The Major Avengers: Infinity War Plot Point That Was Kept Secret From The Cast Until The Last Minute
Marvel is very careful about guarding their secrets. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Marvel headquarters in Burbank even has what's called the "Black Widow Room:" a room with no internet connectivity to discuss important matters that can't be leaked. However, keeping those secrets has gotten tougher with much more work being done from home since the beginning of the pandemic, even with Marvel making contractors sign agreements that ensure no family members or neighbors view what they're working on.
Some of the cast members are better at keeping secrets than others. In an interview with AP Entertainment, Chris Hemsworth said he was better at keeping MCU secrets than Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland, who he claims have been a bit more loose-lipped. In the same interview, Tessa Thompson explained that her work on "Westworld" prepared her to hold back spoilers. "Basically anything I work with a Hemsworth on, I have to be like mum's the word."
Elizabeth Olsen, who plays the Scarlet Witch (aka Wanda Maximoff), revealed in an interview that not only does Marvel keep secrets from the fans, but sometimes they even keep secrets from the actors. This was the case with one major plot point in "Avengers: Infinity War" that everyone remained in the dark about.
Nobody knew who was getting blipped until the last minute
"Avengers: Infinity War" had possibly the most heartbreaking ending of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, with half of the World's Mightiest Heroes turning to dust. In an interview with Variety, Elizabeth Olsen explained that even the actors who played the blipped characters were not notified of it until the very last minute. "Those movies, you could read a script in an office, with a security guard, on one specific iPad," Olsen explained. "... But I didn't know I got blipped away until we shot it ... We were all just in this van, and they said, 'This is what's happening. You guys will disappear.' And we're like, 'OK.' It was shocking." So, just as the audience found themselves stunned at the end of the movie, so did the actors on the day of filming.
In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, the Russo Brothers, who directed both "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," backed up this story, saying that Robert Downey Jr. was the only actor in those movies who was given a copy of the full script. The Marvel stars were kept in the dark to keep them from spoiling anything to the press. Of course, the MCU's secrecy didn't end with "Infinity War" and "Endgame." In an interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Elizabeth Olsen admitted that she didn't know if she was returning to the MCU following her role in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."