Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently addressed the studio’s attitude towards spoilers and what Marvel has learnt from the Spider-Man: No Way Home leaks.
Ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home, there wasn’t a Marvel fan anywhere in the world who wasn’t expecting Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to appear in the movie. The former Spider-Men did not feature in any of the movie’s promotional material, including trailers, posters and even merchandise (an action figure modeled on Maguire’s Spider-Man in No Way Home packaging was revealed to be a fake). However, somewhere along the line, word had got out that the actors would be returning in the film and all doubts were quelled when images of the two former Spider-Men on set leaked online.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, of course, went on to become one of the highest grossing films all of time (currently the sixth highest grossing film in history). Those spoilers didn’t seem to do much harm. If anything, the knowledge that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire would be appearing alongside Tom Holland’s Spider-Man drove even more fans to theaters. Kevin Feige was asked about Marvel Studios’ approach to keeping major secrets under wraps during the global press conference for the latest MCU release, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Marvel Studios president revealed:
“Well, the unfortunate truth is, you don’t! [Laughs] Therefore, you need to make sure that the experience itself works regardless of what has been spoiled or not… We still do as good a job as we can, and I think a lot of people are getting good at not spreading it. You know, [if] somebody steals something, don’t spread it around because it just potentially lessens the experience. But, in a lot of ways, No Way Home showed that it did not lessen the experience, so we will continue to do the best that we can, but the most important thing is, to deliver a movie or show that delivers regardless of what you know going in.”
Feige’s response says a lot about Marvel Studios’ approach to filmmaking and why their films continue to succeed fourteen years after their first feature, Iron Man, hit the big screen. While surprising cameos and shocking twists might heighten the audience experience, Marvel’s priority has always been delivering high-quality storytelling that doesn’t depend on those surprises to satisfy their fans.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the latest MCU film to hit theaters – bringing plenty of those surprising cameos and shocking twists with it. Here is the official synopsis:
The MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
Directed by Sam Raimi from a script written by Michael Waldron, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel McAdams, and Patrick Stewart.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters now. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the MCU film and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
