The huge success of Deadpool & Wolverine Feels like a turning point for the MCU after some disappointing recent releases. Some of that supposed to sink in Avengers: Endgame is exaggerated, considering the real quality of the releases, and it is important to confirm that success breeds higher expectations. in Deadpool & WolverineS case, it's a different kind of expectation that I fear could break the MCU. We need to talk about spoilers.
There are positive challenges for all future Marvel movies releasing in the wake of deadpool and wolverine, Of course. The revitalization of the MCU box office is setting standards (and expectations) higher, and the pressure to bring back both title characters will surely be heightened now. And that's without mentioning Wesley Snipes' Blade, Channing Tatum's Gambit, Dafne Keen's X-23, and Jennifer Garner's Elektra. But Deadpool & Wolverine Also set a precedent Marvel will have to kill quickly.
Deadpool and Wolverine's marketing went too far
Marvel botched its own movie… but you have to admit it worked
Spoilers are a difficult subject in movies. Some are actively embraced in a carefully considered strategy to give just enough of a taste to tempt increasingly reluctant audiences in theaters, but at the same time, a culture has arisen from this that threatens the magic of the cinematic experience. Deadpool & WolverineFrustratingly, crossing this event horizon in a way that I fear will set a precedent for future MCU releases.
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Almost every major cameo and significant parts of the actual story—including the entire first 35 minutes of the movie—were laid out before anyone had even sat down for a paid screening. in a sad shift, This was not just because of the nature of media commentary, or because some early viewers were gullible: It was an active part of the marketing campaign. Deadpool & Wolverines trailers and teasers spoiled cameos for the sake of hype, and fan and media screening spoiled huge details like Henry Cavill's Wolverine cameo.
It was a remarkable strategy that actively worked, if you look at the box office numbers, so fair play to them. But when you see a movie director reposting screen recordings of his own movie on X as an active part of early post-release marketing, it's hard not to wonder if things haven't gotten a little out of hand. And the bigger worry is that a large part of the audience wants this to be the norm.
Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars are likely to have incredibly valuable spoilers
As Avengers movies get bigger, their spoilers get bigger
The worry now is that you simply can't put the genie back in the bottle. And in both Avengers: Doomsday And secret warsMarvel has two upcoming projects that are already being talked about for their potential fan-rewarding moments and cameos. It's not a bad thing at all that they could give us more of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, or Deadpool meeting the Avengers, or Tobey Maguire's return as Spider-Man, or any number of exciting flashpoints, but we don't need to know them All.
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Naturally, some Spoilers are valuable in marketing terms: There is a universe in which Robert Downey Jr's Doctor Doom would not be revealed until he appears on screen. But in fact, his personal brand is such a draw that weaponizing it for the purposes of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is very hard to argue against. Do I want to know any other Tier A cameos or surprises? No, I'd rather preserve the magic of the experience.
I want to lay down, if I have to
Post-release spoiler discussions are fair game for those who actively seek them out, of course, but for them to be all over the marketing, as they were for Deadpool & Wolverine is too much. Unfortunately, I can't see how Marvel won't look at how well this worked for Shawn Levy's sequel and adopt the same strategy. But I want to be lied to, if I must be: I want more of Andrew Garfield avoiding direct questions about his part in Spider-Man: No Way Home; I want more digitally altered trailers hiding secrets; I want to experience them for the first time in cinemas.
The problem, of course, is that I also want to be part of Avengers: Doomsday And secret wars'Hip train. I'm going to lose my mind over the first trailers, and gleefully accept every bit of what the confirmed cast say. But I don't want to know in advance that we're going to see Hulk fight Wolverine, or the Council of Reeds, or whatever part the X-Men are going to play. Cutting out the best story fragments in trailers was a cardinal sin: it couldn't be how everything was marketed.
Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame are great because they are spoiler protected
The magic of cinema worked exactly as it should have
Thinking back to the run up to Avengers: Infinity War And End gamethe notices, It felt like Marvel was at war with spoiler culture. When Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland spilled details, it was outrageous. When Frank Grillo confirmed that Crossbones would return End gameHe then quickly said that it was all just a joke, presumably as a course correction. Some spoilers, inevitably, still got out, but we all went into the movies gloriously unaware of some of the best parts.
Marvel could have told everyone that all of Thanos' victims in Infinity WarThe end would return, knowing how much easy hype that would have gained them. They could have spoiled the cameos, or Captain America wielding Mjolnir, or Thor's transformation, but they didn't. Instead, we have trailers like this:
Yes, the Smart Hulk and Ronin story elements were shown in the official marketing, but the lengths Marvel went to protect spoilers became a marketing story in itself. The magic of seeing these movies in theaters without the biggest moments being known first was just part of why they did so well and were so beloved. You don't remember End game's gate scene just for what it shows, you remember it for how you felt watching it, In context In the dark.
Leak and scoop culture is a dangerous balancing act
Time to admit it: we've reached a dangerous point in fan culture
Unfortunately, cinema culture is now facing an impossible struggle. The prices are too high, the etiquette of the audience is in the tube, and studios are resorting to increasingly desperate measures to get people into the cinema. Some of them aren't even necessary (how spoiling X-23's involvement wasn't), and they feel like they're catering to a group that sees knowing things first as a currency far greater than actually seeing them play out. The screen.
Part of the exchange is the rise of the Internet Scooper, The arch-nemesis of studio secret guards and anyone who doesn't want every fine detail of a movie spoiled weeks or months in advance. This is also a hierarchical system. At the top sit the true scoopers with real industry insight, who validate their information and give studios a chance to respond. Then in the middle are people who may have some legitimate contacts, but who cosplay as the top level. And at the bottom of the broad base of the pyramid are the bullsh*t artists who feed on fan excitement cynically.
Avengers: Doomsday And Avengers: Secret Wars Both will be like Christmas in Scoopsville
Studios must acknowledge their part in this culture, as the organic shift in marketing that saw influencer voices embraced led to what we see now. If a trade reporting on a poorly kept secret (like Jennifer Garner's Elektra return, which leaks a year in advance) is the suitable Dr. Jekyll of the hype train, whose wheels are greased by corporate strategy, Mr. Hyde is the myriad scooper accounts blasting rumor after speculative rumor at eager social audiences with a blunderbuss..
And identification and track records don't matter, because it's all a big human centipede of self-congratulation. The sooner you spread leaks of a property that everyone is excited about, the bigger the safety net you establish to be able to say "Well, that was just an early plan, and the plans changed." Look at the Marvel "scoopers" who are already doing this, they are saying a variation of exactly this.
I'm afraid it's already inevitable: Avengers: Doomsday And Avengers: Secret Wars Both will be like Christmas in Scoopsville. The barrage of Fox insider information, which has already started before any of the movies even have scripts, will be inscrutable very quickly. And it's scary to think that Deadpool & Wolverines marketing approach has vindicated what they do.