The following contains major spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now in theaters.
In an era when keeping secrets about upcoming films is becoming more and more difficult, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' head writer Michael Waldron shared his thoughts on spoiler culture.
Speaking with Murphy's Multiverse, Waldron explained that spoilers and behind-the-scenes details about upcoming projects can lead to an interesting internet and movie culture. "You can really, if you spend a lot of time online, you can come to think that if something is spoiled on a corner of the internet that suddenly the whole world knows," he said. "But they don’t. It’s the people who are actively seeking that out and who want to find that stuff. And if they want to find it out, that means it’s probably going to enhance their enjoyment of the movie."
Waldron continued, "and the people who don’t wanna find out, probably aren’t. It’s like, I would be mad if it headlines news on CNN about who was in the Illuminati, but it’s not. There’s [a] spoiler warning and you know where you’re going if you go to a spoiler website. It’s like it’s what we do. It’s like the symbiotic nature of this stuff and it just builds anticipation and excitement. I think it’s cool."
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently expressed his own feelings on the topic of spoilers. He acknowledged that it's impossible to keep everything under wraps and argued that movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home show that spoilers don't necessarily harm the overall experience." "You need to make sure that the experience itself works regardless of what has been spoiled or not," he explained.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premiered in theaters on May 6 and made over $500 million during its opening weekend. The film sees Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) travel across multiple dimensions to stop Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) from stealing a young woman's powers to travel the multiverse. It features certain cameos and plot points that surprised many audience members, including an appearance by Bruce Campbell.
Moreover, multiple characters from the comics and other forms of Marvel media made their MCU debuts in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Most notably, Charles Xavier/Professor X, played once again by Patrick Stewart, and Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, played by John Krasinski, are introduced in a scene brimming with both fan service and tension before both are brutally murdered by Wanda.
Source: Murphy's Multiverse