We’ve heard plenty of stories about the Marvel police, but never them perpetrating an actual sting. According to Samuel L. Jackson, one of his MCU scripts was once stolen and copied, and the thief pulled a runner when their Marvel movie heist was rumbled.
“I remember when we got ready to do Avengers, someone printed out a copy of my Avengers script that had my watermark on it, and put it online for sale,” Jackson revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “I was shooting in Canada and Marvel came to Canada. It had been printed in the production office. They found out who it was, dude quit, left the country. They set up a fake buy for the script, dude didn’t show up. It was crazy.”
That sounds like quite the ordeal. The Avengers was a major turning point for the franchise, being the first action movie team up between all the main MCU characters. It was a blockbuster proof of concept, precipitating all the hubbub about secrecy.
Other Marvel stars have spoken about the intensity that comes with getting those screenplays. Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Wanda Maximoff, spoke about only getting portions of some films, and having to read them in a specific compound.
“They offered a room to sit in and read off an iPad for five hours in a room without anything else around you. That sounds unpleasant, so I just said, ‘Can you tell me what goes on and just give me my pages?'” she explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Needless to say, whoever it was that tried to spread Jackson’s script, that was a mistake Marvel won’t be allowing twice. Whoever has access to information on the Avengers 5 release date and Marvel’s Phase 5 could do well to heed a warning here.
Jackson’s currently portraying Nick Fury in Marvel series Secret Invasion. The first episode’s on Disney Plus now, check out our guide on the Secret Invasion release schedule to find out when you can see the next one.