Eternals Producer Addresses Gender-Swapping of Ajak and Sprite

When Marvel Studios first announced that they're adapting Eternals into live-action, the fan response was not as exuberant as other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects and understandably so. But over the last couple of months, the fan interest for the upcoming film has been off the charts thanks to the promotional material the studio has been putting out, proving that the newest MCU heroes are the dark horses of the billion-dollar franchise's fourth phase.

Speaking of, most of you are probably unaware of it but Marvel Studios' Eternals, despite being an origin story isn't exactly sticking to its source material. In fact, two of the major characters from the film — Ajak (played by Salma Hayek) and Sprite (played by Lia McHugh) were actually gender-swapped.

Of course, it doesn't come as a huge shock how the characters being gender-swapped didn't become a huge deal within the fandom because obviously, not a lot of fans were aware of the Eternals' respective origin stories. Now, producer Nate Moore is finally addressing their decision to change the origin for both Ajak and Sprite. In an interview with ScreenRant before the pandemic, Moore shared: "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 continued: "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."

As for Sprite, Moore explained that changing the character's gender from a boy to a girl felt like a fresher and more interesting take. "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."

Also Read: Eternals Star Salma Hayek Gets Offended by 'Creepy' Ajak Action Figure

We're only a few weeks away from Eternals' grand MCU arrival and with all the hype it's currently generating, it wouldn't be shocking if the film ended up receiving an Avengers-like reception. Marvel Studios has always been good at telling origin stories and I'm pretty confident this film will exceed expectations.
Marvel Studios' Eternals will hit cinemas on November 5th.