Kumail Nanjiani Reveals He Was “Signed on for Six Movies” With Marvel Prior to ‘Eternals’ Flop

Summary

• Kumail Nanjiani revealed he thought he signed a 10-year MCU contract that involved six films, a potential video game and an amusement park ride
• He reflects on how that affected him after Eternals flopped in the box office
• His comments provide a rare glimpse into the new reality of actor contracts

Emmy-nominated actor Kumail Nanjiani, who played the cosmic superhero Kingo in Marvel’s Eternals, has spoken candidly about his initial expectations of joining the MCU. In a recent interview on the Working it Out podcast, Nanjiani revealed that he and his fellow castmates had a common misconception about the length of their contracts, believing they were signing on for a full decade of work.

“When we all signed on, we were all told, ‘It’s a ten-year thing. You’re going to be with us for 10 years,” Nanjiani said. “And so that’s the headspace we were in, and we were all kind of excited about that.” His comments reveal the mindset of actors joining the MCU, where a single film can lead to a decade-long commitment to the franchise. He also discussed what happened when Eternals released and said, “It came out, 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 added, “I was like, ‘This is going to be my job for the next ten 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 ten years of my life. Okay, so I’ll be doing Marvel movies every year, and in between, I’ll do my own little things. Whatever I want to do.’”

However, Nanjiani admits that since the release of Eternals in 2021, the Marvel machine has shifted its strategy. “After Endgame and when all that stuff happened, it’s just kind of like, things have changed,” he said. He added that while he would love to return to the MCU, he is “not super confident about it.” His comments provide a rare glimpse into the changing landscape of Hollywood’s biggest franchise, where even actors with multi-film contracts are no longer guaranteed a long-term future.

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