Marvel's 'The Eternals' Looking To Add Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek is the latest high-profile actress to circle Marvel's ambitious ensemble superhero movie The Eternals. Hayek, who can recently be seen in films like The Hitman's Bodyguard and How to Be a Latin Lover, is in talks to join The Eternals cast in an unknown role.The Wrap reports that Hayek is in discussions to join the Eternals cast in a role that is being kept under wraps. If she were to board the film directed by Chloe Zhao, she would star opposite Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, and Kumail Nanjiani, all of whom play near-immortal ancient figures known as Eternals who must do battle with monsters created by cosmic beings called Celestials.

Based on the characters created by the legendary Jack Kirby in 1976, The Eternals follows "super-powered and near-immortal beings known as Eternals and a more monstrous off-shoot known as the Deviants that were created by the cosmic beings called Celestials." The film will reportedly focus on the female Eternal known as Sersi, an outgoing Eternal "not afraid to move amongst humankind" who Jolie is in talks to play.

While there are no details on who Hayek would play, let's speculate. The Latinx, Oscar-nominated actress is in the same age range as Jolie (props to The Eternals for freely casting women over 40), which points to her playing two of the five reported female roles in the film. One is Elysius, an artificially created being connected to the Titan's supercomputer, and the other is Thena, a tough and smart warrior with the ability to manipulate cosmic energy to augment her life force. Hayek has not really done a blockbuster of this scope before, and could easily be drawn to the more physically demanding role, though Elysius seems to cater more toward the actress' niche.

Zhao, who helmed the acclaimed indie film The Rider, is set to direct The Eternals, with a script from Matthew and Ryan Firpo. No release date has yet been set for The Eternals yet, but after Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters, we expect Marvel Studios to make an announcement about the future of its film line-up.