Eternals: How Kro The Deviant First Look Compares To The Comics

A leaked Marvel action figure has given eager viewers their first look at Kro, the Deviant leader due to appear in Marvel’s Eternals movie. The coronavirus pandemic has caused chaos for Hollywood, with even Marvel Studios seriously disrupted. Films have been pushed back time and again, and naturally that means some tie-in merchandise – originally carefully scheduled for maximum impact – is beginning to slip through the cracks.

Granted, Marvel has yet to experience any problem on the scale of Warner Bros., with the publication of the Wonder Woman 1984 junior novelization unfortunately revealing almost all the film’s plot. But still, action figures and promotional material for Black Widow have been released almost a year before the movie will actually debut, denying toy companies like Hasbro of the synergies they depend upon for maximum sales. In the latest twist, a deluxe Marvel Legends figure of Kro, a Deviant villain who will apparently be featured in the Eternals movie, has leaked in Hong Kong – over a year before the movie is now scheduled to come out.

Related: Eternals Theory: MCU Secretly Introduced The Deviants In Captain Marvel

In the comics, the Deviants are a warlike race who desire to conquer the Earth, and they are frequently stopped by the Eternals. Kro is one of the Deviants’ most skilled leaders and strategists, but he has often been portrayed in an unusually sympathetic light, and has a long-standing romance with the Eternal Thena (played by Angelina Jolie in the MCU). The Marvel Legends deluxe figure (seen in more detail on the back of the packaging, which was posted to Reddit) suggests the MCU has changed Kro’s appearance substantially, transforming his traditionally pink skin into shades of green, gold and purple. The facial features are roughly the same, with prominent ridges over the eyes and a pronounced jawline. Whereas the comic book Kro typically wears a jumpsuit, this Kro appears to be naked. Most curious of all, he clearly comes with a number of detachable features such as extended, almost fluidic hands, and there are tendrils rising from his back reminiscent of some of Hasbro’s symbiote figures. It’s a fascinating design, and an almost entirely original sculpt, so it’s easy to see why this would be a Marvel Legends deluxe.

In the comics Kro is a shapeshifter, and he can even pass as human. Kro may well possess that ability in the MCU as well, and that seems to be represented by the strands running across the skin and the tendrils on his back. This particular aesthetic has absolutely no basis in the comics, but it would be visually arresting nonetheless, and it would make Kro seem like a true challenge to the powerful Eternals. It’s reasonable to assume Kro adopts this appearance in the third act, and that features like the hands are morphed during his battle. That would be a dramatic extension upon his comic book powers, where his shapeshifting is a lot more limited.

Of course, viewers should take even this Marvel Legends action figure with a healthy dose of skepticism. Hasbro tend to produce their action figures based on concept art, which sometimes means they don’t accurately represent the finished version. At the same time, though, this is an unusually prominent figure, a Marvel Legends deluxe nonetheless, and you’d expect them to have worked particularly closely with Marvel Studios on it. So it really wouldn’t be a surprise to see Kro take on this appearance at the end of Eternals, in a dramatic third-act action sequence.

More: Eternals Theory: Why Marvel Is Keeping Its Deviant Villains A Secret

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