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Updated October 18th, 2021 at 17:05 IST

Eternals' producer explains why Marvel decided to gender-swap Ajak and Sprite

The producer of the upcoming MCU movie 'Eternals' explains why the makers decided to gender-swap the characters of Ajak and Sprite. Read more.

Reported by: Fengyen Chiu
Marvel
Image: Instagram/@marvel | Image:self
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Marvel's upcoming superhero movie Eternals is based on series of comics about a team of immortal aliens created by the Celestials during their experiments on early humankind almost 7,000 years ago. The movie will be introducing ten new superheroes to MCU and the producer of the movie Nate Moore explained why the makers decided to gender-swap some of their characters. Ajak and Sprite played by Salma Hayek and Lia McHugh, respectively were originally written as male characters in the comic but will be portrayed as females in the live-action adaptation.

Why did Marvel decide to gender swap Ajak and Sprite?

In an interview with Screenrant, Eternals producer, Nate Moore explained why they decide to gender-swap the characters of Ajak and Sprite played by Salma Hayek and Lia McHugh that were originally male in the comics.

Moore said, "It was a bit of what narratively made sense and what would create dynamics that were interesting. Ajak in the comics was the conduit to the Celestials. He's a bit of a surly character in publishing, but we felt like the conduit should be the leader and frankly there aren't a lot of female leaders." 

He added, "Ajak from a design standpoint did feel like was very much steeped in Aztec designs. We wanted somebody who was from that region to sort of pay homage to that, so in talking about it, it just made sense to gender swap her. Salma Hayek was amazing." Talking about the character of Sprite, Moore added, "Sprite, the boy who never grew up, is something you've seen a lot. The girl who never grew up seems to be a little bit of a fresher idea, so it's just those creative conversations to create a balance that we thought was interesting."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Eternals (@eternals)

Eternals: Marvel’s Diwali treat to fans

The movie chronicles the Eternals, an immortal alien race, emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their evil counterparts, the Deviants. The movie is being helmed by Academy award-winning director Chloe Zhao and features an ensemble cast that includes Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie. Eternals is slated to release in India on November 5, coinciding with Diwali.

(Image: Instagram/@marvel)

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Published October 18th, 2021 at 17:11 IST

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