That’s a fascinating movie.

Ancient aliens sent to Earth thousands of years ago to protect¹ humanity… but only from very specific threats. Loki and the Chitauri? Nah. Hydra? Nope. Thanos? Of course not. A whole cast of superheroes² and we’ve never seen them before³–and I doubt that any of the should-be-worldwide-news events in this film will make it into any of the others.

If you ignore all that though, it’s an interesting enough idea, especially once you start digging into the greater cosmic plot. There’s even more to unpack than we even get a chance to look at in that movie. I really do want to know where it goes next–and if there will be any impact at all on the greater MCU.

Castingwise, it’s a large ensample cast, without the establishing movies that would really have let that shine. Gemma Chan as Sersi was great, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo was hilarious (especially combined with Harish Patel as Karun), and Lauren Ridloff as Makkari was fascinating–a deaf superhero; interesting with that and Echo coming out back to back. Lia McHugh as Sprite was fun–the idea of an Eternal that appears as a child is fascinating and they could have done more with it. Angelina Jolie as Thena–a pleasant surprise. Personal favorite eternal? Ma Dong-seok’s Gilgamesh. He’s wonderful.

On the other hand Richard Madden as Ikaris was… fine? Likewise Kit Harington as Dane Whitman⁴. I liked both better in Game of Thrones. Interesting having their more native accents. Barry Keoghan as Druig needed more time to explore the idea of mass mind control. That’s the sort of complicated power set that needs room to breath–and they just didn’t get it. So it goes.

Overall… it’s fine? It’s different and I appreciate that, but I think it might have been just a bit much. Still worth fitting in as part of a greater whole. I hope we see some more of these characters in other properties.