We first saw Syrian refugee Zain Al-Rafeea in Nadine Labaki’s Oscar-nominated film “Capernaum,” earlier this year. And now, it looks like he could be starring in the upcoming Marvel film, ‘The Eternals.’
Actress Salma Hayek, who is also starring in the film, uploaded a picture of herself with her arms around Al-Rafeea and ‘The Eternals’ co-star Lia Mchugh on Instagram. She captioned the image with, “Hanging with the Eternals’ youth,” which sounds to us, like the pair will be joining the cast of Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, Richard Madden and Kumail Nanjiani.
The Eternals are a comic-book race of aliens/human hybrids described as an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. The Eternals are intended to be the defenders of Earth, which leads to the inevitability of war against their destructive counterparts, the Deviants.
The 15-year-old actor was part of history this year as director Nadine Labaki was nominated as the first female Arab to ever be in the running for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. He starred as a 12-year-old Lebanese boy who runs away from his negligent parents, commits a violent crime and is sentenced to five years in jail. However, he then sues his parents for what he believes is the real crime – giving him life.
Labaki didn’t win but we’re expecting big things from Al-Rafeea as part of the Marvel universe.