How Not to Write A Large Cast of Characters: Lessons from Eternals

Recently (read, in January) I watched Marvel's Eternals. Why? Because I hate myself I guess. Because I'm trying to catch up on Phase 4 just so I can judge them better. And boy, do they need judging.

Anyway, this film wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. It was way too long, but I think I laughed at a joke or two. And of course, there was the problem we're going to talk about today. The large cast of characters.

It's always tricky handling a large team or group. I should know, as I've dealt with a few myself. It can be done well, but Eternals...does not do that.

So today we're going to look at Eternals flaws with their characters and how you can do better, with examples from The Avengers. I'm no expert on this topic, but I do have some experience, so just believe me, okay?

#1: Don't Introduce Us to the Characters At Once

Eternals opens with a big battle scene between the Eternals and the Deviants (the movie's villain monsters). We're thrown right into it with 10 characters we've never met and don't know. As soon as the battle's done, it time jumps to the present day, where we fully meet Sersi, the main character of the film.

It's not uncommon to start an ensemble film by focusing on one character at first. But since the rest of the characters don't show up until like an hour or more into the movie, we kind of forget about them, until we're reintroduced. (This ties in with point two, as you'll see in a moment.)

Avengers is also an ensemble film, but most of the characters are gathered by the end of the first act, giving us plenty of time to figure who's who. Plus, there's only six Avengers, making them much easier to keep track of.

How to Avoid This: Make sure all your important characters are introduced in the first act. Don't wait until almost halfway through the movie to finally finish assembling them.

#2: Don't Give Us Time to Get to Know Them

Eternals has a lot of flashbacks to their original days on Earth as they made lives for themselves and tried to figure out what to do now that the Deviants were supposedly gone. These flashbacks give us time to really understand the different characters. But because they're thrown in throughout the story, it makes it hard to figure anything out.

I think the movie would have been much stronger if they told it chronologically, making the backstory part of the first act. That way, when it's time to assemble the team, it doesn't feel like we barely know who anyone is or why we care. It won't help the "but we just broke up" feeling, but at least it would be less confusing.

The Avengers had a head start on this, since four of the ensemble already had one to two movies before the group one. Even Hawkeye and Black Widow appear in those films, which gives a chance to learn something about them. So by the time The Avengers arrived, it wasn't hard to keep up.

How to Avoid This: With a lot of characters, you need to give each of them a good characteristic moment so we get to know them quickly. It works best if you introduce the characters a few at a time so we're not overwhelmed with characters and personality all at once.

#3: Don't Make the "Bad" Character Good

This might just be a me thing, but I didn't find Druig hateable. Everyone else seems to despise him. While I agree he probably shouldn't be using his powers to brainwash people, even for good reasons, I didn't understand why we should hate him so much.

He's opposed to the Eternal's mission, which turns out to be a farce anyway, and wants to use his powers to stop violence and bloodshed. Sure, he can be sassy and a little loose on morals, but he was probably one of my favorite characters.

In The Avengers, I love Loki. But I also understand and willingly agree he's evil. He kills innocent people, he enjoys causing pain and havoc, and he won't stop until he gets what he wants. He's a delectable villain and everyone gets that.

How to Avoid This: If we're supposed to hate a character, make them do something bad and despicable. It's not that hard.

#4: Don't Make the Characters Memorable

When you have ten main characters, you need to make them easy to remember at a glance. Eternals tries with this. Each Eternal has a different color armor and a different super power. But right now, if you asked me to name them, I don't know if I could get past four or five.

This somewhat ties back to the not introducing them properly problem. By the time they show up again, I've already forgotten who they are. It's only when I see them using their superpowers or something I remember "oh yeah, you're the warrior one" or "you're the Superman one". It also doesn't help they have weird names that aren't easy to pronounce, spell, or remember either.

The Avengers again had several movies to build up their characters before they worked together. But I actually watched Avengers before any of Marvel's other movies and I remember still being able to keep everyone straight easily. Each character had strong introductions, looks, and abilities. Plus, there were only six of them.

How to Avoid This: Make sure your characters are different from one another. Give them a memorable look to mention when they come on page. If any characters seem too similar, either cut one or combine them to avoid confusion.

#5: Don't Give Characters Enough Screen Time

Finally, it was hard to keep track of all the characters in Eternals simply because some of them barely show up. While I'm sure the director tried, many disappeared during scenes or fights because there were too many of them to be truly useful all at the same time.

The Indian Eternal literally didn't even take part in the climax, that's how bad it was. I wanted to like them more, but with so many to keep track of and the fact that they were rarely all on screen, I just couldn't get attached.

The Avengers gives each character a unique role in the movie and brings them all together in the climax. Without all six, they wouldn't have been able to win. Each character earns their place in the story.

How to Avoid This: Make sure each character has a role in the story. If they're important, make sure they get plenty of page time. And if they don't seem to be doing anything, it may be time to get rid of them.

Have you seen Eternals? Do you agree with these problems and solutions? Tell me in the comments.