Sprite

In the comics, this character is known as "7-Up." Sprite has the ability to cast life-like illusions and is an Eternal much stronger and cleverer than she appears. Sprite's name is not a coded reference like Ikaris and Makkari's were: she's just Sprite, the inspiration for Puck (the Shakespeare one, not the hockey one) and Peter Pan. He looked younger than all the rest, and enjoyed playing pranks, and in some stories was secretly the villain because he was pissed about being an eternal "child" and never getting to grow up. It was recently revealed that every 20-25,000 years or so, Eternals undergo a rebirth that gives them a chance to change their appearance and even their gender - which is a handy excuse for rewriting the characters to match their movie counterparts. Lia McHugh will be playing Sprite. And frankly, given the long theatrical tradition of small women playing boy characters like Peter Pan, it would have been perfectly understandable to still have Sprite be male. He's stuck in a pre-pubescent (and therefore fairly androgynous) body, and if you told me this was a male actor, I'd believe it. Granted, movies have limitations comics don't - if we wait five years for Eternals 2, the actress is going to look like a 19-year-old rather than a 14-year-old, and it's harder to pass that off as a little boy - but the important part of the character is "looks like a kid," not "uses one bathroom or another." As an example, the common fancasting for the role was Millie Bobby Brown, so the gender change isn't one that's come out of nowhere. 616 Sprite dressed like a Jimmy Olsen jack-in-the-box: a green and yellow costume and a shock of red hair. He looked like Conan O'Brien cosplaying Loki (somewhat fitting, since Sprite sort of filled the Loki role for the Eternals, being the one who loved tricking and fooling them whenever he could). Movie Sprite dresses more like soda Sprite, combining a greenish teal with a lot of silver. It's a very celtic look, highlighted by the intricate patterns all over everything. She wears a trailing skirt and loincloth like Makkari has, but also gets a neat little half-cape coming from her left shoulder across her back - a very cool costume touch! She comes with fists or open hands, and has the entire torso of Build-A-Figure Gilgamesh. Because she's so small. Sprite was slightly sinister in the comics, but not evil; time will tell if the MCU take on the character will follow suit. -- 11/01/21

Tweet