All throughout the creation of Avengers: Infinity War, everyone at Marvel Studios adhered to a no-spoiler policy so strict, it resulted in the use of trailer misdirects and faux scripts in order to throw everyone off the scent. Not even core cast members like Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch were privy to sensitive information regarding the film’s finale.
With hindsight, Marvel’s cast-iron strategy worked like a charm, as almost everyone was blown away by Infinity War‘s bleak third act, while some of our on-screen heroes were quite literally blown away by the Infinity Gauntlet, like turds in the wind. Too soon?
On a more serious note, as part of the Infinity War director’s commentary, Marvel producer Trinh Tran recalled the moment when the Powers That Be informed each cast member of their respective fate.
The blip out sequence, we had gathered the whole entire talent, they are circled around our directors, and basically revealed to them that morning of that scene was happening, that some of them were gonna be disappearing.
Adding to this, Joe Russo elaborated on that no-spoiler policy, and why it needed to be so strict on a production of this size:
The audience is so good at predicting stories that even just the smallest clue can tell them where the film is gonna go. So, we worked really hard to make sure none of the secrets of the film leaked. It’s about as massive a production as you can mount. About 6,000 crew members working on the film from around the world.
His co-director Anthony Russo then spoke about the emotional sucker punch that is Infinity War‘s finale, and how framing certain deaths – like, say, Bucky Barnes’ final moments through the eyes of Cap – only amplified the feeling of loss.
The movie sort of keeps twisting at the end there in ways that you can’t believe it’s going one step beyond and that the fate of our characters and the fate of our universe are still at play. In terms of our choices of who Thanos would end up eradicating with his snap, it was very story focused. How do we pay off each individual character story most profoundly? The first person to go is Bucky Barnes and it’s shot from Captain America’s perspective. We’re watching Cap go through the experience of watching him go away. We’re watching Okoye, whose number one mission it is in life is to protect the king. She watches the king go, in front of her. To see those characters react in those situations is very powerful and resonant.
All of this (and more!) is recounted on the Avengers: Infinity War home video release, which is now available digitally.