Marvel Race-Swapped Character At The Last Second In Their Worst Movie
When it comes to Marvel Studios, there’s no arguing that there’s plenty of space for improvement as far as diversity goes. While recent years have seen more girl power in titles like Captain Marvel and Black Widow, as well as minority superhero representation in Black Panther and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, there’s always space for different stories to be told. Marvel set out to do exactly that in their film, Eternals, and, although a last-minute swap changed the ethnicity of Gemma Chan’s Sersi, it was still a decision that added inclusion to the production.
Original artwork for Marvel’s Eternals movie reveals that Sersi, portrayed by Gemma Chan, was illustrated as a woman of color.
The recently dropped Eternals – The Art of the Movie book spelled out exactly what the initial plans were for the role that would ultimately go to the Crazy Rich Asians star. Wesley Burt, who served the Marvel film as the Visual Development Artist, shared that during early production on the Eternals, Sersi was set to be portrayed as “a woman of color.”
While a last-minute decision on Marvel’s end may have seen the Eternals swap the role and heritage of Sersi, Gemma Chan’s performance was one of the more celebrated bits to come from the film.
He added that because the project wanted a wide array of cast members from different walks of life, the plan “sounded great,” specifically as the hero would be one of the film’s main characters.
Flipping through the pages of the Marvel-based book, readers will find a handful of early concept art for the Eternals in which Sersi looks incredibly different. The images put a fresh spin on the character, who appears to have a different background from Gemma Chan’s as well as a contrasting outfit. In the end, Burt says that he wishes that Sersi would have had more screen time pondering the plight of humans as she was the one with “the most direct ties to humanity.”
While Marvel Studios’s idea of how to portray Sersi in Eternals may have changed over time, there’s no arguing that the film did a terrific job capturing many different heritages and backgrounds. Starring alongside Gemma Chan was a stacked cast that included Selma Hayek, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Barry Keoghan, Lauren Ridloff, Kit Harington, and Angelina Jolie.
Eternals Was A Major Marvel Flop
Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film, unfortunately, didn’t have the same box office power that others like Avengers: Endgame had. Raking in $402.1 million against its massive $236.2 million production budget, the film fell short with Marvel fans, leaving Eternals as one of those titles that many haven’t given a chance.
Hitting theaters in the fall of 2021, the studio released the title shortly before Spider-Man: No Way Home swung into theaters, perhaps adding to the smaller turnout. Likewise, theaters were just getting back into the swing of things following the COVID-19 pandemic that kicked off a year prior. With this in mind, many Marvel fans likely stayed at home, instead waiting for Eternals’ streaming release.
While a last-minute decision on Marvel’s end may have seen the Eternals swap the role and heritage of Sersi, Gemma Chan’s performance was one of the more celebrated bits to come from the film. See Chan and the rest of the all-star cast of Eternals from the comfort of your own home as the film is now streaming on Disney+.
