Avengers: Infinity War - Did The Russos' Spoiler Warning Hint At False Advertising?
Does the "true story" mean there's been some serious misdirection?
As we hit the very last dregs of the pre-release marketing campaign for Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel Studios are doing their level best to reveal as much information about the film as possible while also maintaining some level of mystery. Ironically, this is also the period when fans start to turn away from the marketing to try and preserve some of the mystery for themselves too and not have absolutely everything spoiled, so you have to wonder why the studio is clearly spending so much on that many TV spots.
Anyway, while their own marketing department aren't really helping matters, the Russos have put out a call (via Thanos, apparently) to the fans - and presumably the press (but mostly the self-appointed fanboy "press" who post endlessly on Twitter and spoil everything) - asking everyone to cool it with the spoilers once they've seen the movie.
Here’s the note in full:
To the greatest fans in the world,
We’re about to embark on the Avengers: Infinity War press tour. We will be visiting fans all over the world screening only only a limited amount of selected footage from the film in order to avoid spoiling the story for future viewers.
AdvertisementWe will not screen the film in its entirety until the Los Angeles premiere shortly before the film’s global release. Everyone involved with the film has worked incredibly hard for the past two years maintaining the highest level of secrecy. Only a handful of people know the film’s true plot.
We’re asking that when you see Infinity War, in the coming months, that you maintain the same level of secrecy so that all fans can have an equal experience when they watch it for the first time. Don’t spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn’t want it to be spoiled for you.
AdvertisementGood luck and happy viewing.
The Russo Brothers
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It's a fair enough request - though unfortunately, some will take it as a reason to spoil it even more - but the interesting point in there is the mention of "the film's true plot". Given that there's been lots of talk about false shoots and misdirection, could this be something of an allusion to there being some hijinx at work in the marketing?
It wouldn't at all be surprising, since there's way too much already out there for those who don't want the movie completely spoiled. And while the directors have very little control over the always very leaky toy lines, what they could do is channel the flow of expectations by letting some false plot points out there consciously.
Honestly, it would be great to find out that what we're expecting from Infinity War isn't all entirely correct - it's part of the pre-release game all fans engage with, after all - so let's hope that's what they're hinting at here. It would be pretty odd for them to be so protective about spoilers if everyone already knew what was going to happen ahead of release anyway...
So maybe start to think about those surprises.