I"m Still Haunted By The MCU’s Most Harrowing & Wasted Villain Years After Their Story Ended

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Summary

Kro, a powerful and fascinating villain in Eternals, was wasted and became forgettable.
The MCU won't bring back Kro, leaving his story as a one-time occurrence in Eternals.
Kro's unique design, abilities, and connection to Arishem hinted at a potential special villain role.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for having a villain problem, and it completely wasted one of its best villains in the Multiverse Saga. Since Phase 1, the MCU has had a villain problem that has been endlessly criticized, and while it has had some well-developed villains, most of them have been wasted. Unfortunately, although the MCU seemed to have learned a lesson in making better villains, the Multiverse Saga has repeated this problem, and it has had a variety of forgettable villains, many of which had a lot of potential but were wasted.
The Multiverse Saga has also been a divisive time in the MCU, with movies that haven’t matched the success of most of the Infinity Saga movies and which don’t seem to have a clear place in the vast MCU multiverse. One of them is Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao, which is completely different from the rest of the Multiverse Saga movies. Eternals had a more philosophical approach as the title team decided humans were worth saving from a catastrophic event known as “Emergence”. In addition to that, they faced Deviant Kro (voiced by Bill Skarsgård), who became part of the MCU’s villain problem.

Related Eternals' Cliffhanger Ending Explained Eternal"s ending features some massive cliffhangers and teases for the MCU"s future, and here"s what it means for Phase 4 and its main characters.
Eternals' Kro Is A Perfect Example Of A Wasted MCU Movie Villain Eternals Had A Great Villain In Kro & Wasted Him

Although the Celestials were already known in the MCU thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy’s Ego (Kurt Russell), Peter Quill’s father, Eternals went deeper into their place in this connected universe. Arishem was the creator of the Eternals and sent them to different planets to help lifeforms evolve so the planet would be ready to birth a new Celestial. Arishem was also the creator of the Deviants, an apex race of near-immortal monstrous creatures who were also part of his plans for the Emergence on different planets.
Kro and his legion of Deviants were freed after a glacial melting, and he killed the Eternals’ leader Ajak (Salma Hayek), absorbing her powers, which changed his biology and appearance.
The Deviants were sent to planets with nascent Celestials to wipe out their apex predators, but due to their nature, they evolved and started to hunt and wipe out all life. To protect the lifeforms required for the Emergence, Arishem created the Eternals and sent them to get rid of the Deviants. The leader of the Deviants on Earth was Kro, who survived after being trapped in ice for millions of years while the rest were exterminated by the Eternals.
Unfortunately, Kro became a secondary threat amidst all the problems the Eternals were facing with the Emergence, Arishem, and Ikaris.
Kro and his legion of Deviants were freed after a glacial melting, and he killed the Eternals’ leader Ajak (Salma Hayek), absorbing her powers, which changed his biology and appearance. Kro’s Deviant physiology granted him superhuman strength, durability, speed, agility, stamina, reflexes, longevity, body manipulation, and absorption, through which he gained the powers, abilities, and memories of his victims, which he did with Ajak and Gilgamesh. This made him a very powerful and dangerous villain, but unfortunately, he became a secondary threat amidst all the problems the Eternals were facing with the Emergence, Arishem, and Ikaris.
There Is No Way The MCU Will Ever Bring Back Kro Eternals Left No Possibility For Kro’s Return

Kro and the Deviants’ presence in Eternals was more a way to show and explain Arishem’s real intentions and how evil he actually is rather than be the villains the title team had to defeat. The Eternals spent more time solving their differences, reteaming, finding a way to stop the Emergence, and dealing with Ikaris’ betrayal than facing Kro, who, as mentioned above, had everything to be a terrifying and interesting villain. Unfortunately, like many other MCU villains, Kro’s story was for one movie only, and Eternals didn’t give him a chance to return.
Thena regained consciousness and manifested two cosmic daggers, with which she killed Kro.
In the third act of Eternals, the remaining team members traveled to the place of the Emergence to stop it and Ikaris, but Kro and his legion also arrived. Now with the power of two Eternals, Kro was confronted by Phastos and Makkari, and he tried to kill Thena (Angelina Jolie), taking advantage of her Mahd Wy’ry. However, Thena regained consciousness and manifested two cosmic daggers, with which she killed Kro. As he was the last Deviant standing, Kro’s death marked the end of the Deviants on Earth.
The MCU made Kro a forgettable villain who won’t even have an impact in this universe, with his only legacy being the deaths of Ajak and Gilgamesh.
Kro had a definitive end in Eternals, and with no more Deviants left on Earth (though it’s unclear if there are more in other parts of the universe), the MCU left no way for Kro to return and be given the place he deserves as a villain – instead, the MCU made Kro a forgettable villain who won’t even have an impact in this universe, with his only legacy being the deaths of Ajak and Gilgamesh.
Kro's Design, Premise & Story Teased The Chance For A Truly Special Kind Of Movie Villain Kro Was Unlike Most MCU Villains Close Kro’s story was also unlike that of most MCU villains as that was his nature, instead of resulting from the circumstances around him.
The MCU had already seen a villain who mimicked the moves of its opponents thanks to Black Widow’s Taskmaster, but Kro took it further by literally absorbing their powers and memories. Kro’s ability to change his own biology as he absorbed more Eternals was also fascinating and made way for some interesting visual effects and design that, unfortunately, weren’t fully appreciated given Kro’s on-screen time.
Kro’s story was also unlike that of most MCU villains as that was his nature, instead of resulting from the circumstances around him, making him more intimidating, and being a creation of Arishem just like the Eternals could have made way for a more personal conflict with the latter. Kro is now one of the MCU’s most wasted villains and who has no way to return, and unfortunately, it also made him a forgettable character.

Eternals PG-13

Eternals is the 25th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is part of its fourth phase. Over 500 years ago, when the ten Eternals complete the task given to them by the Celestial Arishem to wipe out the invasive alien species known as Deviants that roam the earth, the group decides to go their separate ways as they find themselves at odds with how to continue their interactions with humanity as they grow and learn. Blending into society, the Eternals continue to live their lives in the modern day until the Deviants emerge again. When one of the Eternals is supposedly slain by a deviant, events are set in motion that will reunite them once again to discover why the Deviants have returned and what the true intentions of the Celestial have been for all these millennia.
Director Chloé Zhao Release Date November 5, 2021 Cast Angelina Jolie , Gemma Chan , Richard Madden , Salma Hayek , Kit Harington , Kumail Nanjiani , Lia McHugh , Brian Tyree Henry Runtime 157 minutes

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