Step aside The Avengers, it's time for a different team of superheroes to shine. And Angelina Jolie looks to be eyeing up a role in the new franchise.

Marvel's 'The Eternals' is gathering steady momentum at Marvel Studios, with bad-ass Hollywood legend Angelina Jolie rumoured to be up for a main role in the new comic-book adaptation.

Chinese film director Chloe Zhao will direct Marvel's next biggest tentpole movie, and looks to already to considering her cast. Zhao is a relatively unknown director, has only helmed two full-length movies to date ('The Rider' and 'Songs My Brothers Taught Me'); but Marvel has embraced indie directors of late, and it's definitely worked for the studios so far - Taika Waititi ('Thor: Ragnarok') and Anna Boden ('Captain Marvel') are cases in point. 

With Marvel and 20th Century Fox now one huge entity in Disney's ever-reaching umbrella, it seems we might not get to see the 'X-Men' for a few years yet. Marvel are banking on 'The Eternals' to be their newest blockbuster franchise, following in the steps of 'The Avengers' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. But who exactly are these Eternals, and why should you be interested in them?

Well, for one, Thanos is technically an Eternal. Yep that's right, The Mad Titan, who has currently made half of the world turn into dust, is a Deviant Eternal. However, it's very unlikely that we'll ever see Thanos popping up again. You see, Marvel's comic-book series focuses on these Celestial beings who accidentally created Deviant Eternals, and to eradicate these nasty Gods, they created the Eternals to protect the universe from them. Basically, everyone has incredible super powers, act like Gods, and some of them are the really really bad guys. Phew.

Who Angelina Jolie may be playing remains unclear as of yet, but there are two possibilities that fans have been speculating. One is Sersi (no, not THAT Cersei), who has every superpower you can name, including super strength, telepathy, and flight.

While the other possibility is an Eternal named Thena. Thena also has many abilities similar to Sersi, but has expert hand-to-hand combat abilities, and is always pictured wielding a huge weapon. We think this may be the role Jolie is circling.

There's been no confirmation yet, so take all of this information with a grain of salt. However, if looks like there may be some more cast announcements coming our way in the new few months. Once 'Avengers: Endgame' is out of the way, Marvel's next phase will surely be announced.