases, previous teases had to be later explained away in unsatisfying ways. This included Hela declaring that the Infinity Gauntlet we once saw in Asgard in the first Thor movie was a “fake,” so the appearance of Harry Styles making what might be a one-off appearance in a Marvel movie wouldn’t be nearly as disappointing as that was.
As for Iman Vellani, she openly wondered if Harry Styles was included in Eternals because its director, Chloé Zhao, is a big fan. And the young actor also commented on how strange it could get if the MCU also included all of Harry Styles’ major fans, declaring that “you have all of the Harry Styles fandom” within the Marvel fandom and asking “How chaotic would that be?!” To make things more confusing, even if Styles’ cameo was meant to be a one-off gig, there is a major historical precedent for it turning into something bigger.
With the original Iron Man, the movie that launched the MCU, director Jon Favreau later admitted that adding Nick Fury and mention of the Avengers to a post-credits scene was just an Easter egg for comics nerds. It was only after fans expressed intense interest in more Marvel content that we eventually got the ambitious Avengers film four years later. In other words, if Harry Styles fans are vocal enough about wanting him to be a mainstay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it could still easily happen.
However, the truth is that Eternals didn’t exactly generate major buzz and ended up being the rare critical bomb for the MCU. If Harry Styles had a cameo in another Marvel movie (such as the third Guardians of the Galaxy film), there might be more interest in making him a franchise regular. But popping in after the credits to a movie that few people watched and even fewer liked bodes ill for us seeing the former One Direction singer in this universe ever again.
