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Kumail Nanjiani thought ‘Eternals’ would bring Marvel roles ‘for the next 10 years’

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Kumail Nanjiani attends the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 23, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Kumail Nanjiani expected his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to lead to many more jobs.

The actor portrayed Kingo in the 2021 Chloé Zhao film Eternals, for which he underwent a major physical transformation. Nanjiani spoke about his experience after the film was released during a recent appearance on the Working It Out podcast.

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

One of the things he had to understand “was just realizing too much of my self-esteem was tied up in other people’s reaction to my work,” he said.

Nanjiani said he originally signed on for six Marvel films.

“I was like, ‘This is going to be my job for the next 10 years.’ 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 on for all this stuff. You’re like, ‘This is the next 10 years of my life. OK, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year, and in between, I’ll do my own little things. Whatever I want to do.’”

The star-studded cast of Eternals included Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Brian Tyree Henry.

“There were a few too many people in Eternals, if the reviews are to be believed,” Nanjiani said. “I loved the movie. I’m very proud of the movie.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Marvel.