We all know about the Marvel police – security whose only job is to protect MCU secrets from prying eyes or people saying too much in an interview. The Hollywood Reporter has published a piece that goes deeper on the studio’s policies for Marvel series and Marvel movies, and the strict protocols in place.
The first thing is that, yes, a team exists to make sure nobody films anything at premieres and to follow up on potential leaks online. When filmmakers reference consequences for saying the right or wrong thing about the action movies or sci-fi series, they aren’t kidding. Beyond that, a special, air-tight room is used for confidential meetings.
Dubbed the ‘Black Widow Room’, it’s a space in the company’s Burbank, California headquarters with no windows or internet connection. THR’s report only specifies “sensitive subjects”, but it sounds like the same place where creators and actors have to read scripts for major releases. Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Marvel villain Scarlet Witch, actually decided against reading the full screenplay for Avengers: Infinity War, because of all the uncomfortable procedures.
“They offered a room to sit in and read off an iPad for five hours in a room without anything else around you,” Olsen told Jimmy Kimmel Live. “That sounds unpleasant, so I just said, ‘Can you tell me what goes on and just give me my pages?'”
Paul Bettany, who portrays MCU character Vision, reported similar, telling MTV that he spent hours reading the wrong scripts because fake ones were being circulated to eliminate spoilers. “I went, and I read ‘Code Red’ or whatever they called it and [Joe Russo] said, ‘yeah what do you think,'” Bettany recalled.
“I said, ‘I went, and it was the same script’ and he asked me some questions and then he went ‘aw man they gave you the wrong script again,’ So, after ten hours given over to reading scripts that I was never going to make I decided not to,” he added.
Nowadays, since many visual effects people are working from home as of the pandemic, Marvel has adopted protocol to prevent any family members or friends from sneaking a peak. According to an unnamed source, there are contracts so nobody does any “shoulder surfing”, and for workspaces to be somewhere “not viewable from the outside world”.
As Olsen says, that all just sounds awkward. Check out our guides to Black Panther 2 and Ant-Man 3 for what’s next in the world of Marvel.