Credit: Marvel StudiosThere is arguably no company more protective over its secrets than Marvel, mainly because the storylines for most of the MCU properties are top secret for shock and surprise in any given movie or show. One of the most infamous situations the MCU has ever faced was the theft of a script, which Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) has now revealed more details about, including the thief “leaving the country.”
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Marvel has become hyper-aware of its reputation, often going to great lengths to ensure that no one ruins the big reveals they want to shock fans with. However, though those overzealous internet sleuths like to find out super intricate details about given Marvel properties, sometimes the stars of said properties often give away big secrets.
Tom Holland is arguably one of the biggest culprits in letting MCU secrets slip through. He accidentally revealed that his Spider-Man movies would be a trilogy, Spider-Man would have different types of web shooters, and revealed a key scene in one of the films.
He isn’t the only one who has revealed crucial secrets. Long-standing MCU actor Mark Ruffalo once accidentally left his phone on during a premiere of Thor: Ragnarok, leaking dialogue to about 2.500 followers.
One of the most recent ones was Alfred Molina letting it slip while at an airport that he was reprising his role of Doctor Otto Octavius in the Spider-Man: No Way Home film.
Simply put, Marvel secrets are certainly not to be revealed in such a way, as the crucial plot points and returning characters are meant to be a welcomed surprised for the legions of fans who go see the films.
However, there are some overzealous fans and seedy individuals who use these highly kept secrets for their own financial gains. Samuel L. Jackson spoke to Entertainment Weekly, and revealed new details about a thief who stole his copy of the Avengers script.
Samuel L. Jackson Reveals Marvel Led a Sting Operation
While speaking about the infamous moment when the Avengers script had been stolen, Samuel L. Jackson revealed the great lengths that Marvel was willing to go to get the script back. According to Jackson:
“I remember when we got ready to do ‘Avengers,’ someone printed out a copy of my ‘Avengers’ script that had my watermark on it, and put it online for sale. I was shooting in Canada and Marvel came to Canada. It had been printed in the production office… They found out who it was, dude quit, left the country. They set up a fake buy for the script, dude didn’t show up. It was crazy.”
We understand that secrets are meant to be kept, but going through a whole sting operation seems quite excessive. What is even more odd about this situation is the thief likely understood the tourble they would be in and decided to flee the country instead of face whatever punishment would come from Marvel.
Samuel L. Jackson also indicated there was a time when Marvel was shooting down drones that would fly over production lots to get images and videos directly from the set. How they shot down these drones was not detailed, but again, this is quite excessive.
Marvel will clearly do what it must to ensure that its secret stay unrevealed until their movies or shows release, but that excessive nature might be doing far more damage than it is helping. Honestly, its made people care to an extreme level when it comes to spoilers.
Are Spoilers Too Powerful Now?
I would like to preface this portion of the article by stating my personal opinion about spoilers. I understand that being an entertainment writer, it is far more likely that I will run into spoilers, given the nature of my career choice. Still, I often wonder if spoilers have too much control over people because of how Marvel has treated its post credits scenes, and their properties in general.
Samuel L. Jackson revealing that the Avengers thief left the country should be an indication that people place far too much stock into plot points being revealed early on.
However, isn’t that what trailers do? Though they do not necessarily reveal context, but they often show some of the most intense scenes in any given show or movie.
Going back to Alfred Molina returning as Doc Oc. He did accidentally reveal his reprisal of the character, but he also gave no context. No one had any idea that Doc Oc would essentially become a hero after everything was said and done, helping Peter Parker instead of wanting to destroy everything.
Again, we were given a crucial plot point, which was his return. However, there was no context about how and why he would return.
I am not saying that spoilers are horrible, because they truly can be. However, even when we accidentally learn some crucial piece of information, it does not usually ruin whatever property it will appear in.
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I was ecstatic that Molina returned as Doc Oc, and even more surprised how his character was altered in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Even when we think a spoiler is a spoiler, its often not.
Do you think the story Samuel L. Jackson told is excessive? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!