Kumail Nanjiani reveals he was signed on for six Marvel films before 'Eternals'

Los Angeles, Aug 25 (IANS) Actor Kumail Nanjiani shared that he signed the dotted lines for six films for Marvel when he was cast as the superhero Kingo in “Eternals”.

However, the film’s failure “shattered” him and led him to seek out therapy.

The discussion took place in Nanjiani’s appearance on fellow stand-up comedian Mike Birbiglia’s “Working It Out” podcast. The star shared that his Marvel experience is a key subject in his new stand-up special, releasing on Hulu later this year, reports variety.com.

“I talked about how I was in this big movie. It came out right after COVID, so I had a year and a half at home to just be like, ‘Oh, when this thing comes out!'” Nanjiani said.

He added: “But then it came out and it got really bad reviews and it didn’t do that well. It shattered me too much. That’s when I was like, ‘Oh I need to go to therapy to figure this out.'”

Nanjiani confirmed that the project was “Eternals,” sharing that he thought he would be much more involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be my job for the next 10 years,'” Nanjiani continued.

“I signed on for six movies. I signed on for a video game. I signed on for a theme park ride. They make you sign up for all this stuff. And you’re like, ‘This is the next 10 years of my life, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year and, in between, I’ll do my own little things, whatever I want to do.’ And then none of that happened.”

Marvel is currently gearing up for the team-up “Avengers: Doomsday” in 2026, which will bring together characters from across various projects. However, no “Eternals” cast members have been revealed to be part of the film’s ensemble thus far.

“For me, what really hit me was just realizing that too much of my self-esteem is tied up in other people’s reaction to my work,” Nanjiani reflected before jokingly adding, “Also, other people have way bigger problems than this!”

--IANS

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