CULTURE

Avengers: Endgame Footage Has Leaked, But at Least We Got Spoiler-Free Memes Out of It

All spoiler-free of course.

April 16, 2019

YouTube/Marvel Entertainment

The Internet has a way of ruining everything if you let it, including, apparently, Avengers: Endgame, an unparalleled box office event 11 years in the making that could very well smash multiple records once it officially arrives. That is, of course, unless too many decide to spoil it for themselves online first. Yes, pivotal footage from the film has leaked online 10 days before it was scheduled to hit theaters. According to CNBC, the footage in question is indeed “spoiler heavy,” and snippets of it or descriptions of what it involves, whether they be in clip, screenshot, GIF, or written form may now be infesting your social media timelines like the digital equivalent of a small army of kids who finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before you and then screamed “Snape killed Dumbledore!” in the school hallway.

Making matters worse, the clip apparently isn’t just one scene either, but rather a string of spoiler-laden moments from throughout the film. The development seems to have lead to Disney and directors Anthony and Joe Russo to warn fans not to spoil the film for each other.

“Because so many of you have invested your time, your hearts, and your souls into these stories, we’re once against asking for your help,” reads the statement from the brothers, in part. “When you see Endgame in the coming weeks, please don’t spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn’t want it spoiled for you.”

The statement doesn’t address the leaks directly, and could just as well apply to someone who waits 10 days to see the film who may want to spoil it for someone who couldn’t get tickets to see it until 11 days from now, it does carry the hashtag #DontSpoilTheEndgame. The message was also rolled out on just about every official social channel related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The development has also lead to Marvel diehard proactively muting just about every Avengers-related word they can think of on Twitter lest they accidentally come across a spoiler.

While it’s still very likely the movie will rake in heaps of money despite the leaks, it’s still somewhat surprising the footage leaked at all. Disney and Marvel have taken extra precautions to cloak the events in the air of secrecy. Reportedly some cast members who have a habit of letting a little too much slip during interviews had been kept in the dark about parts of the film in which they don’t appear. Meanwhile, Marvel also won’t screen the film for critics beforehand, a rare move considering the company, unlike many other blockbuster franchises, often relies on early critical praise to drum up interest in a film in the days or even weeks before its release. Even the official trailers have been stingy about showing much in the way of new footage.

Of course, if it’s true that the Internet ruins everything, it also finds a way to turn just about everything into a meme-able moment as well. So all those people who have muted everything Marvel-related on their TL may have missed them. So, here, a quick roundup of memes about the leak, which do not actually include spoilers.