Contrary to what the events of Eternals suggested, audiences may not have seen the last of Ajak. Eternals star Salma Hayek has revealed that she has already signed on for multiple Marvel Studios movies for the future.
Hayek is regarded as one of the most skilled dramatic actresses of our time. Before Eternals, she was known for taking on much more emotionally charged films such as Frida and Beatriz at Dinner. Although it may seem as though Hayek’s presence in the MCU is seemingly out of nowhere, being able to portray a superhero has been a childhood dream of hers from the very beginning of her career. Hayek was very aware of her capabilities and skills when it came to her craft, so self-doubt was never the issue.
In Eternals, Hayek takes on the role of Ajak, who (spoiler alert) is pronounced dead at the start of the movie. Throughout the duration of Eternals, Hayek’s character and her scenes exist solely through flashbacks. While this may have seemed to seal Ajak's fate and Hayek's tenure in the MCU, the actress recently told Smallzy's Celebrity Small Talk podcast that she signed a deal that involved more than one Marvel Studios film. "I did sign multiple movie deals! It was kind of fun being part of this... secret society that you have to protect so fearlessly!," Hayek said.
Hayek had a much harder time believing that fans and filmmakers would ever see her as a superhero because she didn’t fit the “conventional” physical picture (a 50-year-old Mexican woman) of what a superhero “typically” looks like. Hayek stated at the Eternals press conference, “I’m short with big boobs, it’s not the normal superhero. I’m not muscly, I don’t look like that, I don’t have Botox. I’m doing well, but no, it’s real.” Throughout the conference, she continued to expand on the entrapment she felt in regards to Hollywood desperately forcing her into one box, one genre. It just so happens that now in this later stage of her career, doors are opening and stereotypes are being shut down. Hayek said, “It didn’t happen that much for me. And so you fight for it in your 20s, in your 30s, and in your 40s. You go, Oh screw them! They don’t get it. They missed out. I would have been great in the art films and I would have been a great superhero and they didn’t see it. Screw them, I’m gonna do something else.”
Since it’s been all but confirmed that Hayek and therefore her character Ajak will be returning to the MCU, this indicates her future scenes will still be in the distant past. So, with the possibility of MCU crossovers with the Eternals, Ajak could make a pop-up appearance in Phase 4. Knowing that Hayek and all of the representation she brings to the screen is here to stay is exciting to say the very least.
The way the MCU is starting to break down barriers regarding ageism, sexism, racism, and even gender roles with this one character is groundbreaking. Hayek said of her experience on Eternals, “It’s very humbling when, in the middle of your 50s, a brilliant director gives you the opportunity to do both, to do something that comes from a deep place and it is also a big blockbuster - I was wrong, everything is possible.”
Eternals is now playing in theaters.
Source: Smallzy's Celebrity Small Talk, Insider