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When Captain America: Brave New World was released, we complained that the movie had been accidentally ruined by its marketing, which took the third act reveal of the Red Hulk and placed it front and center. Turns out, director Julius Onah would have loved it if no-one had known the character was set to appear — but he also knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“When you’re making a movie like this, an announcement goes out that Harrison Ford is going to play Thaddeus Ross, and you have a fandom as massive and as passionate as the MCU fandom is, you’re toast at that point, you know?” Onah told Empire. “In a perfect-case scenario, it would have been awesome [if the Red Hulk had been] an in-theatre surprise, but I think it would have been very difficult. Somewhere along the way, a toy would have been found, or somebody would have leaked a trailer. It’s just so hard to keep anything secret in today’s day and age.”

To be clear, Onah’s speaking to a bigger problem that exists surrounding superhero movies — or genre movies in general — these days: that everyone is so eager to find out everything they can about the movie in advance that everything becomes part of a scavenger hunt for spoilers, including advertisements, merchandise, toys, soundtrack listings, and more. (We’re complicit in this to some degree; we’re sorry.)

Just imagine a world where a superhero movie made it to the theaters with everything being unspoiled and brand new — the feeling of finding out that Thunderbolts* is actually called The New Avengers, but for an entire movie. Is such a thing possible? Chances are, we’re going to get as close to finding out as possible with 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, which Marvel is likely to want to keep as under wraps as possible. It’ll be an interesting few months ahead of that movie’s release, most likely.

Captain America: Brave New World is streaming on Disney+; give it another look now that it doesn't have to bear the weight of theatrical expectations.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters