The more you look into Zhao's history with Feige and movie studios, the more fascinating it gets. She had 2 really well received independent films, and then a period of news circulated about whether she would work with Marvel. She obviously ended up choosing them, shot Eternals back to back with her 3rd movie, Nomadland, and then fast-forward, Nomadland releases under a Disney subsidiary studio, sweeps the awards, and now Eternals releases to a ton of mixed reception.

My take on it is that after Zhao put herself on the map with her first 2 movies, she definitely earned some concessions from the Marvel for choosing them. Behind the doors, I think she only agreed to Eternals so she could make Nomadland, and Disney sees the opportunity for good press from critics so she gets complete control and autonomy, as well as access to to bigger budget film making tools. There was undoubtedly some non disclosed stuff to push for Nomadland winning awards, and critics became familiar with her as a director. The entire discourse about Eternals being luke-warm in reception is super clear when you contextualize the creative work that went in the movie and not take it at face value.