A Major MCU Character Has A Cameo In Eternals And You Probs Missed It

When Marvel’s Eternals had its world premiere, a colossal spoiler dropped concerning one of the movie’s two post-credit scenes. The spoiler, which revealed that the movie cast a celebrity in a surprising role, took Twitter by storm as fans tried to guess what it meant. But in all the hubbub, it turns out there was a much larger cameo that got overlooked. But what does Blade’s Eternals credits voice cameo mean? It may hint at much more significant things to come.

Warning: Spoilers for Eternals follow. One of the major plot points Eternals successfully kept under wrap was that it features a love triangle between Sersi, Ikaris, and Dane. Sersi and Ikaris were married for thousands of years on Earth, but he disappeared on her in the last few hundred. Having moved on, she begins to date Dane Whitman, a lovely human who is pretty sure he’s hooked up with a witch, a la Doctor Strange, despite her best efforts to hide her abilities.

In the film, Ikaris comes back, and Sersi leaves Dane as the Eternals fight a group of Deviants who have been recently released due to the ice melting in the arctic. But the Deviants are something of a red herring. The real danger to Earth is that the return of the population has triggered an event known as the Emergence.

Earth, it turns out, is an egg, with a Celestial planted inside it. When intelligent life reaches a certain point, the Celestial is born, ripping the planet to pieces. The Eternals’ job is to watch over the population and help it grow to the correct point and then usher in the new Celestial. Ajak knew this, but decided she loved Earth too much and was going to halt it. Ikaris, on the other hand, believed their purpose as shepherds who birth Celestials was too essential and murdered her.

When Sersi took up her cause, Ikaris tried to off her too. When he failed, and the Celestial, Tiamut, was frozen mid-birth, he flew into the sun rather than live with the shame. Sersi and Dane get back together and decide to move in together.

But Sersi’s decision and her fellow Eternals' choice to go along with it enraged their Celestial boss, Arishem. He kidnapped Sersi and her friends, leaving Dane behind. But just before Sersi disappears on him, Dane is about to tell her something important from his past.

In the second post-credits scene, fans get a look at what Dane’s mysterious past might tie back to. He’s standing in a classroom in the National History Museum, staring at a box. When he finally gets the nerve to open it, inside, there’s a black blade that looks like slate. But as he reaches for it, a voice speaks off camera: “Are you sure you want to do that?”

Fans might not know the voice right away, but those who watched Moonlight might recognize it. It’s Mahershala Ali, the actor cast as vampire hunter Blade in Marvel’s upcoming project surrounding the character.

Ali’s casting as Blade was initially announced back at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, but there’s been little in the way of updates about the film since then. Marvel hasn’t even confirmed the release date yet, though most assume it will come in mid-2024. For Ali’s voice to finally show up in a film at all is enormous. Learning he’s seeking out Dane, aka the Black Knight, as part of his vampire hunting business ties the Eternals storyline into the larger mythos in ways no one was expecting.

Eternals is currently playing in theaters and is expected to arrive on Disney+ in early 2022. Blade still does not have a release date.