Marvel’s Eternals has just recently been sent to Disney+, but the movie itself was an epic bomb at the box office. General audiences and critics were confused by the story, direction and overreaching scale of the film. Now Marvel is trying to take a play from DC and go where they think an audience is–webcomics.

DC currently has “collaboration” projects over at the big South Korean platform ‘Webtoon.” Now it seems Marvel is trying to do the same. Instead of admitting defeat with the Eternals, they are trying to double down and make this one stick by going to the platform that has been cranking out popular comics that are getting turned into movies and shows.

The new collaboration project, Eternals: The 500 Year War, is Disney’s attempt at trying to find an audience to anchor these characters to. Which says to me they have many more plans for the Eternals, even if audiences don’t really want it.

Gemma Chan even jokingly stated “Yes. Marvel owns me for life (Laugh)”  perhaps indicating that they have actors locked in for continuations on these characters.

Launching today the series is a seven-part story. It will first go to Marvel Unlimited and then it will hit Webtoon on January 20th.

According to Comic Book Resources (CBR):

“The 500 Year War stars the titular race of living gods, who recently made their big-screen debut in director Chloé Zhao’s Marvel Studios film Eternals. This is worth mentioning, as the comic’s Marvel Unlimited launch coincides with Eternals’ streaming debut on Disney+ today. What’s more, The 500 Year War’s artwork clearly takes cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s take on the Eternals.”

Writers and artists involved include:

“The 500 Year War features a rotating roster of international creators, starting with writers Dan Abnett, Aki Yanagi, Jongmin Shin, Ju-Yeon Park, David Macho, Rafael Scavone and Yifan Jiang. They are joined by artists Geoffo, Rickie Yagawa, Do Gyun Kim, Magda Price, Marcio Fiorito and Gunji, as well as colorists Matt Milla, Carlos Macias, Fernando Sifuentes, Pete Pantazis and Felipe Sobreiro.”

Of course it takes “cues from the film” that is what this is all about. Trying to find some way to make it stick. Manga is out selling American comic books at an astounding rate. Webcomics on Webtoon can have millions of subscribers with even more views per update.

If this does well it should cause concern from the teams over at Marvel. However, Webtoon tends to favor stories that are “slice-of-life” based or that are “romantic.” So I’m not really sure how this will play out overall.

I have been working in and around webcomics and comics for years. I’m not just saying this as a travel blogger. Comics is literally where we came from and we have used Webtoon ourselves. Marvel is trying to make The Eternals stick no matter what. Seeing how this is all going, and my experience in the industry, I stand by what I have said in this article.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!