Why Spoiler Culture Is Ruining Marvel Movies

If you've been online at all in the past year, you've seen it. Talk about "Avengers: Endgame," the end to one of the most massive film series of all time. And it has lived up to many of those expectations. As far as box office numbers, it had a record-breaking debut, was the fastest film ever to reach the $2 billion mark, and is on track to beat out "Avatar" for the highest-grossing movie of all time.

So it goes without saying that there was a lot of hype for "Endgame." Deservedly so. And along with all the hype came paranoia over the possibility of being spoiled. The Russo brothers issued a letter asking fans not to spoil any of the plot. The "Thanos demands your silence" quasi-campaign circled around again. Every fan bought tickets to the earliest showing they could make, and every fan who couldn't get an opening night ticket was at least a little afraid.

Over the years, fear of spoilers has increased and increased to the point where we're afraid of knowing anything about the movie we've been waiting for for years. We're afraid of accidentally stumbling upon a leaked video, a friend's indiscreet tweet, or some internet troll deliberately spoiling a movie for us.

All of this makes me think: Would these movies be worth seeing if I knew the plot beforehand? And if the answer to that is no, are these movies really worth it?

I didn't want any spoilers as much as the next Marvel fan. But if you told me that, spoiler alert, Black Widow and Iron Man both died in "Endgame," I would still want to see the movie.

I wouldn't say I want to be spoiled, but if a fan is really invested in a movie and its characters, they're going to want to see how what happens, happens.

But all this obsession around spoilers is damaging the quality of the movies we're afraid of getting spoilers of. Stories are beginning to come out from the cast of "Endgame" just how little they knew about the movie they were making. Take Brie Larson's perspective, for example:

"I flew to Atlanta for my first day on Endgame. I had no idea what I was shooting, what the movie was. I didn't know if anybody else was in a scene with me. I didn't know anything.

And it's not until you show up that you get your pages for the day. But you only get your part. So it was like a scene that was completely black redacted, and then just my one line. I'm very excited to talk about this once the movie is out because I can't give the details away."

In "Endgame," Brie Larson's character, Captain Marvel, had plot purpose but little emotional depth. There were a few key moments where she came in and saved the day, so to speak, but there was no character development. Which makes sense when you consider that Larson's directors were giving her the bare minimum for what they needed to film that day. Larson wouldn't have known Captain Marvel's purpose in that film other than a couple of lines and some fight choreography.

Similar stories have come out from the rest of the cast. As much as I love the characters of "Endgame," I only wish we could have seen more. How can a character live up to all we've grown to love about them if the actor playing them has no idea what their character's stakes are? What their purpose in the film even is? Why they'd even care about doing "whatever it takes"?

I'll admit: I don't want to be spoiled. But I'd risk a few spoilers if it meant a better movie.