The crazy measures Marvel took to keep 'Avengers: Infinity War' shrouded in secrecy

Avengers: Infinity War is set to conquer the domestic box office this weekend — and, in the process, wow audiences with a host of you-won’t-see-them-coming surprises. Ahead of its bow, the film’s stars and directors are finally revealing the insane measures taken to make sure those secrets stayed under wraps.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy this past weekend, Zoe Saldana (Gamora) explained that she received a full script on only one occasion — only to learn, upon arriving on set, that half of what she’d read was nonsense that would never be shot. Her Guardians of the Galaxy comrade Chris Pratt (Star Lord) backed that up, admitting that his script had numerous fake scenes, while Don Cheadle (War Machine) told us that his copies included redacted scenes. According to Josh Brolin (Thanos), there were even signs posted above the studio’s urinals to remind people not to talk about what they were up to (“It was scary, it was covert”) — a tactic that sounds more believable than the claim of Paul Bettany (Vision) that there were Marvel snipers perched in the trees.

Such measures were apparently necessary, given that the stars of Infinity War can’t all be trusted to keep their mouths shut in front of journalists. As discussed during the cast’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, there are no bigger talkers than Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk). That fact was corroborated to us by Pom Klementieff (Mantis) and Cheadle, the latter of whom laughed, “Everybody knows it’s Tom Holland” before stating that Ruffalo is “definitely competing for the most talkative.” Co-director Joe Russo confessed that Holland is such a blabbermouth, “He doesn’t even get his lines. We tell him his lines right before he says them.” Still, Russo added, “Ruffalo and Holland are vying for the lead” of most untrustworthy. And at CinemaCon, Anthony Mackie (Falcon) also echoed those sentiments, telling us, “The two spoiler-droppers are Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland. Tom Holland will give up anything if you ask him the right question.”

At the film’s premiere on Monday night, directors Joe and Anthony Russo, as well as Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige, verified the actors’ stories about the creation of fake scripts. And later that night, the studio launched an announcement (see above) with the hashtag #ThanosDemandsYourSilence, which many fans are using as a way to keep spoilers off social media — including Guardians director James Gunn:

You won’t have to wait long to find out the jaw-dropping twists and turns Marvel has in store, as Avengers: Infinity War blasts into theaters this Friday.

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