Eternals Post-Credit Scene and Kit Harington’s Black Knight Sword Explained

It should come as no surprise that a group of Eternals occupies a central place in EternalBut the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hides another superhero behind the scenes. After all, that’s why they made up post-credits scenes.

When Marvel Studios first revealed the cast of EternalThe studio let everyone know that Kit Harington would play Dane Whitman, the superhero alter ego known as the Black Knight: a not-so-capable descendant of an Arthurian knight who takes possession of his ancestor’s cursed sword. How that character could come into play and what could Harington do in Eternals 2, a Black Knight spin-off movie, or other parts of the MCU come into focus more clearly not long after the credits roll. Let’s analyze it.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Eternals.]

Who is Dane Whitman?

Harington’s Whitman doesn’t have the most amount of screen time in Eternal, like the nice guy from the Human Museum that millennial Sersi is dating. In fact, they spend most of the movie apart, while she travels around the world to assemble the Eternals team, while he remains in England.

Still, Sersi encourages him to get closer to his estranged uncle when he realizes the world might be ending, and in the film’s final scenes, Dane hints that he recently uncovered an old family secret. Eternal He doesn’t go all the way to superhero status with Dane, but the film’s post-credits scene points directly to Dane getting a later reveal as the Black Knight.

What does the post-credits scene of Eternals mean?

An earlier scene in the film gives the slightest joke about where the post-credits scene is headed. When the Eternals return to their buried spaceship and begin rummaging through ancient trophies and memorabilia, Thena (Angelina Jolie) grabs a sword and is asked if it is the Ebony Blade. No, she says, it’s just Excalibur. Only.

Ebony Blade herself appears in the post-credits scene. After Dane begins to tell Sersi about his complicated family legacy, she is taken away by the big red robot Arishem. In the post-credits scene, Dane fidgets as he prepares to open a long, ornate wooden box. When he finally decides to open it, a hiss of roaring air and whispering voices arises. Read the Latin words engraved on the box: “Mors mihi lucrum”, which means “Death is my reward.” In the box is a long black sword, with a blade that twists with a kind of living darkness that gravitates toward his outstretched hand, like iron filings drawn by a magnet. He says “Sorry, I have to try” as he reaches for it.

But before I can touch it, an off-screen voice asks, “Are you sure you’re ready for that, Mr. Whitman?” and the screen turns black.

Who is the Black Knight?

Long before Dane Whitman took the helm of the Black Knight, the title was first held by Sir Percy of Scandia, a beloved member of King Arthur’s court. Stan Lee and artist Joe Maneely created Percy in 1955, when Marvel Comics was still known as Atlas Comics, and superhero comics were in their post-war slump, allowing for adventure books like The black knight # 1 to make your way into newsstands.

Sir Percy, of Lee and Maneely, was a self-deprecating wizard, humorist, and a favorite of King Arthur, who offered his thanks by gifting Percy the Ebony Blade, a powerful sword created by Merlin from the Starstone meteorite. Or so the legend goes.

Like any good medieval tale, the true creator of the sword and how he derives his power is a matter of intrigue and investigation, and as a medieval knight, Percy wasn’t exactly ready to rub shoulders with the modern-day superheroes that led Marvel Comics to popularity a. decade later.

The second Black Knight, and the first to enter the superhero era, was actually a supervillain. Created by Stan Lee and Dick Ayers, Nathan Garrett was a modern scientist, criminal, and descendant of Sir Percy. Garrett was so upset when his evil deeds made him unworthy of wielding Percy’s magic sword that he made his own technology-enhanced medieval weapons (including a genetically engineered winged horse for riding) and used them to fight Iron Man, primarily.

The third Black Knight is Garret’s nephew, Dane Whitman, the character who appears in Eternal. He took on the Black Knight’s legacy after he was visited by Sir Percy’s ghost and successfully defeated the protective curse on the Ebony Blade. He is a normal human type with no powers, who takes possession of a sword from the Arthurian era … and becomes a superhero. How do you non-lethal hit bad guys when all your gimmick is a knife? Many carefully designed combat situations.

What is the Ebony Blade?

Image: Si Spurrier, Sergio Dávila / Marvel Comics

The Ebony Blade is an incredibly powerful sword that protects the wielder from death and makes almost any enemy mince. If Excalibur (which Eternal references in the same breath) is the outstanding student of the enchanted sword family, the Ebony Blade is the haunting emo cousin who sits alone at family gatherings.

Because this mighty sword has a nasty little secret: a curse! The more blood it spills, the more bloodthirsty its bearer becomes. Only the pure in heart can wield the sword. Or at least that was the story for many years.

Dane suffers from being passed on to different writers who don’t seem to know exactly what to do with him, and that has led to him playing many different roles. The Black Knight has been a member of the Defenders, Ultraforce, and even MI-13. He has become the leader of the Avengers, a pseudo ambassador to the United Nations and, yes, even the boyfriend of Sersi the Eternal.

It doesn’t feel well defined because it isn’t, which should work for Marvel Studios. He has never had a successful indie series, except maybe this year. Black Knight: Curse of the Ebon Blade, a comic that revealed that the Ebony Blade legend is less heroic than Sir Percy initially suggested.

With Curse of the ebony blade, writer Si Spurrier and artist Sergio Dávila leaned toward the darker elements of Dane Whitman’s psyche and his link to a sword fueled by negative emotions. The series also featured Jackie, the daughter Whitman never knew he had, who took up the mantle of the Black Knight alongside him. While Curse of the Ebony Blade was a limited edition series, there is still hope that Black Knight will cement his role in the Marvel Universe, especially now that he has one foot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.