The Infinity War cast might have accidentally spoiled Avengers 4’s biggest scene

Thanos may have told everyone to keep his secrets, but now we’ve seen Infinity War, it appears that the message didn’t filter through to the cast and their directors during the press tour.

That’s because they appear to have spoiled Avengers 4’s biggest scene, a scene which wasn’t in Infinity War, but will definitely show up in the sequel.

Oh, and we may know exactly who appears in that epic scene.

So, we should warn you, SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR AND AVENGERS 4 follow. Proceed at your own risk…

So, during promotion for 2017’s Rough Night, Scarlett Johansson was asked about Infinity War, and if she was in it. Not only did she confirm she was involved, she described a sequence featuring EVERYONE. “I think in one particular scene there’s like 32 of us, there’s a lot,” she said.

Obviously we didn’t see that sequence in Infinity War, but we can understand Johansson’s confusion, films are shot out of order and Infinity War and Avengers 4 were shot back-to-back, so she potentially didn’t know which scene was appearing in what film.

Meanwhile, Avengers 4 directorial team the Russo brothers spoke at the Wizard World New Orleans convention, revealing they have a story outline featuring 67 characters.

We didn’t see anywhere close to that number in Infinity War – which means those extra characters have been saved for the sequel. A sequel that includes a sequence the Russos describe as being akin to a massive splash page in a comic. “Like, if you had a comic book and you open it up to your double panel and then you fold it out, and then you folded it out again and again,” they said.

That sounds a lot like something Sebastian Stan described when he was on the promo circuit. “There was one scene, I think, we had where everybody was there. I can’t really talk about that scene, but I knew it took them three months in planning this scene to have everyone there. You look around and you just saw everyone from Samuel L. Jackson to Michael Douglas to Michelle Pfeiffer. Everybody was there,” Stan said.

And that’s where things get interesting.

Forget the names Stan casually dropped (which confirm the dust deaths will indeed all be reversed if Bucky and Nick Fury are taking part in a scene together) and focus on the first part of that quote – the bit where it says the scene took three months to plan to have everyone there. Because that reminds us of something else – that epic reunion photo Marvel released to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

It’s made us wonder – what if those two things are linked? If you look at that photo, everyone from the epic scene Sebastian Stan name-dropped – from Samuel L. Jackson to Michael Douglas to Michelle Pfeiffer – is in the frame. Pfeiffer in particular is a slightly weird presence for an anniversary image, considering she hadn’t actually appeared in a Marvel movie when the shot was taken.

But what if that photo was almost an afterthought? A way for marketing to take advantage of the fact that the Russos had just shot an epic scene with all of these characters in it? After all, if it took three months to plan, why not take advantage of it and get a group photo?

Also, if the sequence really did take such a long time to organise around the stars’ busy schedules, what are the chances of them managing to get as many people together on a different day for a seperate press shot? Not high, we’d wager.

Bring in a few directors, screenwriters and studio folk to throw fans off the scent – taking the total up to 79 instead of 67 – and you’ve got a pretty solid misdirect.

Speaking of fans, when the anniversary image was revealed, some people wondered why Sean Gunn was representing Rocket Raccoon, instead of Bradley Cooper. But if this was taken after shooting the epic Avengers 4 scene, it would make sense for the guy who physically plays the character to be there, as opposed to the actor who does the voice separately.

Also, check out Jeremy Renner, still wearing his new Hawkeye haircut (which we didn’t see in Infinity War) – if this picture was taken after Avengers 4 wrapped, why would he still be sporting it?

Some of the names that were missing from the photo now make complete sense if it was taken after a key Avengers 4 scene was filmed. Fans wondered why Tom Hiddleston didn’t take part, seeing as he’s Marvel’s most iconic villain, but now we know his character’s dead, it explains why he wouldn’t be available. Same goes for Idris Elba’s Heimdall and Benicio Del Toro’s Collector.

In fact, take a look at the full list of MCU people missing from the photo and it reads like a who’s who of actors who wouldn’t be there to shoot a scene for Avengers 4.

If true, this has interesting implications for who’s going to be brought back in the next film. We expected Black Panther, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis and Groot to return, because of Disney’s upcoming slate – and they’re all in the anniversary image.

But we did think that Gamora’s Infinity War death would potentially be permanent. Not so if our conspiracy theory is correct, Zoe Saldana’s included in the picture.

It also could mean that Vision’s death will be undone, unless Paul Bettany had time in his busy schedule to show up for a press shot. Same goes for Scarlet Witch, because Elizabeth Olsen is right next to him. Falcon, Doctor Strange and Bucky Barnes will also all return if we’re right.

And a final piece of evidence that our theory’s correct – Marvel could have taken this photo anywhere, but they chose to do it in a film studio (one that’s clearly being used, there’s cables and lights everywhere) – we wonder why…

One thing’s certain – the press tour has spoiled the fact that Avengers 4 will include a sequence in which a large number of heroes will appear together in the same place. It looks like the marketing has potentially spoiled who those heroes will be.

If the superheroes appearing in the epic Avengers 4 crossover scene match up with everyone in the anniversary image, we’ll know we were right, and we’ll be expecting Thor to buy us a pint in celebration.

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