An Image showcasing the star cast of Chloe Zhao directed Marvel Studios The Eternals. Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Now that Marvel Studios The Eternals after its exclusive release in theatres earlier this month is slowly becoming a household franchise in itself in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though it has been harshly criticized by the critics as well as by some sections of the audience claiming that the film largely misses out on giving a proper screen time to all the superhero characters who have been introduced through the superhero epic in MCU. Eternals cast and crew is opening more and more about the blockbuster movie while speaking in a recent interview with The Direct, film writers Ryan and Kaz Firpo spoke extensively about Eternals team member Druig played by the 29-year-old Barry Keoghan.

The award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker Ryan and Kaz Firpo, who previously worked on projects such as Lunchboxes and Refuge respectively, also touched upon how they went about adapting the comic version of Keoghan’s character Druig in the live-action film.

“Obviously, the Eternals are grappling with their faith in humanity over these thousands of years that they’ve been keeping watch. So when it comes to the ultimate debate, the group falls on one of two sides of that debate, and with Druig in particular, if you think about his power, he spends so much time inside of humans' minds. So he’s [basically going to] understand them on a level that’s deeper than a lot of the other Eternals, who just cannot achieve that perspective,” Ryan replies when asked how did the duo go about dealing with the darker side of the more villainous side of Druig in the film, seen over the years in Marvel Comics.

Ryan continues, further explaining how Druig’s darker version is overtaken by his other side which sees and “loves humanity and appreciates all its potential” in its various aspects. According to the Marvel writer Druig is someone who knows the downfall of human nature, so he feels more connected to a human than any other character from the superhero squad Eternals, who holds the big responsibility of protecting the universe from evil life forces like that of Deviants as seen in the storyline of the newly released  Marvel movie.  “...And so I think that makes Druig a very tragic figure because he both loves humanity and he appreciates all their potential, but he also sees the dangers, and the downfalls of human nature, and witnesses those firsthand, and so he really feels humanity on a level that other people don’t.”

As far as why the character tries to control the humans he is around as shown in the flicker, Ryan answers, “...so his desire to control humanity doesn’t come from a [megalomaniacal] place, he’s not doing it for a sense of power, he’s doing it from a place of love. I think that’s why you get that balance where what he’s doing is technically not very kosher, but he’s not doing it just to control these people and make them into slaves, he’s doing it to protect them. So I think that’s where you get that balance.”

The Eternals debuted in theatres on 5th November 2021.