Kevin Smith has confirmed what we already know, that Disney employs an elite squad of super-secret agents who protect the secrets of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Okay, elite squad might be a bit dramatic, but Smith has revealed the lengths the studio go to stop spoilers and leaks during his latest FatMan Beyond live show.
“I don’t think this threatens anything they do or whatnot, but I thought it was an interesting factoid, coming from inside the world through many sources I can’t even tell you but pretty legit,” he explained. “There is a Marvel secret police who, when things are being discovered, not only sweat down the departments, so when leaks happen, not only do the Marvel secret police sweat the departments to find where the leaks sprang from, they also deal in subterfuge. We know this in as much as you’ll go to auditions and read lines that have nothing to do with what you’re auditioning for.”
Smith also claims that Marvel Studios plants “traps” in its call sheets and scripts so if anything leaks, the company know exactly where the leak is coming from. While it might seem a little dramatic, it makes sense why Marvel goes to such extraordinary lengths to prevent leaks.
The MCU is one of the highest-grossing franchises in history, raking in an estimated $35.4 billion total revenue, with $22.592 billion of that coming from the global box office. Disney, the company that owns Marvel Studios, doesn’t want to jeopardise its gravy train by having spoilers leak early, potentially putting people off seeing a movie.
Not that the secret police can stop all the leaks. Both Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland are infamous for accidentally leaking stuff to the press. Ruffalo once forgot to stop a live stream while watching the Thor: Ragnarok premiere, allowing fans to hear the first twenty minutes or so of the action movie. Holland, meanwhile, accidentally leaked the title of Spider-Man: Far From Home while showing off the script.
Thankfully Marvel’s got a handle on leaks in recent years, except for recently when an unfinished Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer hit the web a day ahead of the planned release. Someone must have put Holland in charge of the socials that day.