What Eternals' post-credits cameo could mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel's Eternals finally made their big screen debut over the weekend after more than a year of theatrical delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, Chloé Zhao's entry into the MCU is as ambitious and strange as fans could have hoped for. Eternals represents an exciting stretch-and-pull of Marvel Studios' tried and true formula and the best part is that this is only the beginning.

Thanks to the introduction of a multiverse and literal galaxy-creating deities, the shenanigans at the Phase 4 party are about to get real funky in the best way possible — whether it's more bizarre concepts or lesser-known characters. With all of that said, let's talk about the movie's second post-credits sequence, which lays the groundwork for Dane Whitman's (Kit Harington) transformation into his magic sword-wielding comic book alter ego, Black Knight.

***WARNING! The following contains major spoilers for the film!***

The scene in question takes place after Sersi (Gemma Chan) and the other Eternals who have elected to stay on Earth are whisked away by Arishem (the chief Celestial voiced by David Kaye), who is displeased with the fact that his immortal creations prevented the birth of a new Celestial. Wanting to save Sersi — his longtime girlfriend — Whitman decides to take matters into his own hands and become the Black Knight by way of the Ebony Blade, which, if you were listening closely, got name-dropped earlier in the film (perhaps the object is a family heirloom, owned by Dane's estranged uncle, who is also briefly mentioned).

Just as Dane psyches himself up to grab the magical sword, a mysterious voice asks if he's sure he wants to go through with it. Zhao herself has confirmed that the mystery character is none other than Mahershala Ali's Eric Brooks, aka Blade. The vampire hunter (previously portrayed by Wesley Snipes across three films released between the late 1990s and early 2000s) is set to be rebooted via his own MCU movie, directed by Mogul Mowgli's Bassam Tariq.

Still, the question remains: what is Blade's connection to Dane Whitman? Well, given that both characters operate in supernatural realms, one could theorize that they are somehow brought together by that Master of the Mystic Arts: Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). After all, the Sorcerer Supreme is going to need all the help he can get when the Multiverse of Madness rears its ugly head in the wake of WandaVision, Loki, and Spider-Man: No Way Home next May.

OK, that's one idea. If you asked us to put money on it, though, we'd say the MCU is setting the table for the arrival of MI13, a clandestine British agency tasked with handling paranormal threats (a sort of Marvel-ized Justice League Dark).

Both Black Knight and Blade have been counted as members of the Captain Britain-led group — created by Warren Ellis and Casey Jones in the late '90s — which successfully repelled a vampiric invasion of the United Kingdom led by Dracula in a post-Secret Invasion series by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk (and don't forget: Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury will headline a Secret Invasion series on Disney+ in the near future).

It stands to reason that Harington's Whitman would, as a citizen of the U.K., be drafted to fight on behalf of Queen and Country once he assumes the mantle of Black Knight. Blade is also incredibly loyal to the English soil, having been born in London, where he was trained/mentored by the American vampire hunter, Jamal Afari. Despite a brief stint in New York, Blade returned to the land of his birth after assuming leadership of the vampire-hunting gang known as the Bloodshadows.

To conclude, we'd wager good money that Blade's appearance in Eternals' second post-credits scene hints at the formation of an Avengers-style team of British heroes. Why else would Ali's character be there, if not to recruit Whitman for something larger? Only time — and Blade's return to the silver screen — will tell.

Eternals is now playing in theaters everywhere.