SPOILERS: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - Everything Marvel, The Cast, And The Russos Lied To Us About
Leading up to the release of Avengers: Infinity War, the cast and crew of Marvel's latest movie misled us in a lot of different ways and we're now counting down the biggest lies they've been feeding us...
Heading into Avengers: Infinity War, it's fair to say that none of us wanted to be spoiled. After all, everything we'd heard about the movie pointed to it being unlike any other story set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the stakes looked like they would be higher than ever with characters such as Iron Man and Captain America among those rumoured to have their heads on the chopping block.
Ultimately, it delivered a lot of amazing surprises and Marvel Studios deserves credit for encouraging fans not to spoil any big moments (#ThanosDemandsYourSilence) and often misdirecting us.
However, there's misdirection and then there are outright lies! Here, we're taking a look at all the times Kevin Feige, the Russos, the cast, and Marvel in general fibbed about what was on the way in Avengers: Infinity War and evaluating whether what they did was for the best, whether or not it was really a "lie," and what that could mean for Avengers 4. So, click below to take a look at the full list.
Still Missing: Hawkeye
Hawkeye has been absent from all but the first Comic-Con poster for Avengers: Infinity War and we now know why! It turns out he wasn't in the movie at all and all we got was a throwaway mention about Clint Barton making a deal with the government after being on the run proved to be too much of a strain on his family (that was also used as an excuse for why Ant-Man was nowhere to be seen).
That's a big contrast to what we were promised beforehand, though. Joe Russo claimed that "Hawkeye's on his own journey in this movie," while Anthony would promise that "he has a unique reaction to the Civil War situation that puts him in a special spot in this film." Were either of them outright telling porkies? Not exactly but it's fair to say that most fans read comments like these (and the many made by Kevin Feige) and assumed Hawkeye would have a meaty role in Infinity War.
Avengers: Infinity War Won't Have A Cliffhanger Ending. Right?
While Avengers: Infinity War is without a doubt a great standalone movie, like The Empire Strikes Back before it, it might as well have had "To Be Continued" tacked on to the end based on it wrapped up.
"It isn’t a true two-parter," Joe claimed once upon a time, "and I think the two-parter concept came back when Marvel decided they were going to culminate the MCU, it was going to be a two-movie deal. But as we developed the movie, in execution, it ended up being more of two singular expressions." Avengers 4 could be very different but it's definitely going to be Infinity War - Part 2!
No Nick Fury In Avengers: Infinity War Claims Samuel L. Jackson
According to Samuel L. Jackson, not only had Marvel benched him in Black Panther but there were no plans for Nick Fury to show up in Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers 4 either. That came as quite a blow to fans of the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director but there actually may be a pretty good excuse for the actor when he claimed last year, "They’re shooting them now, and they haven’t called me yet."
Set photos have revealed that the movie's after-credits scene was actually shot back in January when Captain Marvel started shooting so the Russos clearly added this sequence at the last-minute when Jackson was prepping to return to the role there. With that in mind, he may have been under the impression that he wouldn't be getting the call when he made those remarks about Fury's absence.
Avengers Assemble!
Looking back at the trailers for Justice League, you could probably find at least thirty scenes which ended up on the cutting room floor. As we know, that movie underwent extensive reshoots and was fundamentally changed by Joss Whedon and Warner Bros. but what's the deal with the scene above being dropped from Avengers: Infinity War? Was its inclusion simply a marketing ploy to mislead fans?
Unless this shot was supposed to come as Earth's Mightiest Heroes attempt to stop Thanos from reaching The Vision, I think this was probably only in the trailers as a way of selling the movie.
If that is the case, the presence of The Hulk was a full on lie just to make us think that the Jade Giant would be part of the final battle in Wakanda. Then again, if that was done simply to keep Avengers: Infinity War's secrets, it's hard to fault Marvel for slightly misleading us with this memorable shot.
Hulk Smash
As Avengers 4 started taking shape, it's inevitable that some changes to Avengers: Infinity War would be made. Did one of those include removing Bruce Banner so that his story arc could continue playing out into the untitled fourth instalment? Perhaps so, especially as various toys and promo art have shown the Green Goliath smashing his way out the Hulkbuster armour during that final battle.
It's entirely possible that's a scene which was never going to be included in the movie but it's hard not to feel misled about not getting to see this happen. If we're lucky, this could happen in 2019...
Mark Ruffalo Spoiled The Movie...Then Claimed He Didn't
During an interview during last year's D23, Mark Ruffalo outright spoiled Avengers: Infinity War when he said, "Everybody dies...well, half." Both he and his co-star Don Cheadle were quick to claim that he was just joking but it's now clear that he knew how the movie would end (which leaves us to another lie, this time from those working on the epic superhero ensemble behind the camera).
In what now feels like a blatant bid to generate discussion about the movie's secrets, Joe and Anthony Russo frequently claimed that they didn't show the cast the full script and all but one or two of them later backed that story up. However, if these two knew that Thanos would wipe out half of the universe and their teammates would die, it's hard to take what the filmmakers said 100% seriously.
Then again, their involvement during that final scene could be all the explanation we need as they would have had to be clued in to what was going on. I'm not buying them not getting a script, though!
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Would Only Get A Cameo
When Chris Pratt was asked about the role of the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War, he claimed that "I’m a cameo in this movie. I get to be a dash of flavour and we get to bring some of the Guardians’ flavour to this movie." That and similar remarks from James Gunn led many fans to think the team's role would be a disappointment but they definitely had a leading role here.
Gamora is integral to the plot and Star-Lord probably has just as much screentime as characters like Thor, Spider-Man, and certainly more than Captain America (who gets very little to do in this movie).
Why Marvel would want us to think that the Guardians weren't really all that important to Avengers: Infinity War is hard to say but it could boil down to changes being made in reshoots which took place.
The Big Deaths Will Last...LOL
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a habit of killing characters off and then quickly bringing them back and we do get a pretty huge resurrection here when the Red Skull is revealed to be alive and well.
When Kevin Feige was asked if the losses in Avengers: Infinity War would be "for real" this time, he replied: "Yes. I mean, I could always list off the characters that we’ve killed in our movies that haven’t come back, but the big ones, which I know they’re looking at …? I would just say, yes. People need to be careful what they wish for." Let's face it there's no way all those deaths are sticking and while one or two might, those who turned to dust will almost certainly return in Avengers 4.
You can't really blame Feige for misleading us but it's annoying that we went into Avengers: Infinity War expecting permanent deaths and were misled with those which we're confident won't stick.
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