It’s natural for studios to want to keep certain parts of their blockbusters secret until the movie actually comes out, but Marvel Studios took this to the next level with Avengers: Endgame. Not only were the previews for the highly-anticipated MCU movie incredibly vague, but even after Endgame came out, directors Joe and Anthony Russo asked fans to not drop any spoilers about it publicly until after it finished its second weekend in theaters.
It’s now been over a month since Avengers: Endgame came out, and not only is it still a popular topic of conversation among MCU enthusiasts, but Marvel hasn’t been shy about using a lot of spoilery footage within post-release TV spots. Now Joe Russo is defending the institution of this Endgame spoiler ban, saying:
This is the environment we live in now. We can't control the internet. It’s its own monster. Whether there's malicious intent or compulsive intent to reveal story points of pop culture content, we wanted to make sure that we asked for a level of decorum in how all of that was dealt with.
Joe Russo is right; given how prevalent the internet and social media are in our lives, it’s harder than ever to avoid spoilers, whether it’s for a movie, TV show, comic book or novel. Sometimes people drop spoilers accidentally while others do it just to be malicious, but either way, learning specific plot twists ahead of time can often lead to the theatrical experience being diminished or outright ruined.
Obviously it’s impossible to clamp down on spoilers 100%, but as Joe Russo explained to THR, he and his brother were just doing their best to ensure that etiquette was followed and that people were respectful to one another. The Russos sent out a similar ‘no spoilers’ request when Avengers: Infinity War came out, as four months earlier during test screenings, they realized that the impact of the movie was going to be more significant than they realized and wanted to nip this issue in the bud as much as possible.
As for the Avengers: Endgame spoiler ban being lifted after the movie was in theaters for two weekends, Joe Russo said he and Anthony had “no choice” with choosing that date. Had it been up to them, they would have keep the ban in effect for three weeks.
The Russos aren’t the only directors who have recently requested folks not spoil anything about their upcoming movies. Last month, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, and beforehand, Tarantino asked those who would be attending that screening not to reveal any story details since the general public won’t get to see the movie until late July.
Avengers: Endgame is winding down its run in theaters, but it’ll be arriving on home media soon and will be available on Disney+ starting December 11. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates regarding future MCU movies, and be sure to check out our 2019 release schedule to learn what non-Marvel movies are on the way.
