Eternals : Salma Hayek On Her Marvel Character’s View Of The Other Eternals
In Eternals, Salma Hayek discusses Ajak’s perspective on the other characters. Now that Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings have had its day in the spotlight, the focus has switched to Marvel’s next release this year.
Zhao has been tasked with introducing a new squad of superheroes to Marvel’s ever-expanding cinematic world, much like James Gunn did in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The titular alien civilization has been residing on Earth for thousands of years, but its founders, the Celestials, have told them to never meddle until Deviants are involved in Eternals. That is, until the Eternals must emerge from hiding and come together to protect mankind in Avengers: Endgame, when half of the Earth’s population returns, providing the required energy for their evil counterparts to reappear.
Hayek’s View
In January 2020, during a Screen Rant visit to the Pinewood Studios set of Eternals, Hayek spoke with a group of reporters about her character’s perspective on the other Eternals. Hayek explicitly mentioned Ajak’s maternal position in the group, comparing her numerous relationships with the other Eternals to a parent’s various bonds with their children.
Read what Hayek had to say below:
The thing of the mother was interesting because it allows me to have a specific perspective of observation. That it’s a specific human way of seeing all the people in these– there’s a level of love, of caring, and empathy. There’s a level of trying to hold, not just the mission, but, the family that is doing this mission, which is different. And I have a different relationship with each one of them, like you do with your kids. And you can differentiate, this one is going to be the one that is going to have trouble with this, Oh my God I know. I am terrified when this girl turns 14, she’s going to be dating at 30. So, you already know your kids that way.
Ajak was originally a Male Character
It’s commonly known that Hayek’s character, Ajak, was originally a man in the Jack Kirby comics, but was gender-swapped for the film. Zhao and her co-writers were able to explore the character’s femininity and function as the Eternals’ de facto parental figure as well as a spiritual leader as a result of this. Ajak is also recognised for his capacity to heal people, and he is the only Eternal in the movie that can interact with the Celestials, their superiors.
When the Eternals face the Deviants in the upcoming MCU film, Ajak will have her work cut out for her, as she heads a troop that includes Thena (Angelina Jolie), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Sprite (Lia McHugh), to name a few. It’ll be fascinating to see how Ajak interacts with the other Eternals, as well as what Hayek has detailed. When Eternals hits theatres on November 5, the MCU’s newest squad of strong heroes will make their eagerly anticipated debut.
