“Infinity War” Writers Discuss Marketing for “Spider-Man” Sequel

The writers of Avengers: Infinity War sat down to talk (jokingly) about how to market the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel in light of their movie’s shocking cliffhanger. (Warning: spoilers to follow!)

As most fans know by now, Infinity War saw the Mad Titan Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) wipe out half of all life in the universe with the Infinity Stones and a snap of his now nigh-omnipotent fingers. Among those seen crumbling to dust were Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), which is awkward, because he’s still scheduled to star in his own movie a few months after the release of the fourth Avengers film.

In an interview with Collider, the writers of Infinity War discussed the exciting possibilities that Marvel Studios could do with a Spider-Man-less Spider-Man film.

“Look, two hours of Aunt May crying, it could be great,” said Christopher Markus, in reference to Peter’s beloved guardian.

His partner, Stephen McFeely, noted the difficulty of telling good stories when people know so much about the filmmaking process. “We can’t make movies for people who read Variety, you know what I mean?”

Obviously, Spider-Man is coming back somehow, as are other fallen heroes like Black Panther, Doctor Strange and most of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The question is, how will they come? And, in terms of the real world, how will Marvel Studios promote their movie without just admitting that the Infinity War ending will be undone?

A comparison can be made to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s rival, Warner Bros.’s DC Extended Universe. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman (Henry Cavill) died fighting Doomsday. However, fans guessed that he was coming back (as he did in the comics). This led to a marketing campaign where Superman was downplayed in the ads, but where Cavill and others did little to discourage audience expectations that he would be in the film.

Marvel Studios may as well just admit that Peter will return, but emphasize the mystery of how he will come back and how the experience will affect him and his companions. As Markus noted, “there are people crying [about Infinity War] and there are articles about how to console your children,” so clearly the ending was effective, even if fans expect it to be undone.