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Hamnet director Chloé Zhao wanted to be a manga artist, but ended up making Marvel’s Eternals instead
Chloé Zhao said that she was never able to achieve her dream because she “wasn’t very good at drawing”
NewsbyJules Chin Greene, Staff Writer
Published on Fri Sep 04 2026
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Just watch any film directed by Chloé Zhao, and you’ll see her storytelling prowess on display. The Oscar-winning writer-director made a name for herself by making emotionally intimate films set in the American West, like 2017’s The Rider and 2020’s Nomadland, before going on to direct Marvel Studios’ 2021 tentpole, Eternals. As it turns out, directing and writing a comic book movie was a full-circle moment for Zhao, who dreamed of being a manga artist when she was a child.
Zhao revealed her childhood dream of becoming a mangaka at the Venice Film Festival this year, Variety reported, but there was one problem: “I wasn’t very good at drawing. I wasn’t up to standard,” Zhao said. “I wanted to tell stories. I didn’t think cinema was an option for me.”
Indeed, when Zhao was growing up, there weren’t many high-profile female directors, much less Oscar-winning female directors. It’s worth noting that Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director at the Academy Awards in 2021, and only the second woman to win the award at all. For context, the first Academy Awards were held in 1929.
Even though Eternals didn’t land well at the box office, Zhao still values her experience working with Marvel Studios. “I loved doing it,” she said, referring to making Eternals. “For any of you who love anime, I know you know this was a girl’s dream come true. Comic books are the western equivalent of [manga]. They are very different, but I live in the west, and that’s what I had access to.”
Eternals is a film that proudly wears its comic book origins on its sleeve. Zhao brought the particular visual language of the Jack Kirby characters from page to screen with a sensibility that felt magical to me, as a huge Kirby fan. I hope that with time, more and more people will come to reevaluate Eternals and the ways that it deconstructs the particular brand of heroic myth-making that Marvel Studios had become synonymous with.
Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans – the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:
- All the upcoming MCU movies, TV series, and specials on the horizon
- How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
- The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
- All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.
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