Eternals director Chloé Zhao has revealed the identity of the mystery voice heard in the post-credits scene of the Marvel blockbuster – and it belongs to an iconic Marvel hero.
In a surprise move, the film marks the MCU debut of Blade as portrayed by Mahershala Ali, who can be heard in the second Eternals end credits scene, which primarily focuses on Kit Harington’s character, Dane Whitman.
As had been hinted earlier in Eternals, Whitman does indeed get his hands on the magical Ebony Blade, which transforms him from a mere mortal to the superhero known as Black Knight (in the comic books, at least).
But as he reaches for the legendary weapon, a voice calls out from off-screen asking: “Sure you’re ready for that, Mr Whitman?”
At this point, the film cuts to black and we never find out exactly who was posing the question, but director Zhao has now revealed in an interview with Fandom that it’s Marvel’s premier Daywalker: Blade.
“That was the voice of one of my favourite superheroes, Mr Blade himself,” she said. “Blade, Blade, Blade, yeah!”
Two-time Oscar winner Ali (Moonlight, Green Book) was announced to be leading an MCU reboot of the Blade franchise, once headlined by Wesley Snipes, back in 2019.
However, the project is yet to be given a release date, despite making good progress with the hiring of director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) and screenwriter Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen).
Zhao added that she has no details on what the Blade reboot has in store: “You just have to wait for it. I don’t know what they’re doing with the movie, but Mahershala is is a treasure. It’s going to be epic.”
!["Blade]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2019/08/AR1_4328_2019072070730837_20190720113834-455c381.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Marvel")
In light of this scene, it stands to reason that Harington’s Dane Whitman – perhaps by then in his Black Knight persona – could bag a supporting role in the upcoming Blade film.
The two characters recently worked closely together in the comic books as part of MI:13, a superhero team led by Captain Britain that came up against Skrulls, vampires and a reality-warping entity in their short time together.
Speaking about the scene, Harington said: “It’s really cool. [Chloé] texted me about that [cameo] a couple of weeks ago and it sort of blew my mind. I didn’t know that that would be the case, so it’s pretty exciting for me.”
“I came into this knowing that there would be, hopefully, some cool possibilities for the future and also looking at the character and responding to the character as I saw it on every level, in every platform.
The Game of Thrones alum added: “So yeah, this is a great intro into the Marvel world and I’m just very happy that this movie is the one that I got to do it in.”
If you’re looking for details on the other massive cameo in the Eternals post-credits scene, check out our brief history of Thanos’ brother: Eros (aka Starfox), played by none other than Harry Styles.
Eternals is playing in UK cinemas now. Check out more of our Film and Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.