Marvel has never been one to shy away from controversial conversations, neither in their comics nor now in their movies, and Marvel's latest film, "Eternals," may be tackling one of the hottest button issues yet: abortion. While "Black Widow," released months before "Eternals," delivered an important message on women's bodily autonomy, the film did not seem to tackle the topic of abortion head-on in the same way "Eternals" may have. Keep in mind, this is all just speculation, but there are multiple factors involved that suggest that this film has a deeper meaning, which will all be touched upon. And, of course, beware of spoilers ahead.
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The most apparent reason to believe this film may be about abortion is to look to the main conflict. During the events of the film, Sersi and the rest of the Eternals are made aware that they were not placed on Earth to protect humanity from the Deviants. They were sent to properly prepare Earth for the Emergence, which is the birth of a Celestial that would result in the death of the planet. To put it in perspective, the Celestial is a baby chick, and Earth is the egg it would be hatching out of. The Eternals face a dilemma on whether they should carry out their mission and allow all of humanity to perish so one Celestial can be born, or they should prevent the Emergence and save the planet in the process. The team is subsequently divided over this topic and ends up in a violent face-off as the end of the planet comes closer and closer.
The conflict ends up boiling down to a question of whether or not it is morally correct for the Eternals to end the life of an unborn Celestial, an all-powerful being with the power to create entirely new universes, in order to save an entire planet from destruction. Doing so would prevent potential new universes filled with new life from being created, but they would also be saving billions of innocent lives in the process. So the real question is, "is one unborn life worth all of the harm that it could do to someone else who is already living?". The idea of faith is also very heavily illustrated in this film and would eventually decide what side each of the Eternals ended upon. This is another concept that could come back to this real-life conversation about abortion, as religious faith typically has an influence on whether or not someone is pro-life or pro-choice.
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In the end, most of the Eternals opt to save the planet that they have grown to love by ending the life of the Celestial, Tiamut, before he is truly born. One should also note that the way they did so was also nonviolent in nature. As previously stated, no one has confirmed whether or not this message was intended or purely coincidental, and this is all just speculation. But the signs are there, and since abortion is a topic that America continues to be divided over, it would not be surprising if Marvel took a stance on this topic. In the same way that it tackled racism and police brutality in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" or women's bodily autonomy in "Black Widow." These continued efforts made by Marvel Studios to touch on issues that are continuing to affect people in the real world could mark the beginning of a new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an era that true Marvel fans should be welcoming with open arms.
