It’s sometimes easy to forget that virtually every major player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was largely unknown to mainstream audiences at one point or another.
Before 2008, many people thought that Iron Man was a robot while, in 2012, a lot of movie-goers had no clue who that grinning purple alien was in The Avengers’ post-credits scene.
But now, Thanos has been established as one of the most iconic movie villains of the past 20 years and we’re about to meet another member of his family in Marvel’s Eternals.
Indeed, while the post-credits scenes in previous MCU films have been a closely guarded secret, details about the sting at the end of Eternals hit the internet weeks before the film had been released.
If you’ve managed to avoid specifics thus far, don’t worry – we’re not spoiling them here. However, we would simply say that the character of Eros, also known as Starfox, is one to watch moving forward.
Read on for a briefing on his comic book history, while you can also check out our guide to the Eternals cast.
Who is Eros AKA Starfox in Marvel’s Eternals?
Eros is the younger brother of Thanos, the mad titan who gave the Avengers a run for their money in the recent crossover films and has a similarly formidable track record in the comic books.
However, siblings often grow up to be very different people and that certainly was the case here, with Eros fixated on pursuing a life of travel and hedonism, while big bro had more malicious intentions.
Eros initially showed little to no interest in heroism, but this changed when one of Thanos’ vicious attacks led to the death of their mother, Sui-San, instantly turning the siblings into sworn enemies.
In later years, Eros stepped up to lead the fight against his brother – wielding strength and cosmic energy powers similar to the other Eternals – teaming up with Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, on one such occasion.
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During a time of relative peace, he chose to relocate to Earth as he felt it would be most accommodating to the lifestyle he was seeking to lead, formally joining The Avengers, who gave him the codename Starfox.
The character took a surprisingly dark turn in 2006, during a storyline in Dan Slott’s She-Hulk series, in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman.
Now is a good time to bring up the fact that, besides the base-level Eternal abilities, Starfox also has the power to stimulate the pleasure centre of anyone within 25 feet of him, which can make a person aroused, euphoric or even sedated.
Starfox can use this ability to make people infatuated with him personally, while he can also draw two other people closer together by creating a bond between them.
Obviously, there’s plenty of scope for this to be abused, with his accuser claiming that Starfox had used his power to coerce her into sleeping with him, an allegation which caused She-Hulk to reflect on a time when she too had slept with the cosmic being.
She initially believed he had used his powers on her and burst into a burning rage, beating him to a pulp, but a mind probe unearthing the memory revealed that the sexual encounter had been entirely consensual.
It was later said that any irresponsible use of Starfox’s powers had been down to Thanos messing with his brother’s head by implanting false memories, essentially absolving Eros of any blame in the matter.
Once the truth had been settled, Eros agreed to let the cosmic hero Moondragon use her powers to remove his pleasure stimulation abilities because didn’t wish to have the power to affect people’s minds.
It seems unlikely that the family-centric MCU would choose to explore such serious themes in future Starfox appearances, but there would be scope for a timely retelling of this story in the post-#MeToo era.
Marvel’s Eternals is released in UK cinemas on Friday 5th November 2021. Check out more of our Movies and Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.