Infinity War's Wakanda money shot was an ingenious fake out.
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00:00The Marvel Cinematic Universe has basically mastered the art of selling their epic tentpole
00:05movies, and while most of the time the MCU has succeeded by simply delivering the fun
00:10superhero thrills promised by their marketing, every so often they've gone out of their
00:14way to actively deceive fans.
00:17So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 genius misdirects
00:21in the MCU movie trailers.
00:2510.
00:26Bucky Shoots Rhodey Out of the Sky in Captain America Civil War
00:31This one's elegantly simple and required nothing more than a sneaky bit of editing,
00:35but it sure as hell got fans talking.
00:38The second trailer for Captain America Civil War seemed to show Bucky shooting Rhodey out
00:42of the sky, possibly killing him in the process.
00:45Given that the film was centred around the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers,
00:49it absolutely tracked that Bucky shooting Rhodey would further heighten the emotional
00:53stakes of the fraught scenario.
00:55So what was there to doubt?
00:56Yet as it turned out, these shots were actually taken from different scenes entirely.
01:00Bucky was firing his gun from a scene much later in the movie, while Rhodey was shot
01:04out of the sky by Vision, who did it accidentally.
01:07For months, fans were wondering how the MCU could possibly walk back Bucky either gravely
01:12wounding or outright killing an Avenger, and the truth is simply that he didn't do it.
01:179.
01:18The Mandarin Fakeout in Iron Man 3 Love it or hate it, the Mandarin twist in
01:24Iron Man 3 is one of the most ingenious marketing sleights of hand the MCU has ever pulled off.
01:30The movie's trailers simply presented the Mandarin as a straight-up antagonist, a shadowy,
01:35ominous villain causing hell for Tony Stark, as played with deliciously sinister aplomb
01:39by the great Ben Kingsley.
01:41But midway through the film itself, this is revealed to be a total fakeout.
01:45Tony isn't in fact playing the Mandarin, but Trevor Slattery, an actor paid by the
01:49real Mandarin Aldrich Killian, to portray a larger-than-life, smokescreen version of
01:54the supervillain.
01:55It was a completely shocking reveal that took basically everybody by surprise, even if it
02:01also understandably annoyed those fans hoping to finally see the Mandarin done full justice
02:06on the big screen.
02:07This wasn't the last time we saw either the Mandarin or Slattery in an MCU movie, though,
02:12as the 100% legit Mandarin, going by the name Wenwu, had a major antagonist role in
02:17Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, and a reformed Slattery also returned for
02:22a hilarious extended cameo.
02:248.
02:25Thanos' Infinity Stones in Avengers Infinity War
02:29The first of two incredibly smart misdirects in the trailers for Avengers Infinity War
02:34now.
02:35In order to keep audiences ignorant of the film's many surprises, Marvel Studios sneakily
02:39re-edited key shots from the trailers to ensure that even those who pored over every
02:44last frame of material couldn't quite be sure where things were going.
02:48Case in point, Infinity War's second trailer concluded with footage of Captain America
02:52managing to hold an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Thanos at bay.
02:56Fans quickly noticed that, despite this fight scene appearing to be taken from the movie's
03:00climax, Thanos had just two of the Infinity Stones in the gauntlet, the Space and Power
03:05Stones, making it unclear precisely when in the film it actually took place.
03:10As it turns out, these shots, and some others throughout the trailers, were digitally manipulated
03:14to conceal how many Infinity Stones Thanos actually had.
03:18Of course, in reality, Thanos had collected five of the six stones by this point, but
03:22Marvel Studios understandably wanted to throw fans for a loop and ensure there was plenty
03:27to be surprised by when they finally saw the movie for themselves.
03:30It's very clever.
03:327.
03:34Zombie Strange looks like a villain in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
03:39The trailers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness certainly cemented the movie's
03:43off-kilter tone, particularly as it pertained to the presence of two apparently nefarious
03:48variants of Doctor Strange.
03:50The trailers first introduced us to the mischievous Supreme Strange, who was cleverly shown coming
03:55to blows with our prime Doctor Strange.
03:58And later, trailers also showed glimpses of a grotesque undead version of Strange, which
04:02fans quickly dubbed Zombie Strange, seemingly yet another malevolent variant that our Strange
04:08would have to face off against.
04:10Hilariously, this was actually not the case at all.
04:12Zombie Strange is in fact the reanimated corpse of Defender Strange, who dies at the beginning
04:16of the movie.
04:17His dead body is then possessed by Strange Prime in the third act in order to try and
04:22rescue America Chavez from wonder.
04:24The context of Zombie Strange in the trailers and in the final movie are totally different,
04:29with the character ultimately being played more for perverse laughs, as Strange takes
04:33control of this decrepit, scarcely held together shell of a person.
04:38Number 6.
04:39Wanda's Vision in Avengers Age of Ultron
04:42The marketing for Avengers Age of Ultron was criticised by many fans for wildly misrepresenting
04:47the film's tone, suggesting that it was a much darker Avengers sequel, only for the
04:52final product to be relatively light-hearted and Ultron to be far more of a comedic antagonist
04:57than expected.
04:59There was one clever editing flourish in the movie's first teaser trailer, though, which
05:02got fans relentlessly discussing the possibility that Ultron would deal massive, even fatal
05:07damage to the focal Avengers line-up.
05:10A single shot showed what appeared to be the corpse of Thor lying next to Captain America's
05:15broken shield, during what fans understandably assumed was one of the hero's clashes with
05:19Ultron.
05:20But in the film itself, this actually turns out to be a mere vision administered to Tony
05:25by Scarlet Witch, whereby Tony witnesses the Avengers' apparent defeat at the hands
05:29of the Chitauri from the first Avengers film.
05:32Hilariously, even as an illusion, it hasn't got anything to do with Ultron, yet was quite
05:36perfectly spliced into the movie's trailers to help establish an altogether drearier and
05:41more imposing vibe for the sequel's marketing.
05:44Number 5.
05:45The missing Spider-Man in Spider-Man No Way Home
05:49Marvel Studios employed a frankly ridiculous level of restraint where the trailers for
05:53Spider-Man No Way Home were concerned, by refusing to share even a single fleeting glimpse
05:57of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's returning iterations of Spider-Man.
06:01But they went further than even that by literally erasing the pair from trailer shots taken
06:07from the movie's climax.
06:09Even though fans soon enough picked up on Lizard being kicked in the face by a seemingly
06:13invisible force, it was absolutely genius in ensuring that fans absolutely had to see
06:17the movie as soon as possible to confirm for themselves if Maguire and Garfield were really
06:22in it.
06:23Anyone who'd been even remotely following the movie's production knew the truth, and
06:27yet there was that 0.01% sliver of doubt that was so perfectly exploited by this weirdly
06:33vague scaled-back marketing.
06:35And the result was the most commercially successful film of the entire pandemic to date, confirming
06:41it was absolutely the right marketing approach.
06:44Number 4.
06:45Druig is the Big Bad in Eternals The various trailers and TV spots for Eternals
06:51didn't exactly make it clear who the movie's villain would be, though the smart money was
06:56unequivocally on Druig.
06:57The trailers showed fleeting glimpses of Druig both standing atop the burning ruins of an
07:02ancient Aztec city, Tenochtitlan, possibly having caused the inferno, and seemingly operating
07:07a cult of mind-controlled humans in the woods.
07:10Those two images certainly made him more immediately sus than any other Eternal, prompting intense
07:15fan speculation that he would turn on his fellow Eternals mid-movie and reveal his true
07:19nefarious intentions.
07:21But this actually turned out to be incredibly well-placed bait, as Druig actually breaks
07:25up the brutality at Tenochtitlan and mind-controls the villagers in order to help take down an
07:30attacking deviant.
07:31The real backstabbing Eternal is later revealed to be Icarus, who has Ajak murdered while
07:36serving the celestial Arishem.
07:38Barry Keoghan is just so damn good at playing unsettling characters that it wasn't hard
07:42to believe he'd be Eternals' turncoat character.
07:45But alas, the marketing played on our prejudices perfectly.
07:49Number 3.
07:50The Elementals are the antagonists in Spider-Man Far From Home
07:54Though even the most casual comic book fan was surely aware of Mysterio's status as
07:59a villain in the Spider-Man comics, the trailers for Spider-Man Far From Home tried their damnedest
08:04to convince us that we were getting a benevolent rebooted version.
08:07The trailers played up the presence of Mysterio as basically Peter Parker's new mentor following
08:12Tony Stark's death in Avengers Endgame.
08:14A cool uncle, if you will.
08:16Given that the MCU has a history of remixing heroes and villains alike in their own image,
08:21it wasn't exactly a leap to believe that this Mysterio from an alternate universe could
08:24really be a hero, especially with the trailers showing off the antagonistic Elementals for
08:29Spidey and Mysterio to contend with.
08:31Yet halfway through the film, director John Watts violently pulls the rug out, revealing
08:35that Mysterio, aka Quentin Beck, is a disgruntled former employee of Stark Industries who has
08:41used advanced technology to depict himself as a superhero, with the Elementals in fact
08:46being advanced projections.
08:48Even though some fans suspected Mysterio was the primary antagonist all along, the trailers
08:53really worked hard to misdirect us, pointing to the big bad Elementals as the real villains.
08:58For both audiences and Peter himself, the Elementals were a distraction intended to
09:03prevent us from seeking Beck's own villainy.
09:062.
09:07The Wakanda Money Shot in Avengers Infinity War
09:11Perhaps not a single MCU marketing misdirect is as ingenious and committed as Avengers
09:17Infinity War, literally cooking up an insane fake trailer shot that didn't even appear
09:21in the damn movie.
09:23Infinity War's first trailer ended with the unforgettable glimpse of numerous key Avengers,
09:28including the Hulk, all running towards the screen with a massive army behind them in
09:32Wakanda.
09:33And while Infinity War does conclude with a huge Wakanda battle featuring most of the
09:36Avengers pictured, the heroes never team up for this sort of organised charge towards
09:41the Outriders.
09:42They're mostly sectioned off into their own individual fights throughout the battle.
09:45But most amusingly, the Hulk never actually appears in the fight, refusing to come out
09:49and join the battle after getting bodied by Thanos at the start of the film.
09:53Bruce Banner is then forced to don the Hulkbuster armour to take part in the fight, a fact that
09:58was brilliantly concealed by this shot.
10:00A shot so fantastic and expensive looking that nobody ever believed it wouldn't appear
10:05in the film.
10:061.
10:07The disguised time skip in Avengers Endgame
10:11The trailers for Avengers Endgame ultimately disguised a hell of a lot, but the most surprising
10:16revelation that they cleverly concealed?
10:18The movie's sudden five-year time skip following its grim prologue sequence.
10:22Beyond easy tricks like not showing Bro Thor in the marketing, Marvel went to the lengths
10:27of using CGI to change the colour of Black Widow's hair in the trailers, altering it
10:31from red blonde back to the shorter platinum blonde bob she had in Infinity War, and even
10:36altering her clothes to match.
10:38Though some fans suspected there might be a time skip of some sort, especially once
10:42later trailers showed off Natasha's real hairdo, Marvel did a fantastic job of creating
10:47so much confusion and inconsistency across their trailers for Endgame that it was extremely
10:52difficult to get a bead on exactly how much time had passed since Infinity War.
10:57And so when the five years later title card appeared in the movie proper, it was an all-timer
11:01holy shit moment, as anyone who saw Endgame on opening weekend will surely remember.
11:07And that concludes our list.
11:09If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in the comments below, and
11:12while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:15Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
11:19just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:21I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day, and I'll see you real
11:26soon.