Marvel really went out of its way to keep a lid on Avengers: Infinity War spoilers, including using misleading trailers, letting Thanos threaten Twitter users who might drop hints about the [REDACTED], and making Benedict Cumberbatch sign a contract to remain at Tom Holland’s side 24/7 for the next two years or so (that last part may not have happened).
But some of the earliest tactics were actually deployed against the Avengers themselves—according to Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Scarlet Witch, and directors Anthony and Joe Russo, the cast got incomplete scripts, as well as fake ones. The brothers revealed last year that “All the actors were given fake scripts… very few people have seen the actual film itself.” We understand the need for secrecy and all, especially when Mark Ruffalo is part of your ensemble, but surely the people you’ve been working with for, in some cases the last four years, can be entrusted with the ending of the movie they’re starring in, right?
The answer is no, not really. Over the weekend, ScreenRant reports Olsen and her co-star Paul Bettany revealed at Ace Comic-Con just how long they were kept in the dark about the finger snap heard ’round the universe, which was basically right up until they were supposed to film the ending. As Olsen said:
“I found out from the Russos exactly what was going to happen and it wasn’t until we shot it on that day we learned what the ending was. They took us into a van—all of us—we were in a van with air conditioning because it was very hot and they told us how the movie was going to end and no one knew. And they were like ‘Now we’re shooting it, go!’ and we were like ‘How are we supposed to interpret that?’”
There’s a lot to unpack there, starting with the size of this van, given that Infinity War boasted the largest gathering of Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes and villains ever. Of course, that number is reduced significantly if Olsen was only speaking of active Avengers, but even that figure is up for debate, since Cap must have surely earned back his status by returning to take on a world-ending threat? Or was Olsen was only speaking of everyone who was “dusted”? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions, unless the van company wants to make itself and its vehicles’ quality air conditioning known.