Warning! Spoilers ahead for Eternals.
In the Eternals post-credits scene, Dane Whitman (Kit Harington) is warned by a mysterious character about touching the ancient sword that he just received — who could it be? After Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel Studios returned to theaters with the Chloé Zhao-directed movie. Eternals introduces a whole new superhero team into the MCU, but aside from the main 10 Eternals, it also debuts a few more characters who are set to play big parts in the franchise moving forward. That includes Dane Whitman.
While not officially part of the titular superhero squad, the arrival of Dane via Eternals is a set-up for his future more than anything. After Sersi (Gemma Chan) was left by Ikaris (Richard Madden), she went on to live a simple life as a teacher in London, where she met and began a relationship with Dane. Based on their interactions, the couple seemed to be in a committed and serious partnership, although Sersi's secret identity was hindering them from taking their relationship to the next level. After the attack of a Deviant in London, Dane eventually learned the truth about his girlfriend. Once the Eternals were able to stop Emergence, they reunited, just before the Celestial, Arishem, abducted Sersi alongside Sprite (Lia McHugh) and Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani).
Dane is one of the only two non-powered characters in Eternals — the other one being Kingo's trusted manager/assistant, Karun (Harish Patel). Despite this, he is set to become a superhero in the MCU like in the Marvel comics, assuming the mantle of Black Knight. This was heavily implied in Eternals' post-credits scene where he received an ancient chest with a sword inside. This is the Ebony Blade, which would be the source of his powers, as it was in the Marvel comics. Unsure about it at first, Dane ultimately decided to touch it when a mysterious character off-screen warned him about what's to come once he wields it. The movie cut to black, however, before audiences could see whose voice it was. After some confusion, now, it's been confirmed that the voice talking to Dane in the Eternals post-credits scene is Blade (Mahershala Ali). Zhao herself confirmed this in a recent interview discussing the much-talked-about scene. Sadly, she didn't expound on what this cameo means for Dane's story and the MCU, in general, moving forward.
Marvel Comics could provide clues regarding Eric Brooks, aka Blade, and his unexpected involvement in Eternals. In print, the Daywalker and Whitman were both members of Captain Britain's MI-13 superhero team. Marvel Studios has subtly laid the groundwork in adapting this particular narrative with the inclusion of the Shard — MI-13's headquarters — in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Meanwhile, Captain Britain has long been rumored to join the MCU, and the mention of "Braddock" in Avengers: Endgame, which is likely a referring to James Braddock further backed up this speculation. Zhao claims that she's unaware of Marvel Studios' plans for the upcoming Blade standalone film directed by Bassam Tariq, but the fact that she was able to feature the character in Eternals indicates that Daywalker and Black Knight's respective arcs will be connected to each other moving forward. Perhaps Dane also appears in the Blade movie. Otherwise, they could properly team up in the inevitable The Avengers 5 — whenever that film comes out.
Suffice to say, the inclusion of Blade in Eternals and tying him to Dane Whitman is an interesting creative decision. Frankly, the movie could've done without it as it doesn't really add to the movie's story; still, the sequence itself was very cool. The mysterious voice in the end-credits scene is the type of storytelling trick that Marvel Studios does so well, which helps maintain the interconnected nature of the MCU.
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