In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, strange things happen all the time. This is a world where half the population blinking out of existence for years before coming back like nothing changed, so an alien invasion or a weird light show in the sky barely seems like cause for panic anymore — especially with plenty of superheroes around to return everything to the status quo.
However, that’s not always a guarantee. In the upcoming film Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson will have to do more than prove himself a worthy replacement for Steve Rogers. He also has to defend the leftover work of another superhero team.
2021’s Eternals was relatively isolated from the rest of the MCU. Sure, the characters references the events of Avengers: Endgame, but there were no big crossover cameos and much of the story take place in the distant past. And yet, there’s one lingering plot point from Eternals that the MCU still has to deal with: the Celestial known as Tiamut.
At the end of Eternals, our heroes race to stop a giant space god Celestial from hatching out of a seed in the Earth’s core and destroying the planet in the process. They manage to succeed, turning Tiamut into marble and freezing him in place just as he begins to emerge from the Indian Ocean.
Ever since, Marvel fans have wondered when the franchise will get around to addressing the giant stone god sticking out of the ocean. Fans have taken to calling it “Tiamut Island,” and while the MCU has made a few nods to the issue — a Easter egg in She-Hulk featured a newspaper headline asking “Why There Is A Giant Statue Of A Man Sticking Out Of The Ocean” — that’s been the full extent of it. Until now.
In the trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, there are a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shots of Sam Wilson using his old Falcon wings to fly over an ocean and what looks to be the outstretched hand of Tiamut.
This seemingly confirms a two-year-old rumor that Tiamut’s marbleized body will be a major source of conflict in the film, as President Thunderbolt Ross wants control of it to mine the Adamantium that supposedly lurks within. This trailer doesn’t confirm exactly why Sam is brought to this remote location, but considering how heavily President Ross features in the trailer, he’s likely behind it.
Eternals’ effect on the MCU may be minimal at this point, but the film’s final fight may have done more than just save the world from certain doom: it may have set up one of the most ambitious set pieces in Captain America 4.
