What do you do when your superhero dreams fall through? Turn it into fodder for your comedy special, of course.
Kumail Nanjiani is getting candid about his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was a much shorter stint than he expected. Four years after making his franchise debut in Eternals, the actor has yet to make his return. But on a recent episode of Mike Birbiglia’s “Working It Out” podcast, Nanjiani shared that it wasn’t all for nothing because his experience with the film has become the “last 15 minutes” of his upcoming stand-up special.
“I talk about how I was in this big movie, it came out right after COVID, so I had a year and a half at home to just be like, ‘Oh, when this thing comes out!’ But then it came out and it got really bad reviews,” Nanjiani shared. “It didn’t do that well. It shattered me too much. That’s when I was like, ‘Oh I need to go to therapy to figure this out.'”
After confirming that the project in question was 2021’s Eternals, Nanjiani noted that the disappointment only continued. The comedian explained that he expected to be much more involved in the MCU at this point, because his contract lined up several future projects.
Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan and Lia McHugh in ‘Eternals’
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be my job for the next 10 years. I signed on for six movies. I signed on for a video game. I signed on for a theme park ride,” Nanjiani shared. “They make you sign up for all this stuff. And you’re like, ‘This is the next 10 years of my life, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year and, in between, I’ll do my own little things, whatever I want to do.’ And then none of that happened.”
He continued, “But for me what really hit me was just realizing too much of my self esteem is tied up in other people’s reactions to my work. First of all, people have way bigger problems than this.”
Birbiglia then chimed in, joking, “Not everyone’s in Eternals.”
“Not everyone’s in Eternals,” Nanjiani agreed with a laugh, before quipping, “Honesty, too many people are though. There were a few too many people in Eternals, if the reviews are to be believed.”
Indeed, the sprawling cast was a point of frustration for many viewers: Nanjiani was one of 10 eternal beings in the starry epic, alongside Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie. The film additionally starred Kit Harington and featured brief cameos from Harry Styles and Patton Oswald.
But star power wasn’t enough to keep the film above water. Not only did Eternals mark one of the MCU’s lowest box office earners ever (ending with $402 million globally), it is currently the third worst reviewed films in the franchise, with a 47 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Captain America: Brave New World are tied for last place with 46 percent).
Marvel Studios Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Don Lee, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, and Barry Keoghan in ‘Eternals’
Despite the negative reaction, Nanjiani made it clear that he remains “very proud of the movie.” The comedian previously expressed this sentiment in 2024, telling Inside of You host Michael Rosenbaum that he viewed the project as “a slam dunk” and “had the best time doing that movie.”
He added that the issue was always with the response to the film and how it affected him, especially because he was “too aware of it” and “reading every review.”
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He explained, “It was really hard, and that was when I thought it was unfair to me and unfair to [my wife] Emily, and I can’t approach my work this way anymore. Some s— has to change, so I started counseling.”
As for the six movies he signed on for, the film did end with a very confident “The Eternals will return…” proclamation, but a sequel to the film is not currently on Marvel’s Phase Six slate nor were the characters listed among those popping in for Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel boss Kevin Feige last addressed the issue in a 2024 conversation with Inverse, stating, “There are no immediate plans for Eternals 2.”
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